Falling behind on feeding insects to farm animals
The dry weather continues and it’s getting warmer; nearer to the temperatures expected at this time of the year. Grass is slow to recover due to the lack of moisture and it looks as if we will need to wait towards the second half of this month when the Met Office predicts the weather to be unsettled before we get any rain. We will need a wet period with plenty of rain if proper growth is to be restored and silage aftermaths to recover by then.
We are eking out our grass at Tillington and the first round has taken 19 days; plenty long enough at this time of the year normally and we hope to see the second round take a similar number of days. Weeds (docks and thistles) seem immune to the dry weather, as is ragwort and unwanted brambles. Our Lucerne is also unaffected as it sends its roots down ever deeper searching for moisture.
As the challenges continue in agriculture, George Eustice has taken the decision to split the Basic Payment Scheme and rather than a lump sum in December, will now pay half in July and half in December. This has been warmly welcomed by farmers, especially as it will remain a permanent fixture while these payments are phased out over the next few years. The Secretary of State has recognised the cash-flow issues affecting farm businesses and this will make a big difference.
It is good to be able to praise MPs and politicians for a change, but I’m afraid that we all had some bad news as Neil Parish, Conservative MP, resigned last week after being caught watching pornography in the House of Commons. Once again one hears these things and thinks, what was he thinking of? It is incredible, but as there are several other MPs on various charges being investigated, I doubt he will be the last and at least he resigned and subjected himself to an excruciatingly embarrassing interview on his local TV station. Neil will be a loss to agriculture, both as an MP but as chairman of the EFRA committee. He understood farming and was increasingly giving the present government a hard time over the lack of understanding, never mind any action to combat the present crisis; both input prices and labour shortages. Neil was in Brussels for ten years or so and chairmanthe of Committee of Agriculture and rural development and I met him several times there as well as Westminster after his election as an MP in 2010.
Good news for some in the pig industry as Sainsbury’s offers a £2.8million package to offset increased input costs. While there are no details on payment per/kg of pig meat, it is understood that the money will go directly to producers, which the National Pig Association has welcomed. Morrison’s announced a 30p/ kg increase in March in response to rising costs and Waitrose back in February committed to supporting its pig producers. It is hoped other major retailers will now follow.
While the government is cutting journey times in the UK for transportation of animals, which includes an export ban, the trade deal with Australia may involve animals travelling for three times as long. The RSPCA warned that it paves the way for further trade deals which permits poor animal welfare; David Bowles commenting that the UK has promised to lead the world on animal welfare, but the Australian deal sends a message to future trade partners that poor animal welfare is no impediment to a trade deal.
In their defence, Australian beef farming is very different to the UK; not least due to the vast distances when moving cattle from the outback, where cattle are allowed to travel for 48 hours without break for food or water. This is not an Australian issue; it’s about allowing unfettered access to cheaper meat produced to different standards while raising standards at home.
More to the point, it’s about the government breaking its word once again, having promised it would not happen.
Industry leaders have already attacked the Australian trade deal for handing Australian farmers tariff-free access to our markets from day one with a cap of 60 times the current allowance, having promised farmers a 15 year window in order to prepare. I suspect that there will be more pressure in the future as further deals are signed with other countries that produce meat to different standards.
A dairy farmer in Wales has lost his entire milking herd of cows to bovine TB. Pembrokeshire dairy farmer Stuart Williams says that his mental health has come under severe pressure as he lost all his cows, ten years after winning Supreme Dairy Champion at the Royal Welsh Show. He is hoping to re-stock and start again at some point in the future.
I see the government is considering a U-turn on the fois gras and fur importation ban after the cabinet called it ‘fundamentally un-Conservative’. The ‘animals abroad’ bill will now focus on the ban on trading in hunting trophies, which is a manifesto pledge and the sale and advertising of travel experiences, which are or might be cruel to animals.
We are falling behind on opportunities to feed insects to farm animals in this country as British law has lagged behind the EU since Brexit according to Rachel O’Connor, an agricultural lawyer. Speaking at the Insects as Feed and Food conference at the Natural History Museum last week she pointed out that we do have permissions for seven insect species to be used as an aquaculture feed, but that the EU has extended that permission for those seven species plus silk worms to be used in pig and poultry feed.
Insect protein is seen as a possible substitute for imported soya, but the development of insect protein in the UK has been halted since Brexit which was meant to loosen red tape, but in this case is holding back development. About 10,000 tonnes of insect protein – but according to experts it could be 500,000 tonnes by the end of the decade. It is predicted that the UK could produce 540,000t of insect protein by 2050 which would be the equivalent of importing soya from almost 400,000 acres of land.
The conference heard that while the nutritional value of insect protein compares well to other proteins such as meat, the major challenge in using insects as food for humans is to process them in a way which is safe and appetising! In the meantime there is a group of activists who are wanting insect sentience put in place; you could not make it up!
A driver who ‘nudged’ eco-activist has lost her licence despite ‘Insulate Britain’ activists not supporting her prosecution and asking for the charges to be dropped (full marks to them for that). As a mother on the school run, Basildon magistrates heard that Sherrilyn Speid, who runs a food business, got out of her car to remonstrate with three members of Insulate Britain blocking the road. When they refused to move she said that that she would drive through them and proceeded to gently push them up the road in her Range Rover Sport . She was disqualified for a year.