Think of where your food comes from. . .

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you had a great Christmas.

The weather this autumn has been fantastic for farming, not too wet, not too cold, no autumn storms. It has been lovely that the leaves have stayed on the trees whilst they changed colour. Normally they are blown off long before now. 

The land is still dry under foot which makes day to day tasks much easier, as we enter December, we still have two bunches of cattle on the pasture. This is very rare. 

Whilst the weather has been kind, farming in general has not been immune to the spiralling energy cost. Directly, fuel for the tractors has obviously risen in price. The largest cost increase is the fertiliser which will be used to grow next season’s crops. Recently the costs are £200-£300 per ton, this year they have been nearing £700. There aren’t many crops grown without fertiliser, after next harvest it is quite likely that agricultural produce and therefore food will be significantly more expensive.

There has obviously been much press coverage of global warming. No matter where you read or watch it there is some mention of the part played by farmers. The message to consumers is quite simple, stop eating meat. Obviously for a beef and sheep farmer, who runs a butchery-based farm shop, this is a worrying situation. 

I am not a scientist, but I feel the press oversimplifies the issue. I accept that ruminants produce methane, a greenhouse gas, which is not good. There is little mention of the fact that the way we farm animals in this country is not all bad.

There are many different styles of farming. In the United Kingdom many livestock farms are small family run affairs utilising marginal land that is not very suitable for growing crops, but is very good at growing grass. 

The animals are reared on a mainly forage diet. The natural manure, high in carbon and rich in other nutrients, produced by the animals, is then spread back on the land as a fertiliser. The grass uses the nutrients in the manure and the carbon is incorporated into the soil where it stays.

In other countries, such as America cattle, are reared in feedlots. They receive little or no forage. Much of the feed is grown in other countries including areas like the Amazon, facilitated by cutting down of trees. The feed is then transported to the cattle. The land used to grow feed for the cattle could be used to grow food for humans. Also cultivating, ie ploughing, land weakens the soil leading to erosion and carbon release. 

Growing crops year after year makes the soil poorer and spreading artificial fertiliser, because infertile soil can’t grow crops without it, has a massive environmental impact.

I feel that we as UK livestock farmers are much more environmentally friendly than some other areas of the world.

Also ask yourself the impact of buying tomatoes from Spain, avocados from Israel and asparagus from Tunisia, all of these will be transported to the UK by jet plane.

I can accept the concept of eating less meat and animal products but please be aware where your purchases come from. Please eat locally produced products that have a lower impact on the world than imported goods. Please also remember that local products provide local jobs for local people who could be supporting you.

I’ll get off my soap box now. Until next time.

Stuart Luxton