A couple of days ago I interviewed Alan Schofield, one of the leading lights in the organic farming movement in this country. Not only was he fascinating to talk to, he also managed to scare me a little. Alan farms in Pilling, Lancashire, with his land at 3' above sea level. Worried about the climate change he as a farmer has witnessed he has put his money where his mouth is and bought land a few miles away, 110' above sea level.
Today I heard the Americans had produced evidence showing the ice caps may be gone in 5 years. All that water has to go somewhere. Alan's range for the loss of the ice caps begins in 18 months.
But enough of that - until I check the elevation of my house. His farm was a pleasure to visit, healthy crops and not a chemical in sight - he doesn't even use those organic farmers are permitted to, preferring to leave land with nettles and scrub between productive patches, giving the predator insects a place to grow and breed, ready to pounce on any signs of infestation by pests. The reaction to the threat to food security at a government level has been predicatable. Let's go to the industrial option, GM crops. The industrial options have got us in the brown stuff, why couldn't we try something different for once? The Eu will doubtless come up with proposals after a few fact finding missions to Michelin starred restaurants with lobbyists, involving huge amounts of legislation and regulation, making it more and more difficult for smaller operators to comply. The rules already mean we are losing thousands of seed varieties for commercial use, making our food duller and less secure - if you restrict your gene pool what do you get? Well the royal family is one illustrative answer. And they have the ridiculous grading system for fruit and veg, though that is good for those of us who don't care if our onions are slightly smaller than some bureaucrat's idea of the norm. There are food shortages in the world and the EU actions mean huge amounts of our food are deemed second rate so don't make it to market.
The ghost of Kafka must be chuffed he lived in an age when what he wrote seemed crazy.
No comments:
Post a Comment