tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293539172012-02-04T19:12:48.147ZA chance for farmers to share practical solutions that contribute to farming success. You'll learn as much from successful farmers and neighbours than anyone else!Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.comBlogger251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-43670567410716751222012-02-04T19:12:00.000Z2012-02-04T19:12:48.152Z

Farm leaders need to focus on agri research funding as well as defending farmers' CAP entitlements 'Cut agricultural spending for the sake of science' is not simply a call from UK universities wanting to protect their budgets, but is one which looks like getting the backing of Business Secretary Vince Cable. In a recent interview to the magazine Science|Business Vince Cable said "Overall UK

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-68017171970788943002012-01-29T20:53:00.001Z2012-01-29T21:45:35.318Z

Some 'modern' farmers are slow to change For them, the risks of change are greater than the security of doing things the way they have been done for the past few decades. Is there any other trade or business so resistant to change and technical development as farming? Air transport took a about a decade to make the huge change from propellers to jet engines. Medicine takes on new drugs and

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-395204284386007102011-09-15T14:52:00.001+01:002011-09-15T15:02:19.237+01:00

The message that the world of global food surpluses is coming to an end is now well understood. The news headlines might have recently been dominated by riots, the Arab Spring, phone hacking and Amy Winehouse, but food and energy supplies are an issue which be with for for many decades.  Farmers are the people who know how to grow and harvest food, and, if we're all going to be eating in 20 years

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-12995130503592807082011-08-18T12:35:00.002+01:002011-08-20T13:58:06.925+01:00

Numbers of farmers in the dairy sector face a tough winter, and the shortage of fodder and bedding for their stock will only add to their troubles. The article suggests that the situation could be helped if those farmers growing crops would bale more of their straw, and even bale straw from oil seed rape. In this way farmers can be seen to be working together.  To the arable farmer the straw from

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-7318932773973643932011-08-09T16:57:00.000+01:002011-08-09T16:57:36.275+01:00

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px} The future of the small family farm Defra's interest in exploring how agricultural tenancies can be made more competitive and supportive of people entering farming might be seen as more political than practical. A reduction in the number of

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-84043363750510098602011-08-04T13:51:00.001+01:002011-08-04T14:34:47.281+01:00

Protecting tractor glass from breaking Have you noticed how big tractor cab windows have become? Not only are they an easy target for the wayward stone thrown up by the hedge trimmer, mower, tedder and other implements, they are expensive to repair. And when they shatter, the bang is quite frightening. The new issue of Practical Farm Ideas shows how an inventive farmer has made clear plastic

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-53487002866081802462011-07-12T15:49:00.000+01:002011-07-12T15:49:17.112+01:00

May: ISSUE 20-1, published May 8. Changes to the magazine cover have gone down well with farmers and other magazine designers - some even emailed us with their approval! May: GRASS & MUCK, Stoneleigh  May 18 With minimal crops it was difficult to assess forager and mower performance. I was looking for, and found, some machinery that would do the job cheaper, but most companies were parading

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-83462719537228475372011-06-13T13:39:00.000+01:002011-06-13T13:39:26.500+01:00

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px} Why food security is best served by a large number of smaller operators. Is it feasible the problems of Southern Cross care homes could be replicated in other sectors,

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-31126673611958905912011-02-07T19:47:00.000Z2011-02-07T19:47:23.723Z

A bad week for meat April Dembosky, writing in this weekend's Financial Times, reports that the spectators at the Super Bowl will be munching baby carrots and baked lentil crisps instead of the normal fare of fat in chips and burgers. The demand for "healthy" snacks and food in the USA is growing fast, and one in four snacks now has a label saying it's a "better for you" product. Pepi-owned

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-30451047970130253502010-12-08T17:05:00.000Z2010-12-08T17:05:37.252Z

Well, a little more, anyway. Over £1 billion has been added to farmers' bank accounts from the first tranche of Farm Payments paid Dec 1, which is an average of £12,500 for the 80,000 farmers who have had their payments.  There are more payments to come, when the calculations have been finalised. The $64,000 question is how long the SFP system is likely to continue. A recent document  by the

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-84260684680397541842010-09-09T16:07:00.000+01:002010-09-09T16:07:43.732+01:00

High profile scientists and economists have predicted a starving world, detailing problems but few solutions. This article suggests that the solutions are being developed a the same time as the academics pronounce their predictions of "blood in the streets" and "perfect storms". Farmers are responsive to changes in demand and supply, and agri-science and positive politics can make a huge

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-62376629717296067052010-06-10T12:43:00.001+01:002010-06-10T12:50:20.097+01:00

Tesco baton gets smooth hand-over Selling more food in Britain than any other company, Tesco is the largest customer of UK Farming. What happens in Tesco has a real bearing on farming and the supply trade, so when its hugely successful boss decides he has achieved his ambition of building the biggest multiple store in the country, and that the time has come to hand over the reins, it matters to

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-71569419826628528372010-06-08T16:45:00.000+01:002010-06-08T17:36:27.268+01:00

Summary: was there an original thought or opinion in the 45 mins lecture? Reith lecturer created hardly a rippleThe BBC Reith Lectures have that revered slot in the annual programming which eclipses all else. Today we had the second in the series presented by Professor Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society and Astronomer Royal whose title was Surviving the Century. Food and energy played a

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-47776563127459139382010-05-04T16:07:00.000+01:002010-05-05T07:56:31.229+01:00

Review of rural manifestosBeing a notorious floating voter who can bob in any political direction, Thursday's decision time creates a void in the pit of my stomach. What to do? Who to support? Before I grasp the stubby black pencil I want to to know where I'll actually be putting my cross. No point in taking my newsagent's advice "put a cross in every box - then you can't be wrong!" After

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-68235836244587960062010-03-31T19:58:00.000+01:002010-04-01T12:23:55.119+01:00

Each political party says public expenditure must be reduced, but nobody knows how or where to start.   Government is the biggest business in the UK. It employs more than half the workforce. Add in sub-contractors, businesses and organisations dependent on grants, subsidies and other public funds, and you have a huge part of the economy. None have any desire to be down-sized. The situation has

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-54291870187049620392010-03-23T12:36:00.001Z2010-03-23T13:48:47.588Z

A penny a litre doesn't seem like too much to make a fuss of, but in milk production today every penny counts. The cost of keeping cows rises, as tractor fuel gets more expensive, wages improve, rules and regulations get tougher. For more than a decade farmers have been earning nothing from milking their cows. They have been living off the farmhouse B B they run, the mobile phone mast  on their

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-68229249189696284662010-03-17T22:16:00.000Z2010-03-17T22:26:19.058Z

The new UK farming income figures have been released which shows the industry ticking over nicely at £4.07bn, or a satisfactory £21,000 a farmer. Macro figures like this matter, as global planners of economic policy in London, Brussels, Davos or New York can only grasp the headlines without rooting too deeply into the details. Which seems, from their news release, to be how DEFRA would like it to

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-20833746122254649042010-02-04T11:17:00.000Z2010-02-04T14:33:23.098Z

The Supermarket Code of Practice comes in force today Peter Kendall's performance on this morning's Today on Radio 4  was politically correct - but did he get to the real issue?  Farmers have become used to the measured tone of their President, but I'm not sure he cuts much ice with the public. This morning he totally left me, and I think, many others when talked about a "rotten time before

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-45242937944175272322009-12-30T12:36:00.000Z2009-12-30T12:36:27.519Z

Children on UK farms are being put at needless risk through outdated legislation which prevents them from riding in the tractor cab, under supervision, so forcing parents to let them play, unsupervised, in the farm yard. In ten years - 1998 - 2008 - 43 children and young people were killed on farms in the UK, and many more suffered injuries including amputations and serious burns, reported the

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-2279770846987939252009-11-05T18:16:00.000Z2009-11-05T18:16:35.962Z

Open Meeting for Government Advisory Committee on Pesticides I'm going to this 'Open' meeting and am willing to raise concerns and issues from farmers. The meeting is this next Monday, 9 November, in York, (entry by ticket). My reason is to see if the Committee is aware of CDA, controlled droplet spraying. Readers of Practical Farm Ideas will remember I featured this in the Summer issue "Is

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-11998596243950874902009-09-27T17:46:00.000+01:002009-09-28T12:26:40.021+01:00

With another group of children hit by E Coli, farmers considering the business of entertaining the public using the animals on their farms need to think again Once again, farming makes the headlines as visiting children get severely ill. Godstone Farm was apparently entertaining up to 2,000 people a day over the school holidays, which at a total spend per child of maybe £8 makes the job a good

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-21962034475500814252009-08-13T12:15:00.000+01:002009-08-13T12:17:00.692+01:00

Dear SirSean Rickard's assertion in Food News (p 17, Tues Aug 11) "We know that larger-scale, high-capitalised farms are far more productive and efficient than small-scale family farms" needs clarification. Some smaller farms are kept as a hobby, where output and efficiency are not goals, others farm within their means, with minimal borrowings. Smaller farms that are managed efficiently have no

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-3934504973730678812009-08-04T17:11:00.000+01:002009-08-04T21:32:06.440+01:00

Will the new Grocery Ombudsman help farmers?Call me a pessimist, but I doubt it. The more law the more entrenched the protagonists. Supermarket buyers will make sure their new contracts are worded so they can operate as normal. Will the Ombudsman be busy? I doubt it. How many farmers and small processors will use the service and subsequently risk a future contract?The commitment is for low

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-77064053194845127632009-05-28T19:23:00.000+01:002009-05-28T19:40:52.748+01:00

The MPs have done wrong with their expenses and the Daily Telegraph has created a scenario which has caught everyone's imagination, and doubtless enjoyed healthy sales as well. So what happens when the dust settles? Will the nation's population just get on with their financial difficulties? Or will they, and the media look for another sector which benefits from the public purse?If farmers and

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29353917.post-27369583919209726292009-03-30T15:04:00.000+01:002009-03-30T15:40:10.941+01:00

Fertiliser wastageDid you know that nine farmers out of ten waste fertiliser by failing to mount the spreader on the tractor accurately? That the waste of fertiliser can be between 5 and 10 per cent. A striped colour happens when some parts of the field get more than the planned amount, and other parts get less - BUT it's only visible when the difference is more than 15%. The farmer may well use

Mike Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09129317789336754079noreply@blogger.com0