Farming and the environment

I am all in favour of defending our landscapes, keeping our water and air clean and being kind to animals. Conservatives believe in conserving what is best in the natural world and working with the grain of Human nature and the environment.

I am in favour of reducing the pressures of development on our green fields and woods by having a more sustainable level of migration than we were allowed by the EU free movement rules. People who do come to live here should be welcomed and have access to decent housing and services. There are limits to how much extra can be supplied.

There are some who wish to re wild large areas. I do not think we have the same obligation to wolves or wild boar or wild cats as yet unborn as we do to allow space and food for all the birds and animals who currently share our land. When we seek places for wild flowers and shrubs we should balance that with the need to grow more of our own food. A field of corn or a pasture of sheep can look beautiful and is as much a part of the natural world as some newly created wild space.

We need to avoid policies which destroy livelihoods and land important to peopleā€™s lives. The drowning of the Somerset levels was destroying homes and farmland in some strange experiment. The same was not tried in the Fens where they still dredged the ditches and manned the pumps to preserve Englandā€™s most productive growing land. Why was the Somerset levels selected for different treatment? We also need to defend land subject to attack from the sea where it has been settled and matters to peopleā€™s lives and livelihoods. In selective places we should consider as the Dutch do reclaiming land we could use for farms or dwellings.

I will continue to press DEFRA for their policies to promote food production. They seem keener on wilding when we need a proper balance.

121 Comments

  1. Bob Dixon
    April 26, 2021

    George Eustace needs to commit to his day job instead of defending the government on TV.
    He and the other non performers of the cabinet need to follow Liz Truss successes.

    1. agricola
      April 26, 2021

      I would add, or be replaced by those more capable.

    2. MiC
      April 26, 2021

      John’s party’s government have failed monumentally, to oversee the enforcement of environmental law, which would otherwise have prevented countless thousands of river pollution incidents by farms and by sewage companies.

      It is an utter disgrace.

      Words like those above are cheap, free, in fact.

      Why do you persist in voting for them?

      1. Cliff. Wokingham
        April 26, 2021

        Martin
        You ask….. Why do you persist in voting for them?

        The answer is simple. When I read posts by you, Andy etc, I ask myself whether I want to be governed by those with such views and I conclude no.

      2. Know-Dice
        April 26, 2021

        Why do you persist in voting for them?

        Because there is no viable alternative…

        1. glen cullen
          April 26, 2021

          I’m praying for a viable alternative but will settle for any alternative

          1. Jim Whitehead
            April 26, 2021

            G.C. +1

        2. ukretired123
          April 26, 2021

          +1

        3. IanT
          April 26, 2021

          Alternatives tend to pop up when people become sufficiently unhappy with the existing choices.

          Boris wasn’t my ideal choice for PM but was clearly miles in front of the dreadful Corbyn when it came to hard choices. But it would be a big mistake to assume too much of a ‘tribal’ vote when it comes to the Conservative Party. My views are broadly conservative but with a very small ‘c’. I certainly have no deep loyalties to the Conservative Party as such and it would be a mistake for them to assume that.

          For example, I don’t see too much in the way of conservatism in green policies that enforce legal targets on our nation, that have no foundation in current science. There may well be a problem with climate change but setting legal targets without any idea of how to achieve them seems to be the height of political folly. I’d have more faith in some of these so-called plans if I could see some evidence of a national energy policy that made sense.

          The Conservative, Labour and Liberal parties have no God given right to govern and if they continue to demonstrate a lack of ability to do so well, then I’m sure alternatives will emerge….

        4. John Hatfield
          April 26, 2021

          Vote Reform UK. The alternative.

          1. Jim Whitehead
            April 26, 2021

            +1

          2. jerry
            April 27, 2021

            @John Hatfield; “Vote Reform”, get the same old ‘New Labour’, rejoin the EU – oh look, some familiar faces back drawing their EP allowances….

      3. Peter2
        April 26, 2021

        It is the job of the Environmental Agency to deal with any breaches of environmental law you allege go unpunished.
        I suggest you contact them and tell them you know of “countless thousands of river pollution incidents”

      4. jerry
        April 26, 2021

        @MiC; “to oversee the enforcement of environmental law”

        You mean the laws put in place by the eco worriers on the left, who wouldn’t have known how to grow watercress if it wasn’t for KS1 education?

        Law are made, poorly drafted laws fall into disuse, bad laws are repealed.

        “Words like those above are cheap, free, in fact.”

        Indeed, a bit like food, or so the eco worriers on the left seem to think….

      5. Fred.H
        April 26, 2021

        Thames Water continues to daily release untreated sewage into our small rivers, destroying wildlife and posing a health threat to humans using the rivers. This has been broadcast by Panorama in great detail, yet the officials who can stop, fine and name-and-shame seem to keep a low profile and duck the issue.
        No doubt Thames Water is not alone.

        1. Peter2
          April 27, 2021

          It is either legal or it is illegal fred.
          If you think it is illegal then report these breaches of environmental law to the Environmental Agency.

      6. steve
        April 26, 2021

        MiC

        Rubbish. We are choked by environmental laws, mostly derived from your EU.

      7. Lifelogic
        April 26, 2021

        The alternatives are even worse!

      8. jon livesey
        April 27, 2021

        Your posting style often consists of making outrageous and unfounded allegations, and then asking, rhetorically, why people fail to do this and that in conformity.

        Why don’t you try getting some of the readers here to agree with what you say, and then ask why they don’t act on it?

        Acting why they don’t act on false claims, exaggerations and endlessly repeated personal obsessions is pointless. That is exactly *why* they don’t take your advice.

    3. acorn
      April 26, 2021

      Poor Lizzy, as duty cabinet media minister, she got stuck with defending Boris’s flat decorations. She had no more idea where Boris got the money from than next door’s dog, but was forced to defend the sleaze machine.

      Surely there was a more appropriate minister to that job than an international trade minister and making her look silly on Marr TV.

      Better still, stop picking executive ministers from an elected amateur legislature. Elect the PM by national popular vote and let him/her appoint appropriate talent from the great and the good, with proven track records of running big organisations. Get the “executive” out of the “legislature”.

      1. acorn
        April 26, 2021

        BTW, as of Westminster today, many would consider the UK to now be emulating a typical tin pot African country. Expecting a military coup d’etat any day now; or, at least a civil insurrection. Sadly, the scriptwriters of Eastenders and Coronation Street, have yet to programme an episode that would excite the Muppetry to undertake such a revolution.

        1. glen cullen
          April 26, 2021

          +1

        2. jon livesey
          April 27, 2021

          I think that you should start with potholes, and work your way up to civil insurrection gradually. It just sounds a bit less bonkers that way.

      2. Mark B
        April 27, 2021

        Get the ā€œexecutiveā€ out of the ā€œlegislatureā€.

        I have been saying this for a long, long time now. It’s nice to know that I have some company.

        šŸ™‚

    4. Know-Dice
      April 26, 2021

      Liz Truss – You mean the next leader of the Conservative Party šŸ™‚

      I though she handled the interviews on Sunday with SKY & the BBC extremely professionally, both the interviewers should be ashamed of themselves – They learnt nothing and lost the opportunity to inform the public about the direction of business travel after leaving the EU.

  2. Shirley M
    April 26, 2021

    These wishes for food production and green spaces are all a waste of time unless we reduce immigration. Maybe everyone will be forced to live in high rises, except for the mega rich, so as to leave more land for other uses. It’s a straight choice, food production and green areas, or housing. So far, housing appears to be winning. Good arable land is disappearing very quickly in our area. At what point will immigration be reduced, if ever?

    1. Everhopeful
      April 26, 2021

      The plan is to force us all into new eco cities where we will live in high rise horrors.
      Most probably we will need passes to visit the countryside, if at all!
      There will be no personal or public transport anyway….

      1. glen cullen
        April 26, 2021

        Iā€™ve read the book, Iā€™ve seen the movie ā€“ with Boris Iā€™m going to experience the event

    2. agricola
      April 26, 2021

      Now we are clear of EU free movement and immigration continues apace, I can only conclude that there are still establishment forces at play that benefit from it, and have more power in the Home Office than those outside who wish to curb it.

      1. MiC
        April 26, 2021

        Historically by far and away most immigration has always been from outside the European Union, and its control was never anything at all to do with the UK’s membership – sovereign.

        So your post is meaningless, based on a fallacious implication that it somehow was.

        1. jon livesey
          April 27, 2021

          So all that business about Cameron going to Brussels to ask if he could even *ask* for permission to rein in immigration was just a collective delusion of 65 million people?

      2. Ian Wragg
        April 26, 2021

        Tories love mass immigration as due the limp dumbstruck and liebour.
        It is part of their virtue signalling to allow them to puff their chests out.
        The recipient countries of aid see us as mega rich so they head here to join the party.
        Who could blame them

    3. MiC
      April 26, 2021

      The population is only growing slowly now and will soon stall, because of low birthrates.

      The Tories have attacked the very laws – such as the Commons Act 2006 – which specifically protect green open spaces, and fail to enable the enforcement of environmental protection generally.

      This piece is pure humbug.

      1. Fred.H
        April 26, 2021

        The pre-existing English people from about 1950 have had a very low birthrate, but the immigrants have not, thus accelerating the percentage of non-English residents.

      2. jon livesey
        April 27, 2021

        Talking of complete humbug, according to the UN, concerning the UK:

        “The overall population would reach 136 million in 2050, of which 80 million (59 per cent) would be post-1995 migrants or their descendants. Net migration in the United Kingdom amounted to 660,000 persons between 1990 and 1998, an average of 73,000 persons per year.”

        At the moment, net migration is about 350,000 a year, which is about five times that number for 1990/98.

    4. Fedupsoutherner
      April 26, 2021

      Same here Shirley. All new builds on farm land. With whole rees now being classed as acceptable and sustainable sources for fuel instead of just the branches, what chance does wildlife have? We cannot go on destroying woodland at the rate we are without expecting an adverse effect on nature. New trees take another 20 years to replace that which we have destroyed. The various wildlife groups keep telling us we have to protect more species in danger of disappearing and yet these groups advocate green energy which often does far more harm to our landscapes and habitats than traditional methods. There is nothing green about the way we live our lives today.

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        April 26, 2021

        Trees not rees.

    5. jerry
      April 26, 2021

      @Shirley M; These wishes for food production and green spaces are all a waste of time unless we reduce immigration population growth, including unsupported indigenous birth rates.

      There, corrected that for you….

    6. Narrow Shoulders
      April 26, 2021

      Near Watford at present there is a campaign to prevent 160 (nice) houses being built on farmland.

      The farmer’s sons do not want to be farmers so he is selling the land. Land sold for housing attracts a premium on land sold to farm.

      The choices you list above are not quite so cut and dried although I agree with the sentiment.

    7. rose
      April 27, 2021

      Skyscrapers take up more room than terraces with gardens.

  3. DOM
    April 26, 2021

    Why don’t you call for the abolition of DEFRA? After all its remit is one focused not on the agricultural and environmental demands of the UK but on what some refer to as ‘global climate change’ which in normal parlance is meaningless bullshit but one that allows for any action deemed justifiable to satisfy the climate change zealots and always at odds with what is local, cost effective and pragmatic

    I see no purpose in your party if you continue to endorse Labour’s politics and yes, the Tory party has become Labour an an act of self defence. You are by your refusal to reform and then dismantle Labour’s client state simply reinforcing the foundations of a future Labour government that will make it easier for them to impose their ideology in a more vicious manner than your own. Your party’s betrayal of itself and of the UK has condemned our culture, our nation and our liberties.

    Why the voter continues to endorse your party is beyond me though the free-lunch offer before each GE helps to divert attention away from and conceal far more important issues that go to the heart of the problems we now face

    I suggest the Tories stop lying to the public about what you now represent so then they can make a more informed choice

    You are not a Conservative so please stop saying you are

  4. Mark B
    April 26, 2021

    People who do come to live here should be welcomed and have access to decent housing and services.

    And then goes on to say -:

    We need to avoid policies which destroy livelihoods and land important to peopleā€™s lives.

    But that is EXACTLY what MASS IMMIGRATION does – It destroys land and ruins peoples lives, especially those of the poor who do not have access to better education, employment opportunities and funds to help themselves out of poverty. They are then forced to rely on government handouts and schemes which creates a dependency culture and maintains the vicious cycle of their lives.

    Harry’s Farm (YouTube) has been an eye opener for me. Recently he has had problems with his rape seed crop. Apparently there is a beetle that attacks it and, because he cannot use crops developed to protect the plant against such a pest, some 50% of his crop is ruined. The stupid thing is, he is forced to use other pesticides which do more harm and less good to the environment. All because of DEFRA and the government. He has also commented on the stupidity of the current government fad / war on meat and the promotion of veganism to save the planet from CO2. Are we to be the new Kulaks ??

    We need sensible hard scientific evidence from know and recognised professionals and not people who are on the government payroll.

    1. Mark B
      April 26, 2021

      Opps !

      Good morning.

      šŸ™‚

      1. turboterrier
        April 26, 2021

        Mark B
        The last paragraph”hard scientific evidence……” Not with this lot Mark not a snowball in hells chance.

    2. jerry
      April 26, 2021

      @Mark B; The UK does not have, and never has had, mass immigration. Nor does immigration stop the poor indigenous population learning, or applying for jobs, and if given one turning up for more than half a day to one week, complaining as they walk off the job that it’s to physical, dirty, cold, or needs a certain dress code, they can;t check their social media accounts ever 30 seconds etc. Anyone can seek work, not all want to do work! But thanks for the rant, all very reminiscent of the early 1970s when mostly white working-class men, having lost their own jobs, for what ever reason, demanded they be given the jobs that they or their fathers had refused to do in the 1950s, jobs then offered to and filled by immigrants.

      1. Know-Dice
        April 26, 2021

        @jerry
        So what is your definition of mass immigration then?

        350,000 net is enough for me. Along with 29% of live births in 2019 to mothers not born in this country.

        I know you love playing the devil’s advocate, but give it a break Jerry

        1. jerry
          April 27, 2021

          @Know-Dice; “So what is your definition of mass immigration then?”

          The USA was built on mass immigration, Countries around drought inflicted Ethiopia saw mass migration in the 1980s, More recently Turkey & Lebanon has had to deal with mass mitigation due to the Syrian civil war.

          “I know you love playing the devilā€™s advocate, but give it a break Jerry”

          Oh look, it’s Mr Pan, trying to call out Mr Kettle once again…
          All the time the reactionary hard right attempt to find scapegoats I will carry on exposing such lies.

    3. jerry
      April 26, 2021

      I also enjoy “Harry’s Farm”, but he is very skilled at putting across his opinion, not necessarily the (full) facts, he almost caught me with his beef production carbon cycle video. All very convincing and true as far as it went, but Harry took the argument further, using it as a reason why the UK’s method of beef production was better than the US, until you realise that the feed given to the cattle on those intensive US farms is also just as much a part of the carbon cycle, Harry wasn’t just selling “green” beef production but why traditional UK beef production should be protected from cheaper methods producing just as eco-friendly high quality beef.

      As for Oil Seed Rape, the problem is not “crops developed to protect the plant against such a pest”, but the certain use of chemical insecticide (Pyrethroids), some of which have been banned, I think you might have got confused by the mention of other crops that are cycled with OSR, this is to do with soil management and pest control in those other crops, not pest control management for OSR.

    4. Fred.H
      April 26, 2021

      ‘People who do come to live here should be welcomed and have access to decent housing and services.’
      ….to live here LEGALLY should … ….and have to take their chances for…..decent housing…

      1. jerry
        April 27, 2021

        @Fred.H; How about we simply build enough houses, so no one needs to take “their chances”. The idea that the UK is running out of space, land, is laughable, even if suitable land was running out we have a lot of ‘air-space’ rights, so do as other very small countries do, build up, with high quality apartments (not the cheap system build nonsense of the 1960s).

        1. a-tracy
          April 27, 2021

          OK Jerry but we were told nearly 20 years ago that A Housing Association was being set up to build more social housing and improve the council housing stock and council shops because they could raise finance, we were never told who owned those HAā€™s, how theyā€™d financed the purchase, or who owns them now? They have never been held to their targets and there are now 1000 less homes in the area (that is 14% less than the Council owned- they didnā€™t replace, why not? That was what we were told their purpose was in council meetings). A lot of the properties are a mess and the shops in a worst state. Just who is going to pay to build these homes you suggest for anyone that wants to come and live here, many with not a 1p to their names? These HAā€™s bought all the homes for just Ā£7000 each with a promise to spend Ā£367 million in the following 30 years, Ā£67m within 5 years, 20 years on they claim to have spent Ā£100 million but they managed to find Ā£10m for the own pensions last year. Just who is going to be doing this ā€˜build upā€™ and with whose money, this HA is taking the Mickey and getting away with it, over and over again.

    5. Margaret Brandreth-
      April 26, 2021

      but are you no being racist?????!!! . ( tongue in cheek)

  5. turboterrier
    April 26, 2021

    The ongoing cultivating of farm land to accommodate solar and wind farms, the harvesting of young trees, planting of fields to serve bio mass boilers and digesters seems to imply that production for human consumption is moving down the list of essentials.
    It is a catch 22, the more people we have on this island the more energy, roads, services and sustainable food supplies are needed. Total reliance on food exports , which seems to be the way this country is heading, is the wrong direction as more and more of our land is designated for other uses.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      April 26, 2021

      Correct Turbo. Common sense really of which seems to be in short supply.

    2. D Grier
      April 26, 2021

      90 % of solar panels and batteries are manufactured in China, that bastion of safety and quality control, apparently using magical carbon zero energy. 25 years on, the current technology does not support inexpensive recycling so the (sometimes toxic) waste goes to landfill (mostly in poor African countries owned by the CCP). How can anyone in Government claim that this is renewable energy? Why do they continue to support China and their 2060 carbon zero lies?

    3. bigneil(newercomp)
      April 26, 2021

      Turbo – I would have thought that with millions of houses – and industrial buildings – it would have been made compulsory to include solar panels on all that roof space, instead of sticking fields full of the things. Install them when it is being built – NOT as an after thought.

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        April 26, 2021

        But when they go wrong I don’t think many people realise how much repairs are.

      2. Paul Cuthbertson
        April 26, 2021

        My personal view is that that Solar panels added to roofs of houses/bungalows/ cottages look out of place and quite ugly.

  6. Old Albion
    April 26, 2021

    Quote: I am in favour of reducing the pressures of development on our green fields and woods by having a more sustainable level of migration than we were allowed by the EU free movement rules. People who do come to live here should be welcomed and have access to decent housing and services. There are limits to how much extra can be supplied.

    Sir John, have you ever visited Kent? You should. You will find a county now being concreted over to provide homes for the ever increasing population of England.
    Leaving the EU should have all but ended mass immigration, yet nothing seems to have changed.

    1. Everhopeful
      April 26, 2021

      People I knew fought hard in the 1960s against the plan for an airport at Wing.
      They won!
      But in recent times it has been ā€œYou canā€™t stand in the way of progressā€ and similar rot.
      Not to mention the despicable way in which governments have bribed people into giving up what is rightfully theirs. A new high rise council flat for the sound of Bow Bells! A house in a new town for the place where your ancestors are buried. Too late now for a change of mind.
      Thus we now have an overcrowded country with lunatics at the helm.

    2. Andy
      April 26, 2021

      The main drivers of population growth since WW2 are lower infant mortality and increased longevity.

      In 1945 average life expectancy, at birth, was 64. In 1950 average life expectancy, at birth, was 67. Today it is above 80.

      All of those old people who were not expected to be here have to live somewhere. And there are a lot of them –
      12 million over 65s.

      Old people also live in the wrong sort of homes. They bought their large five bedroomed detached houses for Ā£1.75 in 1970 and havenā€™t moved since. Those homes are now worth more than half a million pounds and yet, quite often, granny is pottering around in them by herself. Meanwhile young families are priced out of the market and forced to live 5 to a bedsit.

      It is easier to blame Imran (not from the EU) than Eileen but youā€™d be wrong. If you want to fix the housing crisis we need more homes for old people.

      1. Fred.H
        April 26, 2021

        Andy you don’t mention that all this time the young family forced to live in a bedsit could have happily relocated in the sunny uplands of EU countries across the Channel! You would have been made most welcome. Why on earth have they all stayed here, in fact risking life and limb crossing half the world to get here. To share the most tolerant, hospitable, religion free, opportunity laden environment the best in the whole world. You can even let rip with childish fantasies about anything on MPs’ blogs !

      2. Peter2
        April 27, 2021

        Wrong again andy.
        The main driver has been immigration followed by reduced child mortality followed by lack of major war.
        7 million new arrivals since 1997

    3. middleground
      April 26, 2021

      Co incidentally I drove through Kent yesterday and all I saw was rolling hills, orchards and quaint villages. What nonsense is spouted about mass immigration.

      1. Fred.H
        April 26, 2021

        You must be mistaken, Andy reliably tells us it is now full of concreted fields for carparks!

    4. forthurst
      April 26, 2021

      One would have thought that JR had better command of the English language than to use the word ‘sustainable’ which is the all-purpose fleece used to swathe any objectionable concept which politicians want to inflict on us.

      There is no sustainable level of immigration, none whatsoever; all it does is calibrate the time before this country has been successfully transmuted into a heavily overcrowded third world pit. The only people who should be given asylum are English people who have been driven out of their foreign abode.

    5. M Davis
      April 26, 2021

      I think you are wasting your breath! This Government is no different from any that has gone before – they are all out for themselves. Couldn’t give a toss about the rest of us.

      1. M Davis
        April 26, 2021

        Word of the day is ‘snollygoster’ (19th century): an individual guided by personal gain rather than by principles.

        Thanks to Susie Dent in today’s ‘The Conservative Woman’!

  7. agricola
    April 26, 2021

    As you infer we suffer too much legacy EU thinking in DEFRA. When those who run DEFRA remain as latent policy makers rather than the Civil Servants they are supposed to be you have a problem. You should look at what DEFRA is tasked, by our government to do, and then gather a ruling board from all the disciplines involved, who combined with government can then formulate policy. The Civil Servants then revert to their original powerless administrative role. One of the biggest mistakes that interest/lobby groups make is their determination to revert to the introduction of UK extinct species of fauna and the complicit actions of DEFRA in allowing it, because it interferes with the established balance.
    People need to realise that the photogenic way in which fauna is presented to the public would be better described as menu. They all feed on each other. We do not need human, so called green ignorance at the end of the feeding chain overly protecting something that looks pretty on TV and allow it to predate freely on whatever it fancies

  8. Martyn G
    April 26, 2021

    Not sure we should worry about that too much, because when the last tractor and combine harvester are set aside to rust because they use IC engines banned under the drive to net zero, we’ll be back to using horses with a catastrophic impact on arable crop production. Unless, of course, government has already considered this and has a plan to keep crop production at existing levels with solar or wind power?

    1. agricola
      April 26, 2021

      Governments ride to hell in an electric handcart will have as negative effect on the UK economy as a vaacine proof new strain of Covid.

    2. Everhopeful
      April 26, 2021

      I keep wondering how they are going to build windmills without steel ( no coal).
      Brick ones? Wooden ones?
      All need power to make anyway.
      WW1 was a very convenient way of culling the huge families always needed for agriculture.
      (And reducing the power of the aristocracy btw).
      Now another population cull is in the cross hairs.
      Who will farm? Who will make the artificial meat? Robots?
      Who will make the robots? And from what?

  9. Roy Grainger
    April 26, 2021

    DEFRA have their hands tied, this agenda is driven by Carrie (according to The Times over the weekend). So, no way of changing it.

    1. Everhopeful
      April 26, 2021

      Loin led politics!

      1. J Bush
        April 26, 2021

        Thanks for the chuckle, but sadly true.

    2. J Bush
      April 26, 2021

      I don’t dispute Carrie is driving her agenda (who voted for her?), but from my experience of working (as a contractor) under the RPA arm of DEFRA is that they need no encouragement to be control freakery bureaucratic box ticking idiots. The mountains of taxpayers money they waste is phenomenal, making everything more complex.

      Also, the once a month breakfast breaks so that you can chat with your colleagues about anything, “except work”, between 9.00 and 10.am. And if you don’t want to have breakfast, you can go for a walk, or do an hours shopping! I was always invited to attend and never went. When asked by my team leader at the once a month (not annual) assessment why I didn’t attend, I told her it was a waste of taxpayers money, as were the monthly assessments. That went down well! Probably most frustrating for them is that they couldn’t fault my work.

      I suspect they were relieved when I left.

    3. glen cullen
      April 26, 2021

      How did this unelected person get so much power and influence, and why arenā€™t the men in grey suits and the backbenches intervening

      1. john waugh
        April 26, 2021

        This quote from An Orkney Tapestry by George Mackay Brown sums it up-from earlier times-
        “The secret promptings of women are behind much of the heroism and tragedy of the Iceland sagas ….
        In such circumstances love is a bitter honey.”

    4. oldwulf
      April 26, 2021

      @RG
      Sadly, it’s looking as though Ms Symonds might cost Mr Johnson his job.

      1. Fred.H
        April 26, 2021

        whats ‘sadly’ about it?

  10. agricola
    April 26, 2021

    One end of food chain animal that needs to be promoted as healthy food is deer/venison. We have an excess of it running around freely in the UK. Wherever you are in the UK you are rarely far from it. The answer to it is a professionally applied bullet, not the reintroduction of the wolf.

    1. Everhopeful
      April 26, 2021

      Rewilding farmland and raising deer in thus created forests is already the plan.
      I doubt if it will mean cheap venison for the masses…just less beef and lamb and more factory grown ā€œmeatā€.
      May the reintroduced wolves, wild cats and bears feast richly in the despoilers deer parks.

    2. IanT
      April 26, 2021

      My Father-in-Law (a Canadian) was a skilled hunter and fisherman. I’ve tried venison and frankly it wasn’t that great.

  11. Mike Wilson
    April 26, 2021

    And another article where one can barely believe the audacity of the author. ALL the green space between Wokingham and the M4/A329M has been built on in the last 5 years.

    Itā€™s like Herod saying how much he cares about child welfare after the slaughter of the innocents.

    When you and your government get net immigration down to zero, then start telling us about the plans for land use. Until then the building of vast housing estates goes on apace – backed by Help to Buy to sell them! Does one laugh or cry?

    1. Fred.H
      April 27, 2021

      The previous green space between Reading/Lower Earley/Winnersh/Hurst/Wokingham/Bracknell/Binfield/Shindield/Finchampstead etc is almost all bearing new roads/roundabouts and concreted land with homes being built and endless road closed/diversions.
      So much for ‘sought after’ high standard of living Wokingham District.

  12. Alan Jutson
    April 26, 2021

    Why are government so out of tune with the majority of the UK, why are government subsidising so many projects which are simply not productive.
    If someone wants to re- wild their own garden or field, let them its their choice, but for goodness sake do not give them a taxpayer grant or tax break to do so.

    The simple fact is land is a limited resource, thus the more people that live here the more infrastructure in the form of roads, rail, housing, hospitals, schools etc etc need to be built to accommodate them.
    Defra and the Environmental Agency seem to have lost their way, and original reason for being set up..

  13. Sakara Gold
    April 26, 2021

    Off topic

    In view of the large number of forged Covid test certificates that are being detected at our borders, the fact that Hancock, Shapps and PHE are again supressing data on the rapid spread of the Brazil, India and SA variants in the West Midlands and in London, the lack of enforcement on the large numbers of Brits flying off for beach holidays and lying on their forms when they return, the known danger of importing vaccine-resistant strains has come to the fore. Hancock, Johnson and Hardingā€™s gross incompetence – some would say negligence – has already managed to kill about 150,000 people here.

    The decision not to press our advantage and go for the “zero virus” strategy means we will now inevitably have another – probaby vaccine resistant – wave later this year. We are now donating “surplus” respirators to India. Is this wise?

  14. Dave Andrews
    April 26, 2021

    Why are we complaining about mass immigration and loss of farming land? This is what the government precisely wants. An acre of hedges yields as nothing compared to an acre of hedge fund managers. The voters want decades of retirement with a pension, and a steady birth/death rate doesn’t provide this – more are needed at the bottom than the top.
    A steady population means no growth, and the government can’t reign in spending to match – the voters won’t wear it.

  15. Walt
    April 26, 2021

    I wish that we did keep our waters clean. We do not, as Panorama reported recently. In South Devon, for decades Pennon (South West Water) has released sewage and other effluent into our rivers, at times claiming necessity because otherwise the system could not cope. They can pay management well and reward shareholders, but cannot find the money significantly to improve their foul water works. Meanwhile, more houses are built on green field sites in areas where the sewage system cannot cope with the outflow from existing properties. Panorama reported similar, perhaps worse, at other water companies. Little or nothing is done about it.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      April 26, 2021

      Walt. Yes our sewerage system for our small development of homes is operating at 150%. It’s a similar picture in other villages nearby. The smell of sewerage is overpowering sometimes.

  16. nota#
    April 26, 2021

    Sir John

    As a Conservative you as always reiterate the what that means and as a Conservative I would agree with you.

    There is of course an However, we do not have a Conservative Government it has been hijacked by those that wanted power more than principles. We are ruled by a left wing Cabool, that supports the WOKE, and Cancel Culture, before the Country and its People. Not once have they defended the Country against those that would tear it up. They are carrying on the Corbyn ethos of destroy to create a new society in our own image. That’s the opposite of being a Conservative, where people are seen as unique individuals that without the constraints of ‘Big Brother’ can collectively achieve.

    Farming as with Fishing is basically individuals responding to a need and left alone do it better than any dictate from a central controlled one size fit all bureaucracy.

    When the economy is not front and center you cant fund a future.

    1. nota#
      April 26, 2021

      Looking at the MsM over the last few days begs the question – ‘when you prod the hornets nest…’

  17. jerry
    April 26, 2021

    I will plead again, can we please have a return to first principle, a return to MAFF, and thus food production (meaning a reduction in food air-miles), and as part of its remit can the Ministry also advise the public on how to either eat what is in local season or preserve what will not be. I have never known, nor heard, of a Farmer who does not care for the environment. DEFRA came about due to a land grab (sorry…) by the eco-worriers back in 2000-01 at the time of the Foot & Mouth crisis.

    As for (current) land use, farming and growing vs. housing and industry, I do not see a conflict nor problem, but if there is one where does that leave all those hectares of unproductive land behind the walls and fences of the County House estates? šŸ˜Æ

  18. David Brown
    April 26, 2021

    I fully agree with todayā€™s topic
    I was born and raised on a farm
    There has to be a balance between food production and the natural environment
    At heart farmers are environmentally friendly we should not blame them for the failings of chemical and fertiliser companies
    Sir JR I know you champion UK production however agriculture has lost most of its engineering base eg tractors and implements all made overseas
    Land based training colleges have been reduced
    I bang on about agriculture education but please get the gov to promote colleges for young people to study agriculture so they become interested in crop production
    You champion fishing well please champion agriculture and horticulture
    1 UK colleges that teach agriculture and horticulture not hairdressing
    2 encourage UK manufacturing of tractors and farm equipment
    3 support areas for flood plains to significantly reduce urban flooding and valuable farm land. Such plains can support biodiversity but focused on specific areas up stream
    4 explore grant aid for start up horticultural enterprises
    5 Support the idea that head lands and farm buildings can be used for solar power production as additional income for farmers

  19. Jim
    April 26, 2021

    Motherhood and Apple Pie and don’t upset anyone. But popular nostrums will get us nowhere.

    We need bright immigrants because we cannot breed and educate enough clever people ourselves. We also need people to pick the lettuces and cauliflowers and it is backbreaking work no townie wants to do. Despite Covid and Brexit we are still about 1 million houses short of need. And no, building a few on some windswept abandoned airfield in Yorkshire is not an answer. Your voters need to be gently but firmly told a few home truths. This is a good time while Starmer is neutered.

    Round here DEFRA has been ‘constructing’ flood defences for well over a decade – doing the paperwork – one can scarcely see any earth moved. So follow our forebears, hire a couple of Italian engineers and a few hundred immigrant navvies armed with Chinese shovels and wheelbarrows. Too many government projects seem devoted to achieving nothing and costing a lot of money.

    DEFRA loves George Monbiot’s notions of tree lined rivers solving flood problems – cheap and does not upset anyone – doing nothing is DEFRA’s favourite strategy. What works for 1000 miles of the Amazon does not work for 5 miles of Surrey. Sticking to Motherhood & Apple Pie will continue to drive us to more failure.

  20. William Long
    April 26, 2021

    George Eustice is one of the bigger disappointments of this Government; he talked a big Brexit talk, but now in office he seems to be totally in thrall to the green blob.
    On re-wilding, has anyone stopped to consider why most of the animals it is proposed to re-introduce became extinct in this country in the first place? In almost all cases it was because they were pests, preying on domesticated animals being raised for food (though that would be of no concern to DEFRA), eating or damaging food being grown for the latter, endangering the human population, or damaging the environment. There is no reason to suppose that their natures have changed.

  21. Christine
    April 26, 2021

    Re-wilding is part of the great reset. Followers of this cult want to cut animal farming and small farms they want to reintroduce flood plains. They want control of our food production and ultimately control of us. They want us off the roads and living in crowded cities. People need to wake up and ask if this is the future they want for their descendants.

    We are bombarded with biased Green propaganda from our media with few asking the question about affordability and industrial competitiveness.

    All the while this Government encourages more and more immigration making any target even less attainable.

    We hear that Boris will implement all the recommendations from the Committee on Climate Change ‘Net Zero’ report. People are not being told what this entails. How by 2028 you wonā€™t be able to sell or rent a property unless it conforms to the new environmental requirements. This means replacing gas and oil heating and for those living in old properties with no cavity walls very expensive external insulation.

    This pandemic has given politicians worldwide the green light to become totalitarian. They ignore the damage they will inflict on their people.

    Unfortunately, questioning the Green agenda has become similar to disagreeing with the opinion of a person of colour and few politicians are willing to debate the subject. This is exactly what the Globalists want.

  22. DOM
    April 26, 2021

    The ‘Online harm’s’ bill is a pure act of authoritarian barbarity designed to destroy open debate and has nothing to do with protecting the public from online harm. This is the poison that John’s party is encouraging, the destruction of free speech.

    We are being enveloped in a web of fascist laws designed to destroy our voice and the British political class have become the enemy of this nation and our culture of open debate and freedom of expression

    ‘Harm’ and ‘hate’ is now any view the authorities says it is. We are captured and John’s party working with Labour and their allies are directly to blame

    It is utterly unacceptable. The British voter is voting themselves into servitude and slavery

    1. Jim Whitehead
      April 26, 2021

      +++1

  23. kb
    April 26, 2021

    That agricultural land is needed for other things I’m afraid.
    Housing immigrants, planting trees for “carbon offsetting” (what a joke), “rewilding” (ditto) and solar energy farms.
    Farming these subsidies is more lucrative than growing veg that sells for pence, or sheep where they cannot give the wool away.
    Never mind, if we can realise a Brexit upside we were promised, we should be able to import our food from Aus, USA etc, and it will be cheaper than producing it here.

  24. kb
    April 26, 2021

    The Dutch did away with windmills to pump water out, and installed massive diesel pumps instead. All that land below sea level has an ongoing carbon emission to keep it dry.

  25. Peter Parsons
    April 26, 2021

    Why, when talking about matters such as this, has no actual data been included in the article? Is this because, once the figures are known, they don’t show what many peoples’ feelings think they actually are, and so are inconvenient to the political narrative that the article wishes to promote?

    Overall, in the UK, from recent figures I can find, only about 6% of land is urban (built on), less than 3% is “green urban” (parks etc.), about a third is natural and the remainder (comfortably over half) is farmland. The figures are higher in England for both urban (c. 9%) and farmland (over 70%). Looking at these figures, if the UK was to increase the amount of urban land by 50% compared to today, it would only comsume about 6% or so of the land currently in use for farming.

    Most of the population live in urban areas, and so may not be aware of just how much of the UK is not urban, especially if you live and work in London and the South East. One cause of the problem is government policies which have resulted in about a quarter of the population and an even higher percentage of jobs ending up in the bottom corner of the country.

    1. kb
      April 26, 2021

      All the land is used for something. Every time somebody wants to build something, like a bypass or a railway, it causes no end of strife. What percentage of the land did the Newbury bypass use? It still made the news every night.

  26. formula57
    April 26, 2021

    We know DEFRA joins the Home Office in not being fit for purpose. I commend you for trying to rescue it (and hence the Government that does seem to have lost its way).

  27. Julian Flood
    April 26, 2021

    Sir John,

    HMG seems to have lost its collective marbles. More people means less land is available for purposes other than housing. Food, wildlife, recreation all suffer. Do we have control over our borders or not?

    As for energy — look at the SUNNICA proposal and weep.

    JF

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      April 27, 2021

      Just looked at the Sunnica project. Shocking! So much farmland going to waste and a natural landscape being trashed. What is happening to our countryside? Ive seen it all in Scotland with wind farms but these solar farms are just as bad. These eco loons have lost the plot.

      1. Fred.H
        April 27, 2021

        in the sunny warm south of England wonderfully productive fields are being converted to house rows and rows of solar panels! Why? Well farmers have found they run crazy risks with inadequate income from supermarkets etc and hazardous weather. Solar panels have a pretty predictable return against outlay.
        What a crazy world. Producing electricity for EVs is more important than crops and animals to eat.
        So starve while sitting in your non-green to produce, and non-green to recycle EV.

  28. X-Tory
    April 26, 2021

    “I am in favour of …. a more sustainable level of migration” – But the government you support is continuing to allow uncontrolled numbers of illegal and bogus asylum-seekers to enter the country and has also invited millions of Hong Kongers to come here!

    “We also need to defend land subject to attack from the sea where it has been settled and matters to peopleā€™s lives and livelihoods.” – I completely agree! I have long suggested that we kill two birds with one stone and install wave energy harvesters along coastline that is being eroded. By taking the energy out of the waves they will also protect the coast. While wave energy may not in itself be cost-effective yet, when you factor in the protection it gives the shoreline it is then more than justified. Can’t you persuade DEFRA to explore this?

    “In selective places we should consider as the Dutch do reclaiming land we could use for farms or dwellings.” – A great idea, but one that this government will never have the imagination and courage to pursue.

    “I will continue to press DEFRA for their policies to promote food production” – the best policy would be to promote (through generous grants) vertical farming, which is far more productive, and also robotic harvesters.

    1. Fred.H
      April 27, 2021

      No mention of the fact that the Dutch retrieved land that flooded by the sea, which was below sea-level.
      Just how much land does the UK have lying below sea-level?

  29. Derek Henry
    April 26, 2021

    It’s a productivity story always has been.

    What do you want your skills and real resources doing that they are not doing already ? What is the easiest way to move them around to where they should be ?

    If you want to grow more food at home you either move skills and real resources from other sectors in the economy into farming.

    Or

    Farming has to become more productive and be able to pick what they grow by machine.

    Hence, the brexit debate about fruit pickers.

    Or

    You import food and allow other countries to use their skills and real resources to send us food. We give them electronic blips on a central bank spreadsheet.

    We all started off working the land but as productivity increased it allowed communities to do other things with their skills and real resources.

    So if we want to grow more food the best way to become more productive and the best way to move skills and real resources around between different sectors and transition between jobs without causing inflation is by introducing a job guarentee.

  30. Pauline Baxter
    April 26, 2021

    Totally agree with what you have said. England as it used to be had all the wildlife it needed. Ridiculous if we have deliberately flooded previously productive land.
    But I would like to add a comment about ‘farming’.
    Nowadays that word is so often used to include what is more properly described as FACTORY farming.
    Dairy cows, pigs, chickens, cooped up indoors for all their, sometimes short, life.
    That is not necessary and it is cruel abuse.
    It is probably not healthy for us, the end consumer either, considering the amount of antibiotics and chemicals that are put into our food chain as a result.
    While it may be unrealistic to undo what has already happened it SHOULD be possible to prevent any more of it being introduced.
    One thing we probably could do immediately is ban halal slaughter. Quite frankly, if immigrants don’t like OUR meat, let them eat vegetables!

    1. J Bush
      April 26, 2021

      Re: halal slaughter. I don’t agree with this either. You don’t ever want to see the state of the animal passports that are sent to the DPA following slaughter.

      That said, it is highly unlikely our lily livered politicians will ban it, despite the fact it contravenes the UK slaughter laws. However, what they should do is make an amendment to the slaughter law that specifically states the type of slaughter must be stated on the label.

  31. No Longer Anonymous
    April 26, 2021

    Why are we still in masks and lockdown ?

    1. Mark B
      April 27, 2021

      Because that is the ‘New Normal’

  32. David Brown
    April 26, 2021

    Oh I need to add if its ok.
    Planting more trees to help the environment and reduce CO2 is not really the answer:
    Planting large areas of Sea Grass around our shores will help reduce CO2 far better, and help fish stocks also coastal erosion.
    Up river flood plains are needed not on prime arable land and add sphagnum moss in these areas as it absorbs large quantities of water and locks in CO2.
    Get County Councils to partner with local farmers to dig out the thousands of road side ditches that are almost buried under silt. These ditches historically channeled water especially into canals and streams, they can be mechanically dug out, they also used to provide habitats.
    Grazing farm animals especially sheep are important in preserving habitats.
    Historically the UK had a large glasshouse crop salad industry this has all but died out due to fuel costs. However solar technology makes this more viable now, but it needs encouragement.
    I could go on but to me head and shoulders above every thing is get young people interested in studying Agriculture and Horticulture. Promote school Rural Science subjects.

    1. J Bush
      April 26, 2021

      +1.

      Before the UK joined the then EEC, we used to dredge out rivers as well.

      1. glen cullen
        April 27, 2021

        yes we did

  33. rose
    April 26, 2021

    Is Cummings doing the PM a favour by associating him with the forces of anti-curfew?

  34. Kris
    April 26, 2021

    Looks like taking back control from the EU by itself was not enough

    What’s needed is change- real change

  35. Kaess
    April 26, 2021

    By Just looking at things today I can see we don’t need to blame the SNP or anyone else- Boris will wreck the UK all by himself

  36. Diane
    April 27, 2021

    Pauline B – above / your final point: Yet there seems little support showing on the petition to parliament Govm’t website ( Petition No. 557589 – runs until 15 June ) ‘ Ban non stun slaughter in the UK ‘
    Deserves support to at least get somebody to talk about it !

Comments are closed.