George Monbiot, neonics, and the NFU

[delilah]

I don't do twitter so could someone maybe post this in a legible format ?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1337347533081894918

It seems the NFU sent a tweet out urging farmers to lobby Govt on neonics, and asked them not to share it on public sites. Does the NFU not understand that it is the job of journalists to get hold of this stuff ? There will be plenty on here who received the NFU tweet, anyone able to comment on this ? Not so much the subject matter, but the way in which this naive means of communication makes the industry look somewhat stupid.

edit: oh ok it did appear, lol.

 

[Hindsight]

I don't do twitter so could someone maybe post this in a legible format ?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1337347533081894918

It seems the NFU sent a tweet out urging farmers to lobby Govt on neonics, and asked them not to share it on public sites. Does the NFU not understand that it is the job of journalists to get hold of this stuff ? There will be plenty on here who received the NFU tweet, anyone able to comment on this ? Not so much the subject matter, but the way in which this naive means of communication makes the industry look somewhat stupid.

edit: oh ok it did appear, lol.

Saw it earlier - I will link it into the sugar beet thread in Cropping, I fear an own goal.

 

[Hindsight]

It is the timing that I cannot start to fathom. At the precise moment that the NFU is trying to present UK ag as having the highest of environmental standards - in the context of trade deals, brexit etc - it does this. It matters not a jot what farmers think about neonics, at this point in time public perception is everything. Monbiot and co must see the NFU as the gift that keeps on giving.

You are not a sugar beet grower. If you were you might understand the issue and the timing. I recall you have permanent pasture (just teasing) Of course in the lies and mistruths of a covert war Monbiot is conflating Brexit day with a request for a derogation to use neonic insecticide seed treatment on the 2021 sugar beet crop. A derogation that has been or is being granted in every EU country that grows sugar beet. But that side of the story has not been told. When the NFU Twitter staff get to work (not sure they work over the weekend) I assume will attempt to put in some correct facts. I did though think the initial request to keep the letter a secret was flawed and foolish. As ever the truth will out.

 

[Andy26]

I'd be more shocked and it would be more massive if the NFU wasn't lobbying for an emergency authorisation for Neonics for Sugar Beet seed.

 

[delilah]

You are not a sugar beet grower. If you were you might understand the issue and the timing. I recall you have permanent pasture (just teasing) Of course in the lies and mistruths of a covert war Monbiot is conflating Brexit day with a request for a derogation to use neonic insecticide seed treatment on the 2021 sugar beet crop. A derogation that has been or is being granted in every EU country that grows sugar beet. But that side of the story has not been told. When the NFU Twitter staff get to work (not sure they work over the weekend) I assume will attempt to put in some correct facts. I did though think the initial request to keep the letter a secret was flawed and foolish. As ever the truth will out.

lol sorry i put that post up then saw that it was already been discussed on another thread so deleted it

 

[delilah]

I'd be more shocked and it would be more massive if the NFU wasn't lobbying for an emergency authorisation for Neonics for Sugar Beet seed.

Wont argue with that, my point in putting the OP up was that it seems an awfully naive way to conduct business to put on a tweet "please refrain from sharing this on social media" , it's just begging for trouble.

 

[Andy26]

Wont argue with that, my point in putting the OP up was that it seems an awfully naive way to conduct business to put on a tweet "please refrain from sharing this on social media" , it's just begging for trouble.

Yes it's beyond amateurish to put that on a post on social media

 

[ajd132]

Own goal,

 

[melted welly]

I was reading some of George’s tweets, there’s loads of replies, but a lot of the time he’s just replying to himself. What’s that all about?

Must have plenty time on his hands.

 

[Hindsight]

Apologies to NFU. There was a reply tweet but on the BFUSugar twitter feed not NFUtweets.

https://twitter.com/NFUSugar

 

[delilah]

I was reading some of George’s tweets, there’s loads of replies, but a lot of the time he’s just replying to himself. What’s that all about?

Must have plenty time on his hands.

Scroll down to the posts that he has retweeted, and you get to the more important people.
There are farmers on here who are trying to build a relationship with Craig Bennett, to get him to see that a viable home production is in the best interests of the environment. When he sees the NFU conducting their business like this he will just have all of his prejudices reinforced.

Why didn't the NFU put a press release out stating a few basic facts:
- Sugar is a staple of the British diet.
- Having at least some of that sugar produced in the UK makes sound environmental sense, reducing food miles and supporting crop rotation.
- Not having the option to use products available elsewhere drives production abroad, doing no good to the environment or the UK economy.

How long before the NFU realizes that entrenchment and siege mentality are now redundant ? Take the environment movement with you or you are stuffed.

 

[Andy26]

Scroll down to the posts that he has retweeted, and you get to the more important people.
There are farmers on here who are trying to build a relationship with Craig Bennett, to get him to see that a viable home production is in the best interests of the environment. When he sees the NFU conducting their business like this he will just have all of his prejudices reinforced.

Why didn't the NFU put a press release out stating a few basic facts:
- Sugar is a staple of the British diet.
- Having at least some of that sugar produced in the UK makes sound environmental sense, reducing food miles and supporting crop rotation.
- Not having the option to use products available elsewhere drives production abroad, doing no good to the environment or the UK economy.

How long before the NFU realizes that entrenchment and siege mentality are now redundant ? Take the environment movement with you or you are stuffed.

Not sure you can do anything meaningful on twitter, it really is just an echo chamber, where birds of a feather flock together.

 

[roscoe erf]

You are not a sugar beet grower. If you were you might understand the issue and the timing. I recall you have permanent pasture (just teasing) Of course in the lies and mistruths of a covert war Monbiot is conflating Brexit day with a request for a derogation to use neonic insecticide seed treatment on the 2021 sugar beet crop. A derogation that has been or is being granted in every EU country that grows sugar beet. But that side of the story has not been told. When the NFU Twitter staff get to work (not sure they work over the weekend) I assume will attempt to put in some correct facts. I did though think the initial request to keep the letter a secret was flawed and foolish. As ever the truth will out.

2 day delay a lie will be half way round the world before the truth has got its boots on

 

[delilah]

Not sure you can do anything meaningful on twitter, it really is just an echo chamber, where birds of a feather flock together.

100%, I was meaning they should have put a press release out weeks ago, whenever it was decided that this was to be the course of action.

 

[Bob Jones]

Wont argue with that, my point in putting the OP up was that it seems an awfully naive way to conduct business to put on a tweet "please refrain from sharing this on social media" , it's just begging for trouble.

I don't believe this was on a Tweet, wasn't it on a letter to growers asking them not to publish on social media.

 

[Bob Jones]

You are not a sugar beet grower. If you were you might understand the issue and the timing. I recall you have permanent pasture (just teasing) Of course in the lies and mistruths of a covert war Monbiot is conflating Brexit day with a request for a derogation to use neonic insecticide seed treatment on the 2021 sugar beet crop. A derogation that has been or is being granted in every EU country that grows sugar beet. But that side of the story has not been told. When the NFU Twitter staff get to work (not sure they work over the weekend) I assume will attempt to put in some correct facts. I did though think the initial request to keep the letter a secret was flawed and foolish. As ever the truth will out.

I'm not sure it was a secret as every grower was written to about it, just asked not to publicise it. The information was out there in the pubic domain anyway.

 

[ShooTa]

Ill bite - as i know very little about it - but even if the EU has the derogation - wouldnt it look good for ukag to be better?
~are the seedeating bugs that bad for SB in the UK? conversly should we be even trying to grow it then? and if we dont get the derogation what alternatives are there...

 

[Farmer T]

It wasn’t done in secret. Everyone can see it was reported and talked about a few weeks.

This is Monbiot. This is what he does. This is how he makes a living.

I watched him at OFC a few years ago. The one thing he ‘agreed’ on was respect was needed on both sides of the conservation and the facts should do the talking. A few weeks later he was attacking the same farmer calling for a ban of all livestock hillside farming because it was killing the world. He has to make drama or he has no income.

If anything NFU Sugar have sadly been proved right. They asked to keep this off social media because of the heat it could get. There is so much anger on social media right now this isn’t the place for a grown up debate on the facts on this discussion.

 

[Farmer T]

Ill bite - as i know very little about it - but even if the EU has the derogation - wouldnt it look good for ukag to be better?
~are the seedeating bugs that bad for SB in the UK? conversly should we be even trying to grow it then? and if we dont get the derogation what alternatives are there...

There are no alternatives. This was the issue. Gove got this banned over night a few years ago.
Given time the industry will come up resistant varieties. However in the short term the EU has tried and failed to grow beet without them. Now they have all got a derogation. The UK suffers from aphid attack the most (along with Denmark and Holland) because of our milder winters and therefore higher numbers.

For everyone not growing beet- please take note. If we lose neonics because they are a hazard and don’t access the risk then we can lose ANYTHING. These NGOs stop at nothing.

 

[e3120]

Ill bite - as i know very little about it - but even if the EU has the derogation - wouldnt it look good for ukag to be better?
~are the seedeating bugs that bad for SB in the UK? conversly should we be even trying to grow it then? and if we dont get the derogation what alternatives are there...

It's not a seed-eating bug. It's not even a plant eating bug. It's a 'bug' that carries a virus that affects the plant. Treating the seed makes the plant unattractive to the bug so the virus isn't transmitted. The treatment can affect bees if they're plastered in the stuff, but sugar beet is uninteresting for bees as there's no flowers.

I don't grow beet either, but do deal in facts. I am an interested party as other decisions made without facts will affect my business.