BY BEN EAGLE As a nation we pride ourselves in aspiring to produce food that is of high quality and we hold animal welfare standards in similarly high regard. Post Brexit all the rhetoric coming out of Defra at the moment suggests that Brand Britannia Farming will be focused as much as possible on producing high welfare, high quality food that has minimal impact on … Continue reading Do You Trust The Tractor?
BY BEN EAGLE How confident are you that British workers will embrace the fields and step into the shoes of the growing number of European migrant workers who are choosing to work in countries such as France or Germany instead of the UK? Personally, my confidence levels are low. The early indicators suggest that Britain is facing a labour crisis and there needs to be … Continue reading Emerging Farm Labour Crisis
BY BEN EAGLE Anybody involved in British agriculture should have accepted by now that the days for direct payments based on land area are limited in number. Instead we will be embracing a system of ‘public payments for public goods’, whatever that means. Although Michael Gove has in recent weeks offered a trickle of potential policy changes and words of general direction, there has been … Continue reading The End of Direct Payments?
BY BEN EAGLE I admit it, I’m a Gove convert. However, when he was appointed to his role as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the Cabinet reshuffle of June last year I took a big gulp and expected the worst. I was highly sceptical, looking back on his history in the Department for Education and his status as a Leave … Continue reading Converting to Gove
BY BEN EAGLE It’s now under a month to go until we all revel in the Christmas festivities (those of us who celebrate Christmas at any rate, which is most people in this country). It will almost be time to wave goodbye to 2017, which, with my hat on at least, has not been the most optimistic of years, particularly it seems as it draws … Continue reading View From the Countryside
BY JAMIE FOSTER Michael Gove has announced a new Environmental Watchdog which will be created to protect Britain’s wildlife, land, sea and air following Brexit. It is intended to be a bulwark against the powerful and to ensure that environmental standards don’t slip when we leave the EU. A cross party environmental committee has expressed concern about what will happen in the aftermath of Brexit. … Continue reading Gove’s Environmental Watchdog
BY ANASTASIA CHOO Is there anything that feels more nostalgic or autumnal than a basket of freshly picked apples? Each year in October a friend brings me an abundant mix of Cox’s Orange Pippins, Worcester Pearmain and Egremont Russets from her orchard to celebrate a delicious harvest. As an apple grower she is aware that traditional English apples are in danger of becoming some dwindling … Continue reading Autumn Apple Roses
BY BEN EAGLE People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have lost the plot. A couple of weeks ago a representative from their organisation appeared on ITV’s This Morning programme with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield to ‘inform’ viewers that sheep shearing is an inherently cruel practice and should be banned. Elisa Allen called on viewers to stop buying and wearing wool and instead … Continue reading PETA Have Lost the Plot
BY JIM WEBSTER They always say that timing is the secret of good comedy, and frankly it’s the secret of success in agriculture as well. I knew two chaps who retired after a lifetime in dairy farming. For a tenant, selling your dairy herd basically pays for the house you have to buy. The two men were much of an age; their herds were pretty … Continue reading Brexit For Farmers
BY BEN EAGLE On the 18th July this year 33-year-old Devon farmer Todd Riggs was killed in a farm accident. He had been trapped under a trailer and despite the efforts of the emergency services Mr Riggs lost his life. Unfortunately this case is far from unique. Agriculture tops the charts when it comes to the rate of people fatally injured as a result of … Continue reading How Many More Must Die?
BY BEN EAGLE It was certainly a shock to see Michael Gove reinstated to the Cabinet, especially in his new role leading Defra. Rarely does the department receive such a ‘big hitter’, usually being seen (frustratingly) as a relative backwater from which lower profile ministers can rise through the political ranks. Gove is a controversial, outspoken character and his appointment has ruffled feathers in the … Continue reading Giving Gove a Chance
BY CSM EDITORIAL On June 13th Emma Bean wrote a piece on LabourList (the equivalent of Conservative Home) suggesting that the Labour Party should focus its efforts on Scotland, on Jewish Britain and on the Countryside, where it performed weakly at the General Election on the 8th. Let us put Ruth Davidson and Labour Antisemitism aside for one moment. Regards the Countryside, this is what … Continue reading Labour Calls Farmers Irrelevant
BY BEN EAGLE ‘’And did those feet in ancient time, Walk upon England’s mountains green…’’ The feet in Blake’s reference above were of a somewhat holier order than you and me, but the words of a New Jerusalem have suddenly taken on new relevance in recent days, following George Monbiot’s radical tweet encouraging us all to get off the footpath and start trespassing. Monbiot … Continue reading Trespassing in England’s Green and Pleasant Land
BY BEN EAGLE With the Tories sky high in the polls and Labour in disarray, it could be said that the overall result of this election is easier to predict than any other in living memory. Despite living in an age in which the unexpected often becomes reality, as all the pundits now say, it seems highly unlikely that the Conservatives won’t stretch their majority, … Continue reading The Devil is in the Detail
BY JIM WEBSTER Sheep aren’t the most stupid of God’s creatures; they’re not even the most stupid mammal. Indeed, horses could well have been created to allow sheep to feel that smug glow of intellectual superiority that everyone needs from time to time. Not that this is high praise. There are single celled creatures floating in seas of freezing ammonia, illuminated by the dying suns … Continue reading A Cumbrian Farmer Writes
BY BEN EAGLE For the Oxford Farming Conference’s annual debate this year family farming was put under the spotlight. The motion suggested that the biggest threat to the family farm is the family farm itself and, perhaps surprisingly, attendees voted in favour of the motion by 182 to 157. Had the debate been held down the road at the Oxford Real Farming Conference I suspect … Continue reading What Future for Britain’s Family Farms?
BY CSM EDITORIAL Country Squire Magazine has often said how keen we are to collect farmers’ opinions about Brexit and farmers’ thoughts on the state of farming in the UK today. As promised, here is the Country Squire Magazine Farmers’ 2017 Questionnaire. Please click here to get to the questions. Once you have completed the questions, please go to the Contact us page of this website and … Continue reading CSM Farmer Questionnaire 2017
BY BEN EAGLE Everyone has an agenda. Our personal actions and choices are led by it and everything we do leads towards achieving it. Unless we purposefully establish what our agenda is, we may be completely unaware of it. However, we follow it regardless, knowingly or unknowingly. It was shaped by our upbringing, the people we have met, the ideas we have been exposed to, … Continue reading Let’s Work Towards a Countryside Consensus
BY ANNA BOWEN 1 You had no idea that the faithful Aga was the pinnacle of middle class aspiration. 2 The Aga was frequently home to both a casserole and a lamb. 3 Christmas morning was an excruciating wait for farm work to be over before you could open presents. 4 It was totally normal to have a flask of frozen semen. 5 Equally you … Continue reading 25 Things You Know If You Grew Up On A Farm
