I think we were lucky yesterday. Soon after I helped the Farming Minister, Jim Paice MP, launch the first report from the Green Food Project, the rain came down at the Great Yorkshire Show. In fact, it was so bad that the remainder of the Show has now been cancelled. A first in its 154 year history. Please don't blame the Minister (or me) for this one. It really is a terrible shame for both exhibitors and visitors. What a horrible summer we're having.
But amid the murk and gloom, I was pleased that our report did receive a relatively favourable reaction. While the idea of a home-grown curry grabbed many of the headlines (see here and here), the report did trigger wider debate, Most noticeably, Leo Hickman from the Guardian, ran one of his all-day online discussions. He ended with this verdict:
"This report feels like the start of a long overdue journey. As others have already noted, it lacks detail on solutions, speaking only in generalities. But that misses its point, I think. What the report shows is that opposing forces within this sometimes fraught debate – a debate further muddied by the inclusion of a wide range of vested interests - can come together and try to forge a way forward. I certainly await the next step with anticipation.
But what I find particularly encouraging is seeing issues such as climate change, population growth and biodiversity now being uttered by all participants alongside terms such as profitability, yield and intensification.
I'm pleased, too, to see an emphasis placed on consumer choices and waste reduction rather than just an effort to highlight the need to eke out ever more productivity from every hectare of available land. The choices we each make as consumers of food – reduced meat intake, for example – and our societal attitude to food waste are just as crucial as the decisions taken by farmers and the wider food industry. We just need some savvy, determined politicians to guide (and, yes, regulate, where necessary) all of us much further down this path. Here's hoping."
I think this is fair and is similar to how I'm feeling about the project. We'll stick with it though. All the 'vested interests' are sitting around the table with the minister and the report provides us with an agreed reference point. We'll now need to deliver on the recommendations.
Whatever your doing this week, I hope that the rain is not ruining your plans. And perhaps if you do have plans, it's probably best not to invite me (or the Minister) to come and visit...
Redkite---there is something about Hope Farm that however rose tinted glasses look at it they have tremendous difficulty showing that the return on capital(if of course it was the farmers own as opposed to obtained by subs and legacy's)is sufficient to call it a thriving business.Lets face facts and that is 1)the RSPB do not really farm it there partner neighbour farms it and share the profits,it is similar to just renting it out to the neighbour,2)All of us farmers and retired farmers could farm more environmentally friendly if we acquired our farms for no cost to ourselves via subs and legacy's
However I will never take anything away from the RSPB on the point of doing a good job for wildlife and giving a lead to farmers on things that help wildlife.
The latest crisis in dairy farming makes it more difficult to do things for wildlife as milk producers are being forced to take another 2p a litre cut.How unfair it all is farmer does most of the work and cost of producing a pint of milk and gets 14p a pint,price in supermarket about 46p a pint.What a rip off at both ends of chain.
Leo Hickman is great ! the great challenge of course is that across Europe we see the abandonment of the old low intensity farming systems that rendered such a wealth of wildlife as well as intimate relationship with the land for its people. We have to try and hold the hands of the clock here ; there is a resurgence....and as energy becomes more expensive people will have to live nearer to the land or many of them....I think and hope .
I have only briefly reviewed the Report, Martin but it seems to contain many good ideas on a vitaly important subject. I may have missed it but I think the RSPB's Hope Farm would have been a good example of a case study for inclusion in the Report. Perhaps there was a reason for not doing so. The other point that I thought could do with a little more input is the development of indicators, or means of mearsuremen,t for the success or otherwise of the various initiatives the Report proposes. Having "yard sticks" and target dates along side them would help to ensure much of the recommendations come about.