I mentioned that MP Robert Flello had done well in the Private Members' Ballot and would be trying to introduce a Bill into Parliament on the subject of sustainable livestock management. This is a really tricky subject, and because of its difficulty it does not get as much government attention as it should. What would a sustainable livestock industry look like?
It probably wouldn't involve the import of soya-based animal feed from areas of destroyed rainforest. It probably wouldn't involve using so much of our productive farmland to grow grain to feed to cattle - we could grow food we could eat directly on that land instead. Might it involve keeping animals indoors for longer and scrubbing their greenhouse gas emissions out of the air in their sheds before it escapes into the atmosphere to worsen cliamte change? Might it involve eating less meat? Or more poultry and less red meat?
Tricky stuff indeed. But Mr Flello also has an Early Day Motion which is attracting many MPs' signatures. It is one of the most successful EDMs of this parliamentary session and gives a flavour of the thinking behind the Bill..
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
Sooty and mirlo - that's it for this subject! I won't post any more comments from either of you on this particular blog (EDM 367) as you are descending into something less admirable than exchanging views. You are both welcome on this blog, and I love your comments (even when I don't agree with them - that's not a problem) but you should kiss and make up and start a new discussion on another blog without any name-calling please. I am sure I'll give you lots of chances to disagree over issues such as this one.
Mirlo
For sure you do not know anything about dairying that i farmed cows for 45 years and you should not spread untruths to the general public.
Sooty
This is a ridiculous argument . If you do not know about the work of Derek Ratcliffe you do not know very much about nature conservation in the UK. Please follow this link and you will find out why he cannot buy a farm!!!! www.independent.co.uk/.../derek-ratcliffe-492052.html
Mirlo The facts are that the U K is a net importer of milk products to the massive amount i have quoted twice and the fact that some milk powder is exported to China is immaterial as you may not know there is no profit in it hardly and at one time it was tipped away as liquid so obviously better to help China.Farmers are getting out of dairying in masses yet you state they make lots of money you must be wrong as farmers getting 17p to 25p a litre fact not hardly profitable at the higher price,losing money at lower price.Farming has always changed for centuries and to survive farmers have adapted would you have them all go bankrupt.the fields you let go was obviously because it was not profitable and the new tenant or whatever made money by ryegrass if your system was profitable you would have kept them.
I deal in facts and if they are questioned check them out but even when i went to the trouble to point out Marks blog where farmers got prizes you will not recognise facts,here is another one you got wrong where you just guess,i am not young but what that as got to do with it i do not know,i am 68.
My attitude to people like Derek Ratcliffe is why does he not buy a farm,farm it has he suggests and make lots of money,do not know if you know why but i do,it is really easy to criticise farmers but not many like yourself being critical with loads of wrong facts get out there and farm,why like Derek Radcliffe it is easier to tell farmers what to do than do it.Please note i deal in facts where you seem to go on what a book says,guesses and things with no substance not even admitting that U K is a net importer of dairy products ,just check that fact.Ihave never denied something you seem intent on insinuating i have that less farmland birds now than in 1950s,farming has moved on and maybe birds have suffered but you would find it impossible to prove farming is to blame,for instance the cuckoo suffered more than most believed to be what happens in Africa,suspect you drive a car so all who do have to share the blame do not put it all on farmers,wonder if because you gave up the small farm you are nasty to farms and farmers there just has to be a reason.Met people like D R all my farming life 45 years and farmers have a saying those that can do, those that can't tell others what to do.
I believe that the UK is a net importer of dairy products at the moment and that milk production has decreased in recent years. There has been a push towards trying to increase exports of higher value dairy products such as cheese as this obviously makes fundamental economic sense. It is true to say that most farmers are there principally to make a living, but then that that has always been the case. Demand in the UK is relatively stable, but consumption of dairy based products in some developing countries is increasing as wealth, desire, supply and population increase.
As intensive dairying is, in my opinion, one of the most damaging land management practices for biodiversity this scenario is a dangerous one for wildlife. The only economic way forward in a global market would seem to be to go down the super-sized dairy route. You could argue that this way would even be better for biodiversity if it is done well as the nutrients and waste from dairy farming which currently make it so damaging to wildlife can be better controlled and even removed from the system to be used elsewhere. Whether it is sustainable depends on your meaning of the word but it could be one where all the food is home grown. It would certainly create a different landscape and without outdoor animals and one that people might not want for other reasons.
As for wildflower meadows, most of these went 40 plus years ago when there was little protection of sites and a completely different perspective on nature conservation. At that time even sympathetic farmers were pushed into fertilising and improving fields to make money, but, for most dairy farmers, just to provide a decent standard of living. Wouldn't most of us do the same? Of course there are many farmers and landowners who are not sympathetic to the conservation movement, just as there are in any walk of life. But they have human rights. The RSPB and other conservation organisations do a decent job buying and managing land but we also need to build as much biodiversity around those sites as possible. And this means working with farmers.