Nice piece here. I'll have to check out the full article, but I absolutely agree that land ownership is key to addressing issues of environmental degradation. If it's collective, there's simply a much greater probably of its use being for the collective good.
To conclude we are now reducing the amount of land that is farmed. We already import c.40% of our food. So in effect the UK is also exporting any environmental damage caused by that imported food. That is a case of out of sight out of mind. Nether does it make it any easier to influence growing methods or animal welfare. Neither does it ensure good working conditions and pay for those often poorer producers.
Politicians effectively only care about there being food on the supermarket shelves. Then when a disruption to food supplies occurs - such as a Covid outbreak for example - government panics only to discover that the levers they can pull are mostly ineffective nor immediate. But the real problem is that that scare is quickly forgotten.
I am reminded of a Chinese proverb:
“A man with a full stomach has many problems. A man with an empty stomach has one!”
I’m in the UK and specifically in the Yorkshire Dales. I own and farm 90 acres of permanent grassland. I use cattle and sheep to turn human inedible forage into lamb and beef.
My late Grandfather was farming in WW2 when there was day to day oversight/instruction on what/ how to grow or rear. The so called War Ag committees instructed him to grow oats. Growing it was not a problem but ripening it was. That was thanks to the four feet of rain a year we get. Not to mention when it wasn’t raining it was cloudy. This lesson is often repeated by some local farmers trying to grow “whole crop cereals” to make high energy silage for cattle. A crop turning black instead of ripening leads to a relearning of old lessons.
We are also now in the era of Biodiversity Net Gain(BNG)
This is a system whereby green field building projects pay to create new areas of biodiversity.
Nice piece here. I'll have to check out the full article, but I absolutely agree that land ownership is key to addressing issues of environmental degradation. If it's collective, there's simply a much greater probably of its use being for the collective good.
Sorry pressed wrong button!
To conclude we are now reducing the amount of land that is farmed. We already import c.40% of our food. So in effect the UK is also exporting any environmental damage caused by that imported food. That is a case of out of sight out of mind. Nether does it make it any easier to influence growing methods or animal welfare. Neither does it ensure good working conditions and pay for those often poorer producers.
Politicians effectively only care about there being food on the supermarket shelves. Then when a disruption to food supplies occurs - such as a Covid outbreak for example - government panics only to discover that the levers they can pull are mostly ineffective nor immediate. But the real problem is that that scare is quickly forgotten.
I am reminded of a Chinese proverb:
“A man with a full stomach has many problems. A man with an empty stomach has one!”
Hi,
I’m in the UK and specifically in the Yorkshire Dales. I own and farm 90 acres of permanent grassland. I use cattle and sheep to turn human inedible forage into lamb and beef.
My late Grandfather was farming in WW2 when there was day to day oversight/instruction on what/ how to grow or rear. The so called War Ag committees instructed him to grow oats. Growing it was not a problem but ripening it was. That was thanks to the four feet of rain a year we get. Not to mention when it wasn’t raining it was cloudy. This lesson is often repeated by some local farmers trying to grow “whole crop cereals” to make high energy silage for cattle. A crop turning black instead of ripening leads to a relearning of old lessons.
We are also now in the era of Biodiversity Net Gain(BNG)
This is a system whereby green field building projects pay to create new areas of biodiversity.