the future for food, farming and the environment

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

 

 

 

Here's the link to the supporting documents and the ways to submit personal contributions to the consultation on the future for food, farming and the environment, should anyone be interested:

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-future-for-food-farming-and-the-environment

 

Foreword reproduced for ease in case folks don't want to read the whole package:

Foreword

Leaving the European Union (EU) provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform agriculture . This paper outlines how we plan to change the way we use the land, so as better to promote health and harmony.

For more than forty years, the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has decided how we farm our land, the food we grow and rear and the state of the natural environment . Over that period, the environment has deteriorated, productivity has been held back and public health has been compromised . Now we are leaving the EU we can design a more rational, and sensitive agriculture policy which promotes environmental enhancement, supports profitable food production and contributes to a healthier society .

The environmental damage we have suffered while inside the Common Agricultural Policy has been significant. Soil health has deteriorated. Farmland bird numbers have dropped. Precious habitats have been eroded. And at the same time a system of subsidy skewed towards those with the biggest landholdings has kept land prices and rents high, prevented new talent coming into farming and held back innovation

Even with those constraints, however, British farmers have been producing high quality food, doing their best to protect the environment and keeping our rural areas economically healthy 

But government can do more to help. And outside the EU the possibilities for healthy growth are all the greater.

The proposals in this paper set out a range of possible paths to a brighter future for farming. They are the beginning of a conversation, not a conclusion and we want everyone who cares about the food we eat and the environment around us to contribute.

 

The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP  

[Stere]

Sounds good but the devil will be in the detail.

 

Im not confident as goverment policy is controlled by big buisness lobbying.

 

Intersting thanks. seems chickens made money.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

There's no bigger lobbyist in this area than the NFU!  And they don't represent the individual hill farmer but rather the multi-national conglomerate, the landed gentry and big $

 

NFU London office:  Smith Square, Westminster, London SW1

 

DEFRA address:  Nobel House on Smith Square, SW1

 

 

[Stere]

Hill farmers or LFA getting 91% income from CAP.

 

Without CAP no  economic sense or possibility in farming hills.

 

George Mobiots rewilding idea would of already happened decades ago  without CAP as farms would of gone out of buisness?

[Vespasian]

30 minutes ago, Stere said:

Hill farmers or LFA getting 91% income from CAP.

 

Without CAP no  economic sense or possibility in farming hills.

 

George Mobiots rewilding idea would of already happened decades ago  without CAP as farms would of gone out of buisness?

Playing the devils advocate, our manicured hill farms are what attract tourists as well as our farming landscape in general..

 

Tourism is a much bigger earner than farming..

 

I'm not sure I agree with wilding of our hill country..  I'd hate to imagine our hills covered in stunted shrubs and tree's..  

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

3 hours ago, Vespasian said:

Playing the devils advocate, our manicured hill farms are what attract tourists as well as our farming landscape in general..

 

Tourism is a much bigger earner than farming..

 

I'm not sure I agree with wilding of our hill country..  I'd hate to imagine our hills covered in stunted shrubs and tree's..  

Mmmmmm....

 

Which is more and less likely to appeal to the tourist (mindful that there is minimal economic output from hill farming and I interpret your premise to be that tourism is of greater value that hill farming)

 

 

[Mull]

A very nice view of rolling fields and hills!

Half a dozen bluebells and a thicket!

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

2 hours ago, Mull said:

A very nice view of rolling fields and hills!

Half a dozen bluebells and a thicket!

[openspaceman]

5 hours ago, Mull said:

Half a dozen bluebells and a thicket!

Snot a thicket

[Peasgood]

Take farmers out of those hills and you'll be left with an unmanaged thatch of brambles and a pile of dog s***.

I think they will leave of their own accord before long.