The last 6 years demonstrate that we must do more to build resilience into farming & our food supply.

Farmers currently carry all the risk & the status quo can’t hold; my latest piece for Farmers Weekly.

THE EVIDENCE
What did England do? They got landowners to pay cull companies to cull badgers in HRA's.
What did Wales do? They spent £5m of taxpayer's money to vaccinate badgers in Pembs.
TB prevalence remained world leadingly high in Pembs whilst it substantially dropped in Eng

Political bait & switch.

We need a better level of discourse heading into the election.

The more appropriate criticism of Labour DEFRA policy is that they don’t currently have one Steve Barclay.

'Having a resilient food and farming system is absolutely essential - and biosecurity is a critical part of that' 🛃

NFU President Tom Bradshaw (@proagriltd) told BBC Newsnight that import controls must be efficient and bio-secure.

Watch from 31:33 👉ow.ly/kE2B50RtCjb

Curious that valuable organic manures (of which we need much more to regenerate our degraded soils) are repeatedly relabelled ‘toxic waste’ for the purposes of this campaign.

Any kernel of validity to this report is invalidated by the lurch to breathless hyperbole, IMO.

🤕 👀 LNR members have 3 opportunities to attend Health + Safety events in May;

9th @ Brooksby College 11.30am

21st @ Marston Trussel 10am

22nd @ Pailton Pastures, Rugby 10am

All have Basis + NRoSO points available.

Pls contact your local branch for more info/ to book on!

With 33 killed last year, this seems a sh*t idea.

There is a lot to learn from research at the The Allerton Project. 🚜

Last week, CLA staff, including President Victoria Vyvyan, were delighted to join experts at the project in Leicestershire to discuss the impact of various #farming methods on #wildlife and our #environment .

Food security isn’t just an arbitrary target - we must consider what resources we need to make it a reality.

Russia exerting an increasing stranglehold over a key strategic asset - while UK production declines Steve Barclay Mark Spencer Alicia Kearns MP.

ft.com/content/90d977…

FCN helps hundreds of farmers and farming families each year with a wide range of issues and worries. We are here to support you, to walk with you, and to help you find a positive way forward.

If you need to talk, we are here to listen - 365 days of the year.

Join us for a free event 'Environmental Payments & Enablers: Making the most of Opportunities' on 3 June.

Hear from Janet Hughes of Defra UK , Claire Robinson of National Farmers' Union,Tom Curtiss of 3Keel & others on capitalising on environmental farm payments.

eventbrite.co.uk/e/environmenta…

While it’s fantastic we now have a Landlord-Tenant code it is essential we have a Tenant Farming Commissioner with powers to ensure the code is adhered to by all.

Adam Day Joe Stanley 🇺🇦 Philip Case Phil Stocker Matthew Blair TFA

Nobody should be made to feel unsafe or intimidated at their home or place of work❌

Yet British farmers & growers like Simon are often the targets of organised crime gangs🚨

Help us make rural crime a priority by adding your name👉 ow.ly/CKpF50RsEoE

Some of Europe’s most common tree species will likely become unsuitable for growing this century because of climate change, a new study has suggested. Here's a quick 🧵

🇬🇧 In today's Daily Express: Consumers could be being conned by the Union flag on ­supermarket shelves, says Environment Secretary Steve Barclay.

🚜 Farmer Joe Stanley 🇺🇦 warns Brits 'unaware of where most of their food is coming from'.

🗞 Read online: shorturl.at/bmLPV

Thank you to Tom Ambrose The Guardian
for telling our stories. We are heading for a productivity crisis ‘Fields are completely underwater’: UK farmers navigate record rainfall theguardian.com/environment/20…

Welcome that govt is looking at this.

Food provenance is a complete minefield & sadly the 🇬🇧 is too often used on packaging to mislead consumers as to the origin of ingredients.

Shoppers shouldn’t need a degree in forensic analysis to work out where their food was produced.

'I was hoping I would find one good potato here, but there's not one left. They're all rotten.' says Paddy Graham-Jones of Albert Bartlett, the UK's leading potato supplier.

Steve Barclay Express Politics Daily Express Meanwhile sustainable farming champion Joe Stanley 🇺🇦 argued the consumer was “blindly unaware of where most of their food is coming from”.

The Leicestershire-based farmer argued the Union Jack was being “used, even abused” by big supermarkets.

We did some analysis looking at the potential impact of the wet winter on the harvests of key crops

We estimated a net decline of 4m tonnes, driven by a 26.5% drop in the wheat harvest

All based on Defra UK yield data & AHDB crop area forecasts

Here’s a thread on it 🧵