Magnum Man
Member
- Location
- Norfolk/Suffolk border, UK
Anyone read this in yesterday's Times?
- Thread starter Magnum Man
- Start date
That looks like a good piece, it shows the greyer edges of the extremes,the best of all types I stead of trendy extremes for novelty or the ' silliness ' of the likes of the soil association negative vibs etc.
Throw of the shackles ,the niches , the clever sounding names and the salesmanship in the bin with all the twaddle.
Throw of the shackles ,the niches , the clever sounding names and the salesmanship in the bin with all the twaddle.
betweenthelines
Member
- Location
- southwest
Who is the author? What qualifications does he have?
The article contains several factual inaccuracies (aka lies) and seems to be sending out mixed messages on fertilizers and herbicides. He also takes everything the Soil Assn (a prime example of a vested interest) says at face value-rather like asking the owner of an Airline is international travel is safe atm. Who says the quality of UK food has diminished, and does he understand the carbon cycle at all?
Fwit, I think UK farming has lots to be proud of and doesn't need some half arsed column fill to advance it's cause.
The article contains several factual inaccuracies (aka lies) and seems to be sending out mixed messages on fertilizers and herbicides. He also takes everything the Soil Assn (a prime example of a vested interest) says at face value-rather like asking the owner of an Airline is international travel is safe atm. Who says the quality of UK food has diminished, and does he understand the carbon cycle at all?
Fwit, I think UK farming has lots to be proud of and doesn't need some half arsed column fill to advance it's cause.
- Location
- Essex
Apart from the bit about drugs being fed to cattle, I thought it was quite balanced and well informed.
I thought it was a seriously winged article,a lot of it factually incorrect.
- Location
- Essex
Like what? I thought it was generally positive and optimistic
When was the last time you saw an algal bloom coming from an aquifer?
Does he mention domestic sewage nutrients and pollutants which finds its way into aquifers from septic tank soakaways? Of course not.....it’s all the farmers fault!
Does he mention the female hormones which are taken by women by the bucketful as contraceptives which pollute our water system,synthesised chemicals which were never in our water systems unlike naturally occurring nitrates and phosphates.
Antibiotic use on farms has been under scrutiny however there has been far greater extensive use in the likes of the USA,does he mention how importing food from these countries we also import resistant bacteria?
The way its presented it infers we now only half douse our land in chemicals.
I suppose it sells papers!
- Location
- Shropshire
I agree.
I believe it’s wrong to tar previous generations of farmers as environmental vandals, particularly mixed farmers, however I also believe that any article that says that the industry is improving is great for us as I’m farmers.
I think the tides are slowly turning, we’ve just got to ensure we don’t give them sticks to beat us with.
Agree with you, they did what they did and it’s all part of the evolution (not revolution)
betweenthelines
Member
- Location
- southwest
Ed Conway is the Economics Editor for Sky News, Has an MA in English from Oxford and an MA from Harvard (US) in "Public Administration"
Zero background in anything science related, he is a career journalist. Which means he has never had what some on TFF would call "a proper job"
Certainly has no knowledge of or experience in the subject matter of the article.
My dog probably has a more informed opinion. But he can't type.
Zero background in anything science related, he is a career journalist. Which means he has never had what some on TFF would call "a proper job"
Certainly has no knowledge of or experience in the subject matter of the article.
My dog probably has a more informed opinion. But he can't type.
Danllan
Member
- Location
- Sir Gar / Carms
How about yo' bitch?
betweenthelines
Member
- Location
- southwest
Never had an unexpressed opinion.
- Location
- Essex
You are implying that only farmers' opinions count and all non farmers are stupid or ignorant.
Experience and knowledge are different things. It's possible to know a lot about something without actually doing it.
The tone I inferred from the article was that as an industry, we are moving away from the chemical inputs and intensive cultivations and I believe that to be the case. Also I agree with him that it's a positive trend.
- Location
- Shropshire
Agree.
His first paragraph is utter Horlicks though
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
About 80% of UK food is produced by about 25% of UK 'farmers' if I remember correctly. That kind of statistic should not be taken lightly and if the serious food producers are driven out of business in many sectors, it will certainly satisfy the man on the Clapham omnibus but it will hardly raise living standards for him or taxes for the economy. It will however tick all the environmental and emission boxes and will export it and the inevitable industrial residue to Jonnie Foreigner's back yard, which will be all that really matters while food can be imported at reasonable cost to the consumer.
The downward financial pressure and increasing regulations imposed on UK farming will continue to increase exponentially as the UK tries to achieve the ridiculous goal of net zero emissions and zero pollution, believe me. There will be no 'balance', just targets and regulations.
The downward financial pressure and increasing regulations imposed on UK farming will continue to increase exponentially as the UK tries to achieve the ridiculous goal of net zero emissions and zero pollution, believe me. There will be no 'balance', just targets and regulations.
Hindsight
Member
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Following the Twitter of Monbiot and lots of other green folk, I fear you are correct.
Yes agree first 2 paragraphs are poor to nonsense but the general jist of the article was better than usual trend, i think.
Note to self.Must give up speed reading
Note to self.Must give up speed reading
betweenthelines
Member
- Location
- southwest
I was pointing out that a journalist is not the best placed to write a reasoned article on Agriculture. It's clear that he has just googled a few statistics without any real understanding of the subject.
As in my earlier post, farming shouldn't have to rely on poorly informed journalists promoting their cause.
I am no longer an active farmer but if I was, I would do 2 things to support my industry:
1.Host regular open days so that the general public, especially school children and teachers, could see farming at first hand
2.Bombard the media with "pro UK farming" news and information.
I find it quite irksome that posters on TFF-some of them very erudite-moan about the poor publicity the industry gets, but seem reluctant to actually do anything about it.
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
It's a hopeless case where you can't even get farmers to agree to any line you care to take let alone then try to convince a public that is being relentlessly bombarded with 'greenwash' propaganda so aptly represented by that rubbish article. Some of the farmers, or pretend and hobby farmers, even some more 'professional' farmers are probably brainwashed enough to defend good chunks of the drivel.