Fair Price for a Pint

There is a campaign underway to promote a fair price being paid to farmers for a pint of milk. This is a joint initiative by Waitrose, Farmers Guardian and Country Living. With an average of 78 producers in England giving up on dairy farming each month over the past 4 years, there are serious concerns over the future of our home milk production and some fear we may need to import our milk in the future (Campaign for the Protection of Rural England).

So, why should we care? Our rural landscape owes so much of its "natural" beauty to the grazing of livestock that we have to be prepared to see that landscape change if we allow this decline to continue. It is not just about the views we enjoy on our pub walks but also the knock-on effects of more intensive grazing by fewer, larger herds - leading to potentially more chemical use, deterioration in soil and water quality, not to mention loss of some habitats key to biodiversity.

If you want to help you can sign the Farmers Guardian's online petition and Register support for Fairtrade for Farming.

The Pub Walker
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The first day of Spring

It's official. Spring arrived yesterday with the Spring Equinox when the sun rises exactly in the east and sets exactly in the west and takes exactly 12 hours to do it. Not a very inspiring definition is it?

For most of us, Spring is heralded by new sights and sounds of nature, whether its the first cuckoo, the first swallow, butterflies, frogspawn, bluebells or whatever. For an interesting view of how nature's seasonal cycles are being viewed by ordinary people, take a look at naturescalendar.org.uk website.
The Pub Walker
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Another Countryside Crisis?

Me? I’m a morning person, up with the lark. Despite my head forever telling me otherwise, I can’t quite shake off the romantic notion that farming is a way of life to be (almost) envied. So, I’m up by 5:45am each morning to get my daily fix of “Farming Today” on Radio 4.

Despite what some may expect, it’s not all gripes and bird ‘flu. They get their share of airtime for sure but I listen for those unexpected nuggets that can otherwise go unnoticed but which have an impact on the countryside we all enjoy when we are out on our pub walks.

Take this morning’s program, for example. Apparently sheep shearing could be approaching a crisis. With a global shortage of shearers and 20 million sheep to shear between May and July, we rely on skilled contract shearers coming over from Australia and New Zealand to help. Problem is, a tightening of PAYE regulations means that many may not come this year, leading to concerns of sheep dying from being “eaten alive” out in the fields by blow fly maggots that have hatched from eggs laid in their unshorn fleeces. Not nice.

Highly skilled workers but not especially highly paid … and not a drain on our benefits system either given they stay for just the season. So, if the fears are well-founded, this must surely be bureaucracy at its worst. Let’s hope it’s just the sheep farmers crying wolf!

The Pub Walker
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