Fine words from Defra butters no parsnips

Gilbert Greenall | 1st February 2022 | Brussels, Comment, International, Lobbying, Policy & Think Tanks
RHYL, WALES - MAY 16: Biodegradeable polyester sheeting covers a maize crop on May 16, 2020 in Rhyl, Wales. Agricultural operations in the UK have been able to continue work amid the quarantine restrictions imposed to control the spread of COVID-19. Many segments of the agricultural industry are worried about the supply of farm labour given the extensive travel bans across Europe, although special charter flights have imported foreign workers to the UK. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
RHYL, WALES - MAY 16: Biodegradeable polyester sheeting covers a maize crop on May 16, 2020 in Rhyl, Wales. Agricultural operations in the UK have been able to continue work amid the quarantine restrictions imposed to control the spread of COVID-19. Many segments of the agricultural industry are worried about the supply of farm labour given the extensive travel bans across Europe, although special charter flights have imported foreign workers to the UK. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Can new laws make farming pay? If not, our countryside faces the biggest threat for centuries

The recent trade deals with Australia and New Zealand sound an alarm bell for cattle and sheep farmers on Britain’s most marginal land. Are they to be thrown under a bus along with our fishermen? They certainly are not expecting sympathy – the Conservative Party stopped being the party of the landed interest in 1846 when the Corn Laws were repealed. 

Despite Jeremy Clarkson shining a sympathetic spotlight on agriculture recently, landowners don’t get good press. Ownership of land is always an emotional subject and most landowners own, well… A lot. Just ask them how many acres and multiply by £6,700, the UK average price for one acre, and bingo! A brand new person to hate. This makes even those with the most modest landholding ‘rich’, and even when forced to sell their produce below the cost of production, undeserving of government subsidy. 

So, if land ownership invites hostility, current farming practice is equally contentious. The environmentalists have farmers cornered with their methane belching cattle, biodiversity deserts, bee-destroying pesticides and soil erosion choking our rivers. The charge sheet is endless. 

It doesn’t help that the average age is 60, the vast majority white and, worse, men. Not much diversity there. Even ripping out hedgerows, a practice that ended 40 years ago and has been illegal for 23, is trotted out along with alleged recreational killing of …

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