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.
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.