Big may look impressive, but life can be hell for the individual in agriculture today. The problems are vast and complex, and do not lend themselves to easy answers. So what is the agricultural crisis all about, and what can be done to tackle it? Steven Gorelick seeks out the true root of the crisis.
… Gorelick | 5th June 2000 News Agriculture Farming Crisis Agribusiness Factory Farming Small Farms Independent Business Economics Monoculture Farming Factory Farming Economics Food And …
Major funders of the pro-fossil fuel Global Warming Policy Foundation are always keen to speak out against public support for renewable energy, writes Brendan Montague. So how come they're so keen to help themselves to a fortune in farm subsidies?
… 2013 Comment Energy Renewables Wind Economics Farming UK wind-turbines-co-durham-cut.jpg … directly, and through his family trusts and farming business. The member of the House of … taxpayer-financed and Brussels-administered farming subsidies. Lord Vinson, a vocal …
The UK dairy industry is in crisis, writes Megan Perry, with falling prices forcing many farmers out of business. Smaller, more sustainable farms have been the worst casualties, while the large, intensive producers survive. We must ditch market-driven 'survival of the fittest' attitudes - and recognise both the real costs of intensification, and the true value of traditional farming.
… Food Trust | 30th October 2015 Comment Farming Food Economics UK EU … and the true value of traditional farming. Dairy farmers have faced an ongoing … industry's woes is simply to grow food and farming exports by £7 billion. It has remained …
What's the point of farming? To produce an abundance of wholesome food, writes Colin Tudge, while supporting a flourishing rural economy and a sustainable, biodiverse countryside. Yet the powers that be, determined to advance industrial agriculture at all costs, are achieving the precise opposite. It's time for a revolution in our food and farming culture, led by the people at large.
… Colin Tudge | 22nd April 2016 Comment Farming Food Economics Corporations Society … GMOs tractor-cut.jpg What's the point of farming? To produce an abundance of wholesome … It's time for a revolution in our food and farming culture, led by the people at large. …
The green dream of being a small farmer producing high quality, organic food for local people has ended up being anything but for Alicia Miller. The problem is money - there's never enough of it. But she's not alone. All over the world, life is a financial struggle for small, ethical cultivators, and constant source of stress.
… Miller | 11th October 2014 Ethical Living Farming Economics veg-box-cut.jpg A gorgeous … money. The economic viability of small-scale farming is next to nil. Everyone is dependent … There are a lot of reasons that small-scale farming is a difficult business. For us, it's …
With most of our food exports going to the EU, and most of our food imports coming from the EU, Molly Scott Cato wondered what plans the government had for the sector after Brexit. The answer? None! Two reports published today map out a positive future of sustainable farming, local food, thriving rural economies and abundant biodiversity. But is the government on the same page?
… Brexit and the future of farming: threat or opportunity? Molly Scott Cato MEP | 21st February 2017 Comment Farming Biodiversity Economics Politics Brexit … map out a positive future of sustainable farming, local food, thriving rural economies …
Food has never been more affordable for middle class families in rich countries. But it comes at a high cost: the impact of industrial food production on health, environment and society has never been greater as Patrick Holden explained to Emily Lewis-Brown. Now the real cost of food US production will be examined in a ground-breaking conference in San Francisco.
… | 7th April 2016 Ethical Living Food Farming Economics Pollution … drive for food security through industrial farming and ever-cheaper food has, ironically, … put both our health and the future of farming at risk. Food prices have been kept …
Farming today is well on the way to becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the agro-chemical-biotech industry, writes Colin Tudge. Defra and the European Commission are all too keen to make it so, reflecting the interests of an agro-oligarchy obsessed with profits and growth at all costs. But there is an alternative. Join the 'real farming' agrarian renaissance ...
… Farming for profit? Or for people, nature, … Colin Tudge | 19th November 2014 Activism UK Farming Natural World Toxics Economics brussells-sprouts-cut.jpg Farming today is well on the way to becoming a …
As hundreds of British dairy farmers are forced out of business by milk prices well below production cost, writes Patrick Holden, it's time for a 'fair trade' British milk label that guarantees a fair price to smaller scale farmers operating to good environmental and animal welfare standards.
… Holden | 22nd January 2015 Comment Food Farming Economics UK cows-cut.jpg As hundreds … are bleak indeed, with the leaders of the farming industry still advocating that we have … and socially sustainable dairy farming. That way we can come up with an …
Just as the banks are 'too big to fail', so Britain's struggling dairy farmers are 'too small to save', writes Simon Fairlie. And it's not just the government that's happy to see 16 dairy farms go the wall every week - it's also the National Farmers Union to which most pay their dues. The NFU's paradoxical response to the milk glut is to push for ever higher, more intensive milk production.
… Fairlie The Land | 15th August 2015 News Food Farming Politics Economics cows-dorset-cut.jpg … businesses with cash-flow problems." So said farming minister Robert Eustice when he gave … ask, was the Committee parroting what the farming minister George Eustice told them, …
Unsustainable farming systems that damage the environment and public health thrive at the expense of sustainable producers. Patrick Holden makes the case for "true cost accounting" ...
… True-cost accounting in food and farming Patrick Holden | 29th November 2013 Comment Food Farming Economics Green Economy patrick-holden.png Unsustainable farming systems that damage the environment …
Last week a massive 350 hectare open cast coal mine at Druridge Bay took an important step towards winning panning permission. This got Chris Goodall wondering: what if the land was turned into a solar farm instead? His surprise discovery: solar power on England's south coast already costs no more than coal - and it's only getting cheaper.
Solar on the best UK sites is competitive with cheap coal Chris Goodall | 15th July 2016 Comment Energy Solar Fossil Fuels Coal UK Economics Renewables druridge-bay-cut.jpg Last week a massive 350 …
The True Cost Accounting in Food and Farming conference was remarkable - star speakers ... fine food, drink and music ... even an impromptu Panto performance. In short, writes Sharon Garfinkel, it was an inspiration to all who attended.
… Garfinkel | 3rd January 2014 Reviews Food Farming Economics farmers-market.png The True Cost Accounting in Food and Farming conference was remarkable - star … from the True Cost Accounting in Food and Farming conference at the Royal Geographical …
Brexit gives the UK the chance to reform the system of agricultural subsidies that rewards wealthy landowners at the expense of taxpayers, the global south, the environment, and small scale sustainable farmers, writes Alex Scrivener. But strong, effective campaigning will be needed to bring about the changes we desperately need.
… Alex Scrivener | 12th August 2016 Comment Farming Politics EU Brexit Finance UK … in a way that promotes a more sustainable farming model. Subsidies should only be given … with antibiotics are given handouts. These farming practices are contributing to the rise …
The TTIP 'trade agreement between the US and the EU would devastate EU farms as it opens them up to competition from larger, less regulated US operations, writes Dario Sarmadi. This is the conclusion of a new study to be published tomorrow, which also finds that small-scale farmers would be the first to go - with the big winners the large agri-food corporations.
… EurActiv.de | 14th January 2016 News Trade Farming Food EU USA GMOs Economics Health … intended to protect local, conventional farming. The US meat industry has long called …
We need a radical food system transformation to drastically steer us away from climate breakdown.
… | News FSA Food Standards Agency Food And Farming Food Food And Health Food Consumption … lists deforestation and increasing animal-farming as two key causes for rising emissions … to halt in their tracks. Solutions Animal farming provides just 18 percent of calories …
In her new book The Vandana Shiva Reader, the celebrated campaigner and scientist deplores the way in which the Green Revolution forced India's poorest farmers off their land, writes Colin Tudge. Now she fears even worse outcomes in Africa where a GMO-fuelled farming revolution is under way.
… Colin Tudge | 12th July 2015 Reviews Food Farming Science Technology GMOs Seeds … worse outcomes in Africa where a GMO-fuelled farming revolution is under way. The Green … events unfolding from the midst of the Indian farming communities that are most affected, …
As Brazil prepares for elections next month, conserving its remaining Atlantic Forest is a hot issue, writes Cristina Banks-Leite. Ecologists want to preserve more native habitat, while farmers want to expand their acreage. But there is one solution that ought to please everyone.
… | 18th September 2014 Comment Brazil Forests Farming Economics mata-atlantica-cut.jpg As …
Families hit by £605 food bill as extreme weather and energy crisis bites.
… Harbour | 4th December 2023 | News Food And Farming El Nino Bills Economics Hurricane … "Added to that the dependence of our current farming system on volatile oil, gas and … The good news is that steps to make farming more sustainable can not only cut …
Campaigners fear that the abolition of DECC, the department of energy and climate change, indicates that climate will take a low priority in Theresa May's policy agenda. Meanwhile the pro-fracking, pro-nuclear Andrea Leadsom is in charge of environment department Defra.
… And what of Leadsom? Badgers, pollution, farming, fishing ... Andrea Leadsom - … to her to set out her alternative vision of farming and fisheries under direct UK control: … worsening flooding and heatwaves. British farming now has to make the case for the …
Can we initiate a global green recovery, embedding economics within sound ecological parameters?
… Economics Thought Leaders Regenerative Farming Circular Economy Cities … global human rights agenda. Regenerative farming Industrialisation and urbanisation …
The UK government is punishing renewable energy for its success in generating 25% of the country's electricity, writes Stuart Parkinson. But there's no austerity when it comes to the bloated military-nuclear industrial sector, no matter how egregious its failures or extreme its cost overruns. Our future prosperity is being sacrificed - and its costing taxpayers billions.
Wind turbines and solar panels into nuclear weapons: the UK's new industrial strategy? Dr Stuart Parkinson | 15th October 2015 News Nuclear Energy Renewables Politics Economics Corporations War …