Tom Allen-Stevens travels forward to 2030 and looks back at what progress has been made since 2024 to improve agricultural productivity. What goes around comes around, it seems. The debate about food security and nanotechnology that we’re currently having in the first few months of 2030 has echoes of a very similar discussion that preoccupied …
Written by Mike Donovan I have some sympathy for the new Defra Secretary Ranil Jayawardena. He got the job on Sept 6 and before the month was out was facing questions over ELMS – the greatest change in UK farming since the 1947 Agriculture Act. Ranil’s knowledge of farming is scant and he was surely …
Farmers and growers flocked to the sixth annual Groundswell, the UK’s largest regenerative agricultural show in lateJune this year. It was another sell-out event with 5,500 attendees who travelled to North Hertfordshire for two days ofinformation exchange, inspiration and a bit of liquid refreshment during the worst drought since 1976. Written by Alex Cherry With …
Some people are born to be leaders, most just learn on the way. The latter seems to be how it works in farming. Our leaders are bred. Groomed though various roles to be the right mix of farmer and business we need to represent us. I’ve had the pleasure in meeting some of the spokespeople …
The “3.5% rule” refers to the claim that no government or organisation has withstood a challenge of this percentage of their population or membership mobilised against it during a peak event. This rule is based on an insight that political scientist Mark Lichbach developed in his 1995 book “The Rebel’s Dilemma”. In it, he speculates …
There is so much talk about carbon at the moment, and there is no doubt that farmers will make some income by changing practices to sequester a bit more carbon. Buying HVO versions of Red Diesel is just an example of a way to do this. It costs you are little more to fill the …
