Agriculture Acts 1920 and 2020

One hundred years ago the Agriculture Act 1920 sought to provide farmers with the confidence they needed to expand their arable acreage to ensure a reliable and plentiful supply of home grown food. It did this by guaranteeing a minimum price for oats and wheat into the indefinite future. The Act also promised that the …

Where next with Natural Capital?

Catch up with the latest on natural capital and the progress of government legislation on the countryside

Licence to kill: Conditions attached

Julie Robinson (@julierobinson_) has recently tweeted about Natural England's new general licence for the control of pigeons by lethal methods where a commercial crop is under economic threat, making the point that some of the conditions are OTT (Over the Top).  Julie makes particular mention of the section which requires a shooter to show that: …

What is Agriculture in 2018

The Agriculture Bill is very important draft legislation.  We might expect it to define agriculture itself with a new definition fit for the 21st century and our post-Brexit future.  But the closest it seems to get is clause 13 which tells us that 'agriculture includes any growing of plants, and any keeping of creatures, for …

Health and Harmony: the future of UK Agriculture

Tonight sees the deadline for responses to the Defra (The UK Dept for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) Command Paper on future policy for Agriculture. Despite reading the document carefully I can't clearly see what the farmer or farm of the future might look like, but I do get a sense of a higher and …