George Monbiot says eat meat, why aren't qms / nfu / eblex????

MiJ

Member
Location
w.mids
He was on Channel four news just over a week ago and if I remember correctly, called beef and lamb farming in this country a "disaster. " So, presumably, he wants it ended. As is in the current zeitgeist, no ifs, no buts. No concessions for grass fed or otherwise. All gone.

The battle is really only beginning. It's going to be long and bloody.

U.K. needs to stop importing meat.
That might even look sensible to the climate change lot and it would certainly cut fuel use.
Raise our own, eat our own, raised as local as possible and bring back small local abattoirs, many of which shut due to our membership of the EU.
 

glensman

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Antrim
A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

That's a big part of the problem - they don't have to because the journalists don't hold them to account by asking the right questions ( a lot of them seem to have the same agenda anyway).
I would contend that knowledge is the incorrect terminology, partial information would be more accurate.
 
bring back small local abattoirs, many of which shut due to our membership of the EU.
Ours closed 30 years ago to massive indifference from most of our locality, as local food wasn't on the agenda back then. Nobody really cared as nobody was concerned about food miles in those days. The Global Market was the New God back then, and we were all going to love it. It was going to bring choice and make producers in Third World countries better off.

Thirty years down the line and where are we? Regretting the environmental impact of the Global Market? Concerned about plastic in our oceans? Water usage to grow fruit? Out of season produce and the ethical concerns? Is the Third World farmer better paid?

No, now we want to turn back the clock to the recent past. Which makes me question, how much do we ever really know about what we want? How much do those that are paid to tell us what we want know about the future? Or, don't they care? Is it just all about the cash smash n' grab and bugger the consequences?

You don't miss your water 'til your well runs dry.
 

n.w

Member
Location
western isles
Just reading the rubbish he has been spouting in particular the plans for re-wilding Britains uplands.when will they realise that not all wildlife prefer to live in woodland. managed moorland with long and short heather and grazed pastures provides a home to many of the creatures they profess to care about..these people are dangerous and will destroy this habitat and the animals that depend on it
http://www.moorlandassociation.org/wildlife-2/

For me the most telling part of the above link is that the UK has 75% of the worlds Moorland and these tssers want to plant trees on it !
 
Last edited:

Nithsdale

Member
Livestock Farmer
QMS are pushing the environmental benefits of grass/livestock farming currently on their Instagram and FB pages with pictures/graphics/stats...But from what I see mostly those who follow these pages, are us farmers :facepalm:


Would Joe Bloggs on the street of Glasgow know who QMS are?
 
Location
southwest
On the basis of "know thine enemy" I've just googled GM (what ironic initials btw) comes from a political (tory) family, degree in zoology, worked for the beeb and then a writer (ie a bog standard Islington idealist, with little or no knowledge of the "real" world) So, on that basis, he's like so many other rent-a-quotes or media personalities who have little or no knowledge of or background in what they pontificate about, and really has no more right preach to all and sundry like he does.

The problem though, is that the media present such people as "independent" and "expert" I have seen Packham introduced on C4 News as a "wildlife & environment expert" in a discussion with a "representative of the Field sports society which promotes grouse shooting" while Monbiot was an "environmentalist" in a debate with a "farmer and NFU spokesman" Both cases akin to introducing the pantomime hero versus villain. Rather than more accurate "chap who makes a living writing and talking about animals and wildlife" in discussion with someone who works with animals.

To my mind, anyone involved in these types of "topical debates" should have to start of by explaining why they think they are entitled to be there. I'm sure the public would take a different view if the participants self described as "newspaper columnist who hasn't been near a farm animal in my life but I've had a quick look at a report" versus "working farmers who understands the subject first hand"
 

firther

Member
Location
holmfirth
a neighbour of mine as said "you can sleep in a garage and leave the car running all night and die from carbon monoxide poisoning. You can sleep in a barn full of cattle and sheep and wake up warm in the morning"

that about sums it up, Most of my works in countryside but when we do work in town centres you can tell difference in air quality
 

czechmate

Member
Mixed Farmer
a neighbour of mine as said "you can sleep in a garage and leave the car running all night and die from carbon monoxide poisoning. You can sleep in a barn full of cattle and sheep and wake up warm in the morning"

that about sums it up, Most of my works in countryside but when we do work in town centres you can tell difference in air quality


That’s a little daft as barns need ventilation, if the garage was well ventilated you would wake up too.
I agree with your air quality comparison (y)
 
Listen, if you folks want to fight this nonsense, get yourself on youtube. It costs naff all to buy a half decent camera and edit the footage and you can film and say whatever you like. People will watch it because they are interested in it. Include animals and machinery and folk will watch it. You have direct access to your consumer and the public. Get out there.
 
Listen, if you folks want to fight this nonsense, get yourself on youtube. It costs naff all to buy a half decent camera and edit the footage and you can film and say whatever you like. People will watch it because they are interested in it. Include animals and machinery and folk will watch it. You have direct access to your consumer and the public. Get out there.
Funny, I was just thinking about this.

A non farming friend of mine who's done a bit of marketing for various groups in his time said pretty much exactly the same when looking through my cow and sheep pics one night.

His take was that showing off livestock genuinely in their own surroundings , ie, hills, glens, green fields, mother and calf, family groups etc, does more to counteract bad publicity than words ever can do.

And he's right. My new vegetarian neighbour spends hours telling me about how her opinions on livestock farming have changed since moving to the country and seeing at first hand how my stock live a natural outdoor life. Also, she see's how I and my father interact with our stock, and how they're treated as equals, with respect, and not just a number.

People's minds can indeed be broadened through education.
 

nails

Member
Location
East Dorset
U.K. needs to stop importing meat.
That might even look sensible to the climate change lot and it would certainly cut fuel use.
Raise our own, eat our own, raised as local as possible and bring back small local abattoirs, many of which shut due to our membership of the EU.

Yes quite right but the likes of A.B.P don,t take any bloody notice and source it cheaper from wherever
 
Funny, I was just thinking about this.

A non farming friend of mine who's done a bit of marketing for various groups in his time said pretty much exactly the same when looking through my cow and sheep pics one night.

His take was that showing off livestock genuinely in their own surroundings , ie, hills, glens, green fields, mother and calf, family groups etc, does more to counteract bad publicity than words ever can do.

And he's right. My new vegetarian neighbour spends hours telling me about how her opinions on livestock farming have changed since moving to the country and seeing at first hand how my stock live a natural outdoor life. Also, she see's how I and my father interact with our stock, and how they're treated as equals, with respect, and not just a number.

People's minds can indeed be broadened through education.

I believe the future of the bulk of livestock in the UK will be in low-impact, 'free-range' sort of product which is sold for a premium. If you can't compete with mass-market, intensive and factory farmed meat then surely do something they aren't?
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 81 42.2%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 68 35.4%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.6%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.6%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,294
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top