Why do we need more unenforceable rules?
Jinsy and David Robinson are organic dairy farmers from Penyrallt Farm in the Teifi Valley. It is a traditional, mixed, family farm, run by the Robinson family since 1960 and together they strive to farm in a way which has as little impact as possible on the nature around them
LAST year we saw the NFU taking positive action to maintaining food standards in the UK, with petitions and face-to-face meetings by Minette Batters and the Prime Minister.
On the NFU website it states ‘we need the UK Government to put laws in place that prevent imports of food that are produced in ways that would be illegal in the UK.’
What a surprising U-turn has happened. The NFU has successfully lifted an Eu-wide ban on neonicitinoids for UK sugar-beet farmers, so we now can produce food to standards illegal in the EU. The chemical in question is a nerve-poison and causes adverse effects on bees and other insects.
As late as last August the UK Government’s stance was ‘the weight of evidence shows a significant risk,’ a statement reiterated by the UN and WHO. It would appear that the government and the NFU have bent under pressure from British Sugar, whose managing director is married to a Home Office minister. Why my interest in this topic since I do not use such products? Firstly, if we wish to do trade with other countries some agreement on production methods is required. Secondly, as a beekeeper my concern is that the insecticide is water-soluble and once it leaves the farmed environment it is absorbed by wild flowers and thence into pollen, nectar and then honey.
But rest assured, the new chairman for Trade and Agriculture is Tim Smith, former technical director of Tesco when horse meat was incorporated into beef burgers and who has stated that concerns over chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef are alarmism. So, the onus is on you the consumer . . . read the labels!
As regular readers know, we run a small sawmill which provides us with the raw materials for shed construction and furnituremaking. With the log-shed currently full, I thought I would offer it to a neighbour who has recently
installed a log-boiler. My offer was turned down most politely as they are on RHI (otherwise known as ‘cash for ash’) and can have wood from ‘approved suppliers’ only. For us to register as an approved supplier would cost £507.60 plus administration costs, annually.
The logic behind this new legislation is to prevent the burning of green wood, but one soon learns that burning green wood does not give much heat so why do we need more unenforceable rules?
With news reports of customs officials stopping lorries and confiscating the drivers’ sandwiches because they contained ham, this shows that when needs must customs officials are capable of monitoring borders. What a pity that such diligence could have prevented ash dieback, Dutch elm disease and foot-and-mouth disease
from entering the country.
We have just added another to the fleet, a New Holland T4.55. This to replace the Ford 3910 which is looking very tired having been a yard-scraping tractor for many years.
Now scraping is much more enjoyable with a heated cab, a radio and lights! Consequently the operation takes longer as I have to make the job last until the end of the item on the radio.
The new-to-us tractor is three years old with 8,000 hours on the clock. From the registration document I see that it is from a local farm recently featured in this publication. This set me thinking that since I put three hours a week on the clock, the previous owner must have been putting on 50+ hours . . . I’m glad I’m not having to spend that much time pushing ordure around!