So you just accept the current status quo, despite the fact that this is one of the very few fora supporting insects' interests?
So you just accept the current status quo, despite the fact that this is one of the very few fora supporting insects' interests?
No, that's you attributing things to me that I've never expressed again.
So go on, you're now John the dictator, you can do whatever you want. What's your five year plan (dictators love five year plans) for agriculture? You get a little wiggle room in terms of rising food prices, but an Orkney spring over rising food costs mean you lose the game.
In principle I've no objection to banning neonicotinoids, I just want a clear explanation of what happens next.
I just propose stuff like mixing up livestock and crops, rotating grazing systems, more people working on the land, less influence of mega-companies on local agriculture, no real need for Monsanto/Bayer, or others, in what farmers do,in the UK or anywhere else.
You may call me reactionary, Luddite or whatever, but over 30 years of farming on the edge of what may be considered viable farming territory I can say that the chief element of successful farming is not believing what back-up services advise, but careful observation of what works and what doesn't.
Not that I'm oblivious to what science teaches. The messy stuff is the science/commerce interface. That, as I'm sure you agree, is murky ground.
Lost me there mate. I'll have some of what you are smokin'
Ok, I can possibly get behind "some sort of stuff". But what impact will all of that have on the cost of my food?
I think the bigger problem is the political/science interface, specifically the cherry picking of "science" or elements thereof to further an agenda. And by political I'm casting a wider net than government. The neonicotinoid "debate" is one primarily of politics; Beekeepers are just a handy hook onto which it can be hung, Bees and Beekeepers, let alone the wider environment are actually irrelevant to the specifics but its a cause people can identify with so the campaign has attached itself to us like a leech.
I certainly won't disagree that the monopolisation of industry generally, not just agriculture, is not a good thing though.
Last edited by Johnthefarmer; 30-09-2012 at 01:18 AM. Reason: just sharing..
[QUOTE=Nellie;13711]Ok, I can possibly get behind "some sort of stuff". But what impact will all of that have on the cost of my food?
Better quality, less muck in the environment,more expensive maybe--
what do you want?
How much more expensive? 5%? 10% more?
What do I want? I'd settle right now for not being abused, insulted and libelled by a campaign that is supposedly working in my interests just because I ask questions of it.
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