Agriculture
Agriculture
Do we Grow the Right Food: Incredible Insights
Do we Grow the Right Food in the UK? The fact I am asking the question, do we grow the right food tells you the likely answer. A traditional British diet used to comprise a lot of bread, potatoes, root vegetables,…
This is it, our final chance
About five years ago I had a discussion on with a local dairy farmer about feeding the world or saving the planet, our final chance. Which must we do first? Save the planet was and still is my answer and scientifically…
Grazing Pressure
Grazing pressure has transformed our world and it must be used again to transform it once more. The Sahara was created by grazing pressure and is expanding as a consequence. The same applies to the American dust bowl. The Highland clearances…
Sugar and the Bees
Sugar and the Bees – Sustainable Food Production The use of neonicotinoids is controversial, but we know that they are absolutely lethal to bees. They are a class of neurotoxic pesticides, banned in the EU, loved by Sugar Beet farmers in…
Can We Build A Sustainable Future for Farming
Introduction – A Sustainable Future for Farming The agricultural sector is at a crossroads, faced with the pressing need to adapt to climate change and an increasing demand for food. Sustainable agriculture has emerged as a crucial approach to address these…
Sustainability in Farming
When I talk about sustainability in farming, which I do a lot, I don’t just mean looking after the environment and reducing global warming. I mean making sure farming communities benefit in future from sustainability in farming. They need to earn…
Soil
Soil is something we all take for granted. I’m surprised, first of all, that I have not written about this before. Soil is the absolute foundation for farming and we exploit soil at our peril. It comes in many guises, from…
Feed or Save Our World ?
Feed or Save Our World; that is the question asked by farmers. The simple academic answer is we must save the world, then we can feed the humans. In trying harder and harder simply to feed ten billion we are destroying…
Agricultural Methane Emissions Must be Eliminated as a No 1 Priority
Short term gains in the fight to save the planet can be made if we understand that dealing with methane emissions must be a priority 1st is best. Methane is rapidly heating up our world and some sources we can directly…
Crofting is the Ultimate Sustainable Farming
This post explains why Crofting is Sustainable Farming, particularly on farming with beef and sheep. Why? Firstly it is important to state that crofting is a developed traditional farming system that makes best use of it’s local environment for farming. The…
A Farmers Perspective, where do we go from here
From a farmers perspective times are hard. Not least, the weather has been awful for the last two years, one too wet, one too dry. This will keep happening. However that is not the only issue. We live in changing times…
Sheep Farming in Wales, Time for Profound Change
Let’s Revolutionise Sheep Farming in Wales and continue to shape the character of the nations environment. A lot of upland Wales is unsuitable for any other type of farming. I have spent quite a bit of time in Wales over the…
The Power of Genomics – Improve Farm Sustainability
We must grasp the power of genomics firmly to help agriculture, but not simply to raise yields. We need to be smarter than that. LINK
Sheep Farming Reform is Long Overdue
Sheep farming reform is long overdue in the UK. We have unique system that produces about eight million lambs for slaughter each year. This system involves 18 million ewes when just 8 million should be enough. Why? Tradition. We have what…
Time for Another Agricultural Revolution
It is Time for Another Agricultural Revolution
Taking Account of Hidden Costs Results in Sustainable Food Production
Taking account of hidden costs in food production will result in sustainable food production. These hidden costs are called Externalities in traditional economics. That sounds really complicated. It isn’t. True cost accounting is the correct way to look at and evaluate…
