Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #backbritishfarming
Most recents (16)
🙃🤦😞 We're shocked to hear reports that the government may ditch plans to pay farmers to protect nature and climate – this would be a catastrophic mistake by the new Prime Minister
🧵👇 theguardian.com/environment/20…
🧵👇 theguardian.com/environment/20…
🚜4⃣🍲🌍🐝 Tackling the climate emergency and mass decline in wildlife populations is vital for our long-term food security.
To abandon plans to transform the way we support English farmers at such a crucial time would be an outrage.
2/6
To abandon plans to transform the way we support English farmers at such a crucial time would be an outrage.
2/6
So much progress has already been made, with years of consultation and planning, by so many.
🙄 A handbrake turn on the biggest opportunity to fix our broken farming support system in the last 50 years would betray our commitments to nature and climate
3/6
🙄 A handbrake turn on the biggest opportunity to fix our broken farming support system in the last 50 years would betray our commitments to nature and climate
3/6
If we stop livestock farming we can save the planet and turn 60% of our farmland back to nature.
A thread 🧵
A thread 🧵
Our farm is all good quality crop growing land, but around 220Ha is used for growing crops to feed our livestock which are predominantly housed all year round.
Maize, grass, wheat barley and oats are all used across our dairy and beef cattle along side a large quantity of food byproducts that are inedible to us humans.
😡📢 Bear with me while I air my disappointment and frustration with my local supermarkets @Tesco and @asda on their betrayal of Scottish and UK farmers during what is a deeply challenging time for the sector 👇
#SupportLocal #BackBritishFarming
#SupportLocal #BackBritishFarming
First on my lunchtime stop today was @Tesco in Kilmarnock to do a wider food shop but also pick up some lamb.
There was not one single Scottish or UK lamb product on their shelves. But a plentiful selection from New Zealand...
There was not one single Scottish or UK lamb product on their shelves. But a plentiful selection from New Zealand...
Then it caught my eye that most of the pork on the shelves next to it were stacked with pork from Denmark - at a time when the UK pork industry is on its knees!
Pig farmers are leaving the sector left, right and centre, reducing numbers, struggling with feed costs and backlog!
Pig farmers are leaving the sector left, right and centre, reducing numbers, struggling with feed costs and backlog!
Dear George Eustice
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low prices is forgotten.
What is the true cost of cheap food? Is it the Quality? The environment? Animal welfare? Workers rights? The risk of disruption to supply from conflict or pandemic?
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low prices is forgotten.
What is the true cost of cheap food? Is it the Quality? The environment? Animal welfare? Workers rights? The risk of disruption to supply from conflict or pandemic?
When will gov look beyond this parliament and instead of focusing on quick crowd pleasers adopt a sustainable food security model fit for consumers, producers and the environment.
This gov has shown that it has no interest in food security and seems oblivious to the risks of outsourcing our food production.
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
“It's clear negotiators from Australia & New Zealand are sticking firm to their hardline demands for the complete removal of tariffs on all their exports to the UK. This would make life unbearable for small British family farms” - @Minette_Batters. [1/4]
dailymail.co.uk/debate/article…
dailymail.co.uk/debate/article…
“The plain truth is this: removing tariffs for vast, unmanageable volumes of Australian beef or New Zealand lamb – or, God forbid, allowing zero tariffs on all their produce – could spell the end.” [2/4]
“The Government says it wants to 'level up' Britain. But this can never be achieved by throwing our family farms under the bus,” says @Minette_Batters who is proud of British farming's high standards. #BackBritishFarming [3/4]
BREAKING NEWS: After extensive campaigning by the NFU the government has agreed to put in law a system that means each new free trade deal will be scrutinised by parliament for its impact on animal welfare and British farming before it’s ratified. nfuonline.com/news/latest-ne…
The Trade and Agriculture Commission will be put on a full statutory footing and will provide a report that will be laid in Parliament before the start of a 21-day scrutiny period under the terms of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act.
NFU President @Minette_Batters reacts to today's food standards campaign victory #BackBritishFarming
Last night government defeated amendments to the #AgricultureBill which would have safeguarded our world leading #food & #farming standards.
Many @Conservatives MPs pledged to wear the wheatsheaf & #BackBritishFarming last month - inc my own.
A hollow & meaningless gesture.
Many @Conservatives MPs pledged to wear the wheatsheaf & #BackBritishFarming last month - inc my own.
A hollow & meaningless gesture.
It’s baffling that a 🇬🇧 govt is fighting tooth & nail to renege on its own manifesto commitment, sell out its farmers & inflict the dregs of the global food bargain basement on the poorest in our society. And for what? This? ⤵️
Massive respect & thanks to those dozen or so Conservative MPs who did vote to their conscience & honour their manifesto commitment, inc -
@neil_parish @Simon4NDorset @GeorgeFreemanMP @DrNeilHudson @JulianSturdy @SirRogerGale @Douglas4Moray @carolinenokes Teresa Villiers
@neil_parish @Simon4NDorset @GeorgeFreemanMP @DrNeilHudson @JulianSturdy @SirRogerGale @Douglas4Moray @carolinenokes Teresa Villiers
[DEBATE THREAD] It's #AgricultureBill time🚜Today MPs will participate in some of the most important #Brexit votes to date, including to #SaveOurStandards. Tune in here for all the main takeaways👇
But first, it's worth remembering the journey we've taken to this point. In 2018, the government announced "landmark" agricultural reforms to a subsidy system that would reward British farmers for improving nature and tackling climate change gov.uk/government/new…
Since then a lot has been revealed about the threat the UK's new trading context could bring to food standards and the reforms stemming from the bill. Read the Future British Standards Coalition's first report on the bill sustainweb.org/resources/file…
MONDAY: #AgricultureBill is back in the Commons.
Most MPs are well-intentioned & #BackBritishFarming, but the truth is, unless standards are enshrined in law, there is a high probability risk farming will be undermined. .@Keir_Starmer understands this.
#SaveBritishFarming
Most MPs are well-intentioned & #BackBritishFarming, but the truth is, unless standards are enshrined in law, there is a high probability risk farming will be undermined. .@Keir_Starmer understands this.
#SaveBritishFarming
.@trussliz thinks it's worth undermining our food, farming, animal welfare, countryside & Enviro standards to get trade deals, but has she weighed up the trade-offs? Trade deals gains are tiny compared to losses from trashing our standards —not just £ losses.
#SaveBritishFarming
#SaveBritishFarming
Losses from trashing our food, farming & environmental standards are not limited to the 25-50% of British farms DEFRA expects to go bust.
There'll also be massive costs to public health (those who suffer + the #NHS) from food produced by methods banned here.
#SaveBritishFarming
There'll also be massive costs to public health (those who suffer + the #NHS) from food produced by methods banned here.
#SaveBritishFarming
It's #BackBritishFarming day!🇬🇧
#Northumberland’s farmers are so important to our local community, and have worked hard during the Covid pandemic to fill our plates, and keep us fed so I, and many others, want to say thank you 1/: 🥳🎉🧑🌾
#Northumberland’s farmers are so important to our local community, and have worked hard during the Covid pandemic to fill our plates, and keep us fed so I, and many others, want to say thank you 1/: 🥳🎉🧑🌾
And it is also about managing our iconic landscapes like the farms who are part of the #NorthernHillFarmingPanel and higher level stewardship areas of South Northumberland that I visited with the @Natures_Voice a few years back 2/
And landscapes have to be managed to ensure #HadriansWall survives through farmers fields
And the curlew and plovers on our uplands and moorlands survive and thrive 3/
And the curlew and plovers on our uplands and moorlands survive and thrive 3/
We are now live with Agritech & The Future of Food. Thank you everyone who's logged in to join us.
There is not enough in the Agriculture Bill about food production. We need to be clear that we need to use every technology possible to produce good cereals, vegetables, meat etc competitively. @neil_parish
The PM has sympathy with farmers but he is determined to forge ahead with trade deals - so there will be more competition. @neil_parish
"We currently have one of the safest food systems in the world, yet we are in danger of giving it up." Great article from @jimmysfarm in today's @MailOnline about the importance of not undermining our #WorldLeading standards in future trade deals 👏 ow.ly/g2Xi50A79ZJ [1/4]
"This is not about sentimentality. It is about accountability. And that is what we are going to throw away if we let big American producers export their beef to Britain without ensuring that it meets the same #FieldToFork standards as those upheld by our own farmers." [2/4]
"If the US gets its way in trade talks, Britain will be importing chlorine-washed chicken, hormone-pumped beef, pork from pigs fed growth-promoters, and grain treated with a plethora of pesticides and insecticides that are banned in the UK." [3/4] ⤵️ ow.ly/Orrs50A79Y8
The battle over trade standards is political spin at its unedifying worst.
Nobody wants to see our high 🇬🇧 standards undercut, yet government is forced to tie itself in increasingly Gordian knots in an attempt to obfuscate & run down the clock [1/3]
fginsight.com/news/news/farm…
Nobody wants to see our high 🇬🇧 standards undercut, yet government is forced to tie itself in increasingly Gordian knots in an attempt to obfuscate & run down the clock [1/3]
fginsight.com/news/news/farm…
Indeed, only 12 months ago @DefraGovUK SoS Eustice was passionately arguing that:
“unless 🇺🇸 meets 🇬🇧 standards, it can join the back of the queue on trade.”
It was a @Conservatives manifesto commitment to maintain these standards [2/3]
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
“unless 🇺🇸 meets 🇬🇧 standards, it can join the back of the queue on trade.”
It was a @Conservatives manifesto commitment to maintain these standards [2/3]
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Yet it’s increasingly clear that, despite a lack of any public support for the policy, a bad trade outcome for food is on the cards.
Luckily, it can be stopped: if you care about the food on your plate, sign the @NFUtweets petition today 👏 [3/3]
countrysideonline.co.uk/back-british-f…
Luckily, it can be stopped: if you care about the food on your plate, sign the @NFUtweets petition today 👏 [3/3]
countrysideonline.co.uk/back-british-f…
A positive thread on the need for #aspiration for the #future of our #food & #farming industry...
🚜 🐓 🐄 🐑 🍎 🥦 🌾 🌳 🐝
[1/9]
🚜 🐓 🐄 🐑 🍎 🥦 🌾 🌳 🐝
[1/9]
FARMERS 👩🌾
We’ve a lot to be #proud of in 🇬🇧 - but we can #aspire to #better.
More productive. More tech-savvy. More collaborative. More environmentally proactive.
Change is coming. We have to embrace it & lead the #change. Consumers respect us - that’s a big asset ✅
[2/9]
We’ve a lot to be #proud of in 🇬🇧 - but we can #aspire to #better.
More productive. More tech-savvy. More collaborative. More environmentally proactive.
Change is coming. We have to embrace it & lead the #change. Consumers respect us - that’s a big asset ✅
[2/9]
FARMERS, II 👩🌾
With #NetZero we have to step up. It will be difficult; hard decisions will have to be made. But we must show #leadership.
We can’t complain about the consequences of #ClimateChange if we don’t play our part.
And only Ag can act as a carbon sink 💨 🌱
[3/9]
With #NetZero we have to step up. It will be difficult; hard decisions will have to be made. But we must show #leadership.
We can’t complain about the consequences of #ClimateChange if we don’t play our part.
And only Ag can act as a carbon sink 💨 🌱
[3/9]
This is good; a reminder that some in government don’t accept the self-evident need for a thriving domestic #food & #farming industry.
We now redouble our efforts & take our positive message to every citizen of this country.
#BackBritishFarming 🇬🇧
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8…
We now redouble our efforts & take our positive message to every citizen of this country.
#BackBritishFarming 🇬🇧
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8…
“British #farming can be one of the leading lights of post-Brexit Britain if government chooses to become a global #leader in championing #sustainable, climate-friendly #food that our farmers produce here.”
@Minette_Batters @NFUtweets President.
nfuonline.com/news/latest-ne…
@Minette_Batters @NFUtweets President.
nfuonline.com/news/latest-ne…
It’s also important to remember that 🇬🇧 #agriculture is the bedrock of our £121bn agri-food sector employing 4m people and supplying 62% of our #food. These are big numbers.
There’s a lot of talk around comparative 🇬🇧/🇺🇸 standards when it comes to #food and future #trade deals; but what do these differences mean in practice? ⤵️
[Thread, 1/10]
[Thread, 1/10]
EGGS 🥚
🇬🇧 - Minimum legal requirement of enriched cages (750 sq cm) + perch, nest box & litter.
🇺🇸 - No federal laws on hen welfare; voluntary guidelines suggest cages of 432 sq cm.
US 🍳 costs = 28% lower. That’s no yolk.
2/10
🇬🇧 - Minimum legal requirement of enriched cages (750 sq cm) + perch, nest box & litter.
🇺🇸 - No federal laws on hen welfare; voluntary guidelines suggest cages of 432 sq cm.
US 🍳 costs = 28% lower. That’s no yolk.
2/10
CHICKEN 🐓
🇬🇧 - Only potable water permitted to wash carcasses. Legal maximum stocking densities/AMR protocols apply.
🇺🇸 - No legal maximum stocking densities in major 🍗 producing states - Pathogen Reduction Treatments (eg chlorine dioxide) required to wash carcasses 🦠
3/10
🇬🇧 - Only potable water permitted to wash carcasses. Legal maximum stocking densities/AMR protocols apply.
🇺🇸 - No legal maximum stocking densities in major 🍗 producing states - Pathogen Reduction Treatments (eg chlorine dioxide) required to wash carcasses 🦠
3/10
