I’m a farmer, ask me anything

[AskAFarmer]

As title! :)

But that was the point of the legal challenge from Wild Justice - they challenged NE to show how they knew licences were being delivered legally, NE couldn’t, so they made a snap decision to change the way they administer them.
But you can still get a licence and legally cull crows so I don’t know why everyone is complaining!
Good to see you’ve restructured your business to reduce subsidy dependence, I wish more people were doing it. I think so many businesses are dependent on BPS we’ll see a lot of people go under when it goes.

What do you think about organic meat and milk? I read an articles ages ago which was part of a weekly column by a dietician/paediatrician at Great Ormond Street which basically said that if you only buy one organic thing then buy milk and then meat because of the hormones in it.

Also, are there any incentives for farmers who farm organically and who sell to more local companies to keep food miles down? Do we export much food?

But that was the point of the legal challenge from Wild Justice - they challenged NE to show how they knew licences were being delivered legally, NE couldn’t, so they made a snap decision to change the way they administer them.

The general licence worked. Crows need to be controlled across the UK, there are no exceptions. There is no concern over crow numbers.
Realistically, every landowner in the UK will need to apply for a licence as they all need to control crows. So all that’s happened is that a successful system has been swept aside, in favour of one that creates yet more form filling and red tape, will cost the government (taxpayer) hugely in terms of the extra admin needed, and will open landowners and pest controllers to unnecessary legal action.
And in the meantime, in areas where crows will now be uncontrolled, there’ll be more sheep maimed and killed.

It was an incredibly misguided and short sighted campaign.

Good to see you’ve restructured your business to reduce subsidy dependence, I wish more people were doing it. I think so many businesses are dependent on BPS we’ll see a lot of people go under when it goes.

The trouble is, although we manage, not everyone could farm the way we do.

The subsidy system needs to be overhauled. Landowners are currently paid for owning land - it used to be that your payment would be worked out by how much farming you do, but that’s not the case anymore.

The truth of just losing subsidies, in the current system, will mean that the public will get a shock about how much high quality meat actually costs.

What do you think about organic meat and milk? I read an articles ages ago which was part of a weekly column by a dietician/paediatrician at Great Ormond Street which basically said that if you only buy one organic thing then buy milk and then meat because of the hormones in it.

We don’t give hormones in the UK so that’s rubbish.
I don’t buy organic, I think it’s all a bit pointless.

Also, are there any incentives for farmers who farm organically and who sell to more local companies to keep food miles down?

No.

Do we export much food?

Yes, but I’m not sure how much tbh.

Well the general licence didn’t work from the perspective of wildlife ie NE couldn’t demonstrate it would be applied legally & you & I both know that it is used unlawfully. But crows can still be controlled under licence! I don’t get the problem.
Hopefully game bird release will decline soon & remove a major food source for these predators.
In terms of support payments, do you think many farmers have the skills/desire to focus their business to lever environmental payments to an equivalent level of BPS? I think if farmers are left subsidy-less it’ll result in a race to low costs & ‘efficiency’ that we can never win.
I think food prices need to go up.

There are maintenance payments for organic farmers, but nothing yet to support local supply chains, selling to local markets etc unless you include grants to diversify & adapt your business - I don’t think any uk government would try influencing/controlling the markets, even to the level of mandating that prisons/schools/hospitals etc should use domestic products as a first choice (which would be a great idea IMO)

Sorry if this has already been answered but where do livestock go at night?! Do they stay in the fields in the dark?

I don’t get the problem.

Clearly not. I and hundreds of thousands of others do though.

Sorry if this has already been answered but where do livestock go at night?! Do they stay in the fields in the dark?

Think this is my favourite question ever

Yes. They stay out at night.

Sorry to bang on AskAFarmer and this will be the last I say on it but you do know that you can STILL get a licence and you can STILL cull crows? So in effect, there is no problem. NE need to sort out their admin, sure, but you can still protect your livestock from predators, just like you could before.
It's a lot of anger for nowt, and it reveals a lot of animosity and venom amongst farmers towards people who take the wildlife angle. Just like the 'rewilding' debate.

Sorry to bang on AskAFarmer and this will be the last I say on it but you do know that you can STILL get a licence and you can STILL cull crows? So in effect, there is no problem

I’ve already given a (several) full answer(s) on why there is a problem, and addressed this EXACT point in some detail.

Do feel free to keep ‘banging on’ about it, but until you ask a different question, please don’t expect a different answer.

It's a lot of anger for nowt, and it reveals a lot of animosity and venom amongst farmers towards people who take the wildlife angle

So says you.
Farmers are the custodians of the countryside. It doesn’t look the way it is, and house the wildlife it does by accident. It is farming a farmers who shape the land, who protect the balance, and who respect the nature we live in, and it’s been that way for hundreds of years.

If you have a problem with farmers and farming, fine, good for you. But if you’re here just to start an ill-informed fight, and perpetuate the ‘farmers vs wildlife’ myth then I’m afraid I’ve got better things to do.

We don’t give hormones in the UK so that’s rubbish.

That's really interesting, I thought that dairy cattle were given reproductive hormones and that it was growth hormones that weren't given. The article I read was possibly accurate at the time because it was when my eldest was small and they are now in their 20s.

I've just come back from Lidl, I buy British because air miles bother me, I was glad to see how much produce was British - strawberries, kale, apples, carrots and potatoes all British plus the beef. I've only started shopping there recently - austerity measures - so am still checking their credentials.

Another climate change expert was saying on the Today programme yesterday morning that if we’re serious about keeping it below 1.5, we all have to switch to a plant based diet.
I’m a meat eater, enjoy it two or three times a week but could cope with a vegetarian diet. I would really, really struggle without dairy.
What’s your view on the impact of livestock on the environment?

actually, you haven't given an answer to that question, I've just scrolled back and checked./ So could you please answer it?

No question but very interesting reading. If my grandad hadn’t sold up I’d be a dairy farmer now!

AskAFarmer I've been a farm adviser for over a decade. I love my job. I have a vested interest in a successful and sustainable agricultural industry. I fully accept that farmers know more about managing the countryside for food production than I do, I just get fed up with the ostrich approach of many farmers (#NotAllFarmers) to harmful environmental & climate & air & water pollution impacts and the fact that other people know more about managing the countryside for biodiversity and resource protection than they do.
I'll go back and review your response to why you're not happy with the fact that you can still cull crows on your farm, and perhaps discuss it with the twenty farmers I am meeting this afternoon.
We have a climate emergency, and even NFU want net zero emissions from farming in the next twenty years. They've given you all a challenge which very few farmers are tackling with the urgency and enthusiasm and commitment that is needed.
Farming can't pretend everything in the countryside is rosy when it patently isn't, and if they really want domestic consumers to #BackBritishFarming then they have a hell of a big PR job in front of them, to persuade people that wildlife culls, pollution incidents, soil loss, chemical use and habitat loss is being tackled responsibly.
And the reaction to a change in licencing procedures is certainly interesting.

I think farmers were inflamed by the withdrawal of the GL due to the suddeness, the timing (lambing, new crops through etc), and the lack of info on the way forward. So far as I am aware, as of yesterday no individual crow licences had been issued despite many applications being sent in (so farmers can't currently cull crows) and I don't think any other new licences are out yet either - so no control of magpies and wood pigeons for now, either.

I'm not a farmer, and I can see issues with farming in the UK (historic hedgerow loss, soil degradation etc) but Natural England has not helped the environmental case by being so cack-handed with this.

if they really want domestic consumers to #BackBritishFarming then they have a hell of a big PR job in front of them, to persuade people that wildlife culls, pollution incidents, soil loss, chemical use and habitat loss is being tackled responsibly.

Those are not the reasons that consumers don’t buy British, because those things happen in the rest of the world too. The primary reason for vast swathes of the population is price.

How do you go on holidays?
Do you and your neighbours all cover for each other?

Also wrt the "they stay out overnight" - how do they/you manage the risk from predators trying to get them?

Wrt to the farmer buying 1000s of stores, I can’t imagine they’d be in for long as like I say, they just don’t do well indoors on hard feed, and it’s a very expensive and not at all common system

It's not common but this guy is so large and buys up such a % of the store lambs, people will be eating it. Its basically a feedlot under a roof, so i feel we cannot say all british lamb is free range, esp when you add the thousands of caddies that go into the food chain also.

How do farmers "tenant" farms? or lease them?

without family before....can you get started in farming?

Are all lambs born in lambing sheds? Or are some born out in the fields?

Are newborn lambs at risk from foxes? Or do their mothers do a good job at keeping them safe?

Here’s my previous answer on licences to kill crows, for those that missed it -

The general licence worked. Crows need to be controlled across the UK, there are no exceptions. There is no concern over crow numbers.
Realistically, every landowner in the UK will need to apply for a licence as they all need to control crows. So all that’s happened is that a successful system has been swept aside, in favour of one that creates yet more form filling and red tape, will cost the government (taxpayer) hugely in terms of the extra admin needed, and will open landowners and pest controllers to unnecessary legal action.
And in the meantime, in areas where crows will now be uncontrolled, there’ll be more sheep maimed and killed.

It was an incredibly misguided and short sighted campaign.

To expand on that, here’s an analogy.
It’s like if the government suddenly announced, at this time of year, that you would now need a licence to mow your lawn. This is because there has been concern raised over rate plants and ladybirds also being mown.

But don’t worry! Everyone who needs to cut grass still can, they just need to apply for the new licence, and everyone with grass will be granted one...when they get round to you.
In the meantime, you are not allowed to cut your grass under any circumstances.

Sound ridiculous? That’s because it is.
It would result in some people applying for licences and cutting their grass. Some thinking ‘fuck this’ and cutting their grass illegally, and some not bothering and letting it grow up around their ears, and the previous system of smooth lawns and less bureaucracy would be sadly missed.

AskAFarmer
I genuinely imagined a Farmer stood there in field shouting "Come on you lot! Bedtime!

What county are you in out of curiosity? Yorkshire here

To continue your analogy, smooth lawns are bad for wildlife and a lot of pointless lawn mowing & weed killing happens, so a review of the process would not be a disaster and certainly not worth lawn owners throwing their toys out of the pram over.
I do get that dealing with RPA & NE is a nightmare and is from my perspective counterproductive to achieving environmental gains. But agriculture today is patently NOT the same as traditional farming has been for hundreds of years, & environmental management needs to change for the future. Modern intensive agriculture is no custodian of the countryside because the countryside is in a large part, up shit creek. Literally, if you consider the dairy farmer I visited the other day who spreads slurry every other day, all year round, rain or shine. Or veg & maize contractors washing topsoil down the road. Many farmers do a lot for the environment but unfortunately you get tarred with the same brush as the illegal polluters & the animal abusers or simply the majority who aren’t doing anything wrong but aren’t doing much right, either.
You will produce food that people want to buy, if that’s organic beef & artisan grains, fine, but equally fine if it’s caged eggs & indoor bacon and six week old chickens. Environment is a minor consideration at the end of a long list for most farmers, it’s a far cry from being custodians of the countryside. Market driven, sure, but it’s the reality.
I’d love to see our govt apply the same stringent standards to imports as they do to domestic produce but protectionism is out of fashion, food produce will be a key factor in negotiating free trade deals post Brexit & our govt will sell our farming industry down the river for vote-winning cheap food & a seat at the table with the US.