The budget is about half what it was in 2016 thanks to inflation Half the farmers aren’t in schemes The other half are in schemes that pay for nature not farming - in other words they mostly don’t provide income Agricultural production subsidies don’t exist in England… Martin Lewes (@martinlewes)I heard the latest on this - it’s scandalous, and I’d wager that most of the population believe every farmer gets massive taxpayer support. Am I right in thinking that ended with Brexit, and now only small proportion get anything? — https://x.com/martinlewes/status/2103462477308772446
"a shift toward more plant-based diets may increase the prevalence of inadequate micronutrient intakes in older adults. Intakes of the nutrients vitamin A, B vitamins, calcium, selenium & zinc are most at risk when older adults shift to more plant-based dietary patterns"
It's MUTTON TIME! Macbeth's Orkney Boreray mutton page has just gone live. Along with the familiar whole and half carcass boxes they are repeating the Taster Boxes that proved so popular last time. macbeths.com/collections/bor…
But that isn't what you were posting about @BenGoldsmith You also have decided what @herdyshepherd1 thinks without asking him. As a proffesional ecologist and grazing specialist for many years I can categorically say that sheep grazing done right can be wonderful for nature and the uplands. Your lack of understanding drips from your words here. It's not sheep that are the problem, it is management. Get management right and ecology flows from that WITHOUT reducing numbers of livestock. We don't need rewilding - We need to work with and learn from the communities that have been there for generations to improve the ecosystems they live within. Ben Goldsmith (@BenGoldsmith)I’m a fan of James Rebanks ( @herdyshepherd1). I love his writing, I find him funny, and I admire what he does for nature on his farm. I think our debate on here this weekend about sheep farming has overall been respectful. I’m able to say things which I reckon James knows to be true but cannot say himself. I like to think that (in private) he would agree with me that: -nature in Britain, and especially in our national parks, is in a terrible state; -there are far too many sheep in the British uplands; -sheep contribute nothing to nature recovery, and in fact substantially hold it back; -public money should be for public good; -ELM is absolutely the right idea, but still overly bureaucratic and insufficiently generous; -native cattle (and pigs and ponies) have a beautiful and vital role to play in restoring nature in our most precious landscapes; -a pivot towards emphasising nature in our less agriculturally productive landscapes offers the best and only pathway to economic and social renewal in some pretty tough areas; -nascent publicly and privately funded mechanisms for rewarding nature recovery, such as natural flood management, nutrient run-off mitigation, biodiversity credits, even carbon, offer potentially valuable additional revenue streams for farmers in these landscapes. As *the* sheep farming champion, these are not easy things for James to say in public. But I like to think he knows them to be true. — https://x.com/BenGoldsmith/status/2092338806066126974
