Talking to MP about zero till etc. Suggestions please.

[organicguy]

I do not think that polluters should be allowed to buy carbon credits, they should (as you suggest) be paying a tax for their carbon, which can be redistributed to those that are tying up carbon. That way there is a serious incentive for the polluters to reduce their emissions rather than buy credits.

 

[martian]

I will be interested to see how you get on tomorrow, he is coming round the farm in a month's time to see what we are doing.
The variability of soil carbon assessments make me very wary of proving sequestration, I am not sure how you can reliably validate this to a government inspector. We can see soils improving ourselves, but the difficulty is reliable quantification.

It was an interesting experience. A lot of MPs and Lords and Ladies listened in to us rabbiting on. They do (on the whole) take their responsibilities seriously and your man held the whole thing together well. I hope something good will come from this great opportunity to re-purpose UK Ag Policy, post-Brexit. Glad I don't have to make the decisions

 

[farmerm]

I do not think that polluters should be allowed to buy carbon credits, they should (as you suggest) be paying a tax for their carbon, which can be redistributed to those that are tying up carbon. That way there is a serious incentive for the polluters to reduce their emissions rather than buy credits.

Its worse than that. I am confident most agricultural land holds far less carbon than it did prior to the industrial era. In most instances even the best carbon sequestering farmers are only putting back what has been released from the soil in the past 200 years, nobody is or will be in a position to "tidy up carbon" emitted by the use of fossil fuels for a long time. The trading of carbon credits is as bulls**t as bitcoin.

 

[sjt01]

It was an interesting experience. A lot of MPs and Lords and Ladies listened in to us rabbiting on. They do (on the whole) take their responsibilities seriously and your man held the whole thing together well. I hope something good will come from this great opportunity to re-purpose UK Ag Policy, post-Brexit. Glad I don't have to make the decisions

It is good they are listening to the likes of you. I am pleased that you were able to contribute.
Will it be on the BBC Parliament channel?

 

[Warnesworth]

Your making a lot of assumptions there just because someone’s bought a direct drill . They might’ve been practicing wheat rape black grass rotation for years , whereas someone with a proper mixed farm with grass , livestock, muck etc, is catching up or lagging behind in your opinion . These farms haven’t wrecked or depleted their soils, and have probably used less chemicals and have better organic matter .
Could even be organic . Which is better, organic farm that ploughs, or non organic that uses chemicals and doesn’t keep any livestock , aka @Clive .?

That's easy. Ploughing is far worse. Doesn't matter whether you are organic or conventional, grass/livestock or arable or mixed. If you want to truly fudge you soil, cultivate it. End of.

 

[DRC]

That's easy. Ploughing is far worse. Doesn't matter whether you are organic or conventional, grass/livestock or arable or mixed. If you want to truly fudge you soil, cultivate it. End of.

Believe that and you’ll believe anything .

 

[delilah]

Best keep your mouth firmly shut because what suits your way of farming or your land and enterprises may be the death of other perfectly good businesses with different circumstances.

This.
Look at the complete dogs breakfast that is the ELMS proposals. A subsidy for min till among the options. A whole raft of options that have timeliness and cropping restrictions that will only be met by reaching for the glyphosate. This lobbying of politicians which results in attempts to micro manage how people farm will result in no 'public good' whatsoever.

 

[DrWazzock]

Haven't we had enough of farming on a civil servants say so? This is why I won't entertain ELMS. As said, leave it to help those in real hardship. Hill farmers and those in LFA. Cut out the middle men and we can manage without it on arable land.
I am not going to take sides in the zero till / plough debate because I can see merit in both approaches. Live and let live.

 

[farmerm]

Haven't we had enough of farming on a civil servants say so? This is why I won't entertain ELMS. As said, leave it to help those in real hardship. Hill farmers and those in LFA. Cut out the middle men and we can manage without it on arable land.
I am not going to take sides in the zero till / plough debate because I can see merit in both approaches. Live and let live.

Neither cultivate or none cultivate producers should be rewarded or penalised at the expense of the other!

 

[yellow belly]

Neither cultivate or none cultivate producers should be rewarded or penalised at the expense of the other!

So what do we do
to reduce nutrient loss overwinter
penalise those that leave land with no cover over winter
or pay those that plant a cover

 

[DRC]

So what do we do
to reduce nutrient loss overwinter
penalise those that leave land with no cover over winter
or pay those that plant a cover

And yet one of the mid tier options is overwintered stubble, or even advanced overwintered stubble,so they must think it’s ok

 

[delilah]

So what do we do

What you are doing already; adopt, adapt and improve. There isn't a snowballs chance that a blanket scheme like ELMS can successfully micro-manage 10's of thousands of individual arable fields through prescriptive rules.

 

[farmerm]

So what do we do
to reduce nutrient loss overwinter
penalise those that leave land with no cover over winter
or pay those that plant a cover

Is the loss of nutrients not a penalty in itself?

 

[yellow belly]

And yet one of the mid tier options is overwintered stubble, or even advanced overwintered stubble,so they must think it’s ok

That option in steward ship is near impossible as it cannot be used where there is risk of run off or nutrient loss overwinter

 

[JCfarmer]

The original poster wants compensation for being zero till for a number of years already???
How much grant funding did he get for the AD plant?
Nice to be in a fortunate position to to be able to apply for one!?
What subsidised payment does he get for the electricity produced?

 

[sjt01]

The original poster wants compensation for being zero till for a number of years already???
How much grant funding did he get for the AD plant?
Nice to be in a fortunate position to to be able to apply for one!?
What subsidised payment does he get for the electricity produced?

No grant funding for AD plant. We funded it totally ourselves, and I built quite a bit with my own hands. We do get feed in tariffs (only a fraction of what was available for solar at the time), but the the oil companies still get funding and big tax reliefs. Taxpayers are also paying for decommissioning of privately owned nuclear power stations.

Not looking for compensation for being zero till in the past, just hoping that instead of paying for shiny new machines for those who have not yet made the leap, there is payment in the future for what these machines should achieve. Payment for results, not payment for equipment.