My day started with a real bang the other morning, when my bike tyre exploded. Everyone stared, wondering if it had been a gunshot.
Forced to find another way in to work, I took full advatage of being on the bus and tube with commuters to eavesdrop ... and the conversation was not typical for a grey and chilly urban midweek schlep. It was all horses and foxes. Not the hunt gathering sort of conversations, but outrage at subjects that aren't normally relevant to urban residents lives. When it comes to our kids and our food; it's personal.
Horsemeat used to be tracked across the EU, but then members, including the UK, voted for a voluntary scheme. We can only officially claim to be aware of 1.8 million kilograms of horsemeat being exported out of the UK to countries within the EU between January and November 2012, and 2.2 million kilograms to countries outside the EU in the same period. Not sure what happened after that.
"You get what you pay for," commented the farmer selling his own butchered meat at my local market. "When markets force prices down beyond suppliers limits to produce goods, something gives - and that's made worse where there's a legislative vacuum." He added.
As if horsemeat isn't bad enough news for consumers, I sadly have to report that we are at a crucial junction and the path chosen now by our Government will shape the very future of farming, the food we get in our shops and the wider countryside. In short, the very future of our green and pleasant land is hanging in the balance.
David Cameron recently welcomed a deal with Europe. But that deal wasn't great for the custodians of our coutryside. Every UK taxpayer contributes money to the Common Agriculture Policy. That money goes in to two pots for farmers. The biggest, lets call it pot one, supports farmers for their business of producing food. The smaller, pot two, covers the costs of value added farming which maintains hedges, ditches, moorland, riverbanks, floodplains and all those other bits of the countryside where wildlife should thrive, people can wander, work and play, and where nature can take care of filtering our water and air and all those other tricksy things that keep up us alive in our fragile ecosystem.
The thing is, pots one and two haven't really got any bigger in the current financial climate. The UK Government now has to decide how much it can move from pot one to pot two. Whatever they do it's going to be painful and maybe the end for some farms. The RSPB doesn't want to see that happen. I love farmers, especially Chris and Iain Learmonth - even Jimmy Docherty who wins the prize for most chic farm ever.
But, what is important is that UK taxpayers money is invested in high nature value farming, which improves our countryside, increases opportunities for rural development and improves our environment.
There should be plenty of food in the UK countryside to support wildlife, yet species like turtle doves are close to vanishing forever. Food is one of the issues behind that decline. London has seen a thee hundrd per-cent increase in goldfinches over the past few years as they desperately seek food in our gardens. It's easy to get sentimental and to care too much. Feeding wildlife is good and kind in moderation, but remember the first half of that word and give wild things the respect, and distance, they deserve.
We all deserve a healthy countryside and we all deserve safe food. We all want investment in sustainable development, especially among businesses the length and breadth of the country. I'm sure every MP would agree with that, so please ask yours to support the transfer of as much taxpayers money as is legally possible from pot one to pot two of CAP.