Farming Today Comments

Dave, Roslin
I'm sorry if Ian Baldwin feels that I made a personal attack on him, that was not my intention, however, my arguments are fact based. Ian refers to Wikipedia to substantiate the claim that sea levels were high 120,000 years ago but ignores Wikipedia's assertion that anthropogenic global warming is a fact and its treatment of Nils-Axel Mörner as a Maverick.You can't cherry pick your data Ian, by doing that you could prove that the moon is made of green cheese!

Hugh Foster
It seemed to me that the FSA would investigate out breaks of salmonella after they had affected the British egg buying public, and they were very reluctant or refuse to instigate pre emptive measures to mitigate the risk. This was done under the banner of the EU as a free market for the movement of eggs. The up shot of this is that the egg buying public becomes the test bed for salmonella in eggs. What about a free movement for the pre emptive testing of eggs? this would enable the FSA to become pro active in this important issue. If goods can move freely around the EU then testing like this that is obviously required should also be un hindered.

Lynn Scoones
George is quite correct, Ted Heath was very economical with the truth! However over the last twelve years, each and every dictat from the EU has been accepted with question and implemented way beyond its original meaning. Not just in relation to farming but across the board. I stand by my previous comment that Farming Today should be just that and not a forum to deal with those who live in rural social housing especially when country born people are unable to live in the village of their birth and have to move to a town or city.

Anne Palmer
If our Government cannot prevent infected eggs from coming into this Country, Eggs, that have allegedly caused the death of two people and made several other people ill, then the EU, knowing the Country and source they came from, should have closed down that particular farm straight away. Just supposing those eggs were used in the making of mayonnaise? Sold throughout the world? Like the man said, one infected egg would have infected all the rest. If any British Government cannot take such action to keep the people that elect them and pay their wages free from contaminated EGGS knowing where they came from, there is no point in having such a Government at all. Certainly the EU has been found 'wanting' in this matter too. In fact the people have been let down AGAIN by all those in whom we once placed our TRUST.

John, Warwick
Surely the worst example of misleading labelling is "Compassion in WORLD Farming" Making British production uneconomic and therby increasing imports from areas of the World with lower standards does nothing for World animal welfare, probably the reverse.

David Caplin
Concerning the meat grown in a petri dish, if it looked, tasted and felt like meat, I'd eat it. We dont eat meat because it comes from an animal, we eat it because we like the taste, so I also dont think people will have a problem eating it.

Fred Henley
British farmers once again are doing a better job this time controlling salmonella BUT are being undermined by cheaper imports produced to lower standards. The consumer would have to pay only a little more for safe, welfare friendly and traceable British food.

bob holmes
EGGS. How many decades ago was it that E Currie set up a cull of flocks infected with Sally. So here we are now, with EU lunacy on one hand and the complacency of FSA ( was it Dr FUdge) allowing the import of dangerous foods while Denmark has banned such imports.On another tack, our birds are vaccinated. With what? Surely not penecillin which as we know contributed to the dramatic decline of the effectiveness of such drugs

Ian Baldwin
Isn't it a shame that those like Dave (no surname) of Roslin who support the theory of global warming make personal attacks on those that disagree, rather than provide fact based argument ? Nils-Axel Mörner (former head of the Paleogeophysics and Geodynamics department at Stockholm University) found how the IPCC has been able to show sea levels rising by 2.3mm a year. Until 2003 IPCC satellite evidence showed no upward trend. Then the graph went skywards because the "experts" had used the readings of a single tide-gauge in Hong Kong harbour showing a 2.3mm rise. The entire global sea-level projection was then adjusted upwards by a "corrective factor" of 2.3mm, because, as the IPCC scientists admitted, they "needed to show a trend". (Source: Christopher Booker, Daily Telegraph 28 March 2009)

Sophie Ivil
I am delighted to discover that farming today is truely looking to the future when discovering the content today. Whilst I was studying I was encouraged to listen and rarely did I ever awaken to hear it. I wish that it was on at a different hour to be heard by many more listeners. Ian, the world today is a considerably different place than in your grandparents time I'm afraid and poor single parents need support because where is the community support from neighbours today? And lab-meat, brilliant, acceptance of the true detriment that increasing global population and livestock production is causing to our planet and future generations!

George Partington Cambridge
To quote "Lynn ScoonesIt is now official, Britain really is a Third World country. I could hardly bear to listen to the main theme of today's programme." We have lived in a 'Fake Society' since 1974 when we joined "The Common Market". It seemed a great idea when it was put to us in those days. What we did not know was it was just a prelude to the formation of the European Union, A political confederation to control Europe. Although we (Britain) are not exactly bumping along the bottom we are tightly controlled from Brussels and are made to toe the Political line.All these programmes are what (in my day) called "Yellow Journalism" to Carry out the wishes of the Eurocrats. (if you need a definition of Yellow Journalism Wikipedia has a page)

Lynchy
I could not agree with you more LynnScoones - massive dumbing down has Farming Today run out of relevent material. Keep those comments coming Scoonsy !

david morgan-davies
Why do we have to look for odd ways of saving carbon? There is one sure way and that is to use less fuel , all sorts if you burn it you get gas , co2 or methane and methane is itself a fuel .So, reduce the passages across fields reduce artificial fertilizer dont leave engines running there are a miriad of ways . These in themselves save money nothing wrong with that .If people to put it crudley replace meat with beans and lentils etc you just move the problem of methane ! just being more efficient is enough .The cereals industry can also be blamed , I am not saying where but the cereals come in from harvest in the farm trailers and it is then tipped are scooped up later to be transported fifty miles to the dryer that stuff is loaded and unloaded several times that is carbon waste in fact there' ways to change habits decentralisea tion is one , flour for example was milled in the village useing wind or water and used locally today today your bag of flour can go several hundred miles to come back from where it started ,this is only one example .If you live in Somerset and want fish it can pass your door one day coming from Brixham go to London and back to your supermarket .our distribution system is amazing but has it gone too far ?

Lynn Scoones
It is now official, Britain really is a Third World country. I could hardly bear to listen to the main theme of today's programme. The thought of these poor children, poorly dressed, barefoot, gathering outside a rich persons house with their begging bowls! What on earth is happening to what was once an informative programme dealing with farming & agriculture. There is more farming content in The Archers. For heaven's sake please start to focus on farming, these other loosely related topics can only be described as 'dumbing down'

Ian Baldwin
Surestart - how did our great grandparents cope without it ? How ungrateful some people are. They appear to have been provided with social housing but complain they are living in a house they didn't want and a place they didn't know. They should get their priorities right and sort out their housing before they have children and not expect the hard work of other taxpayers to fund them. My great grandparents had 6 children and my partners' had 13 - and apart from the basic education not a penny in taxpayer funding.

Michelle
Absolutely yes I'd eat meat manufactured in a petri dish! I've been a vegetarian for 40 years for purely ethical reasons - basically from the day I realised that to eat meat meant colluding with killing - but I still remember the taste and texture of meat as being rather nice, so any death-free meat would be welcome!

rob messenger
is eating lab-grown meat really thst different from eating quorn?

Dave, Roslin
Dear misguided Ian Baldwin, the theory of global warming is not discredited. Virtually no reputable independant scientist disagrees with the theory. The problem is not that global temperatures are going to rise by a few degrees, or that sea levels are going to rise by several metres, but that they are likely to do so in my lifetime rather than over thousands of years. Many species probably won't be able to adapt in time - homo sapiens being one of them. We know that we are polluting the earth, we know that we are spending the earth's resources at an rediculous rate. It doesn't take an Einstein to realise that this is wrong - global warming or not.

Doreen The Badger Face Sheep
I was quite upset listening to your programme today, to suggest that we sheep belch and fart (hate that word, so common, but media I understand does use it) I am a 14 year old Badger Face ewe, happily in lamb again, mainly because I had a toy boy for husband this year, oh dear there I go degressing again, I am one of 30 in John and Valerie Honeyfield's flock of Badger Face and we have all been brought up proper, I do have two daughters in the flock and I have reared them well, they do not belch and, well you know what. Even if we did, I cannot understand the thinking of people who decide that deleting us will sove this so called global warming, I don't believe in global warming and if you were in the field with me last night you would understand my thinking. Valerie has typed this for me as I find typing on those flat key boards difficult, I am, of course, of the old school, where one learned to type properly and I have just had my hoof extensions re-done. Thank ewe for reading my blog, it was most gracious of you and if I find further reason to write, rest assured I will.Kind regards to ewe all Doreen

Jon, Kent
Could Ernie Pollard please define his 'scientific rationalism' in light of the environmental pollution, and soil degradation, and pesticide residues in food that has happened as a result of the industrialised agri-system (and exploitative food chain, including supermarkets etc) of the last sixty years or so?

George Partington Cambridge
I started listening to Farming Today when most of the Programme time was taken up by 'Fatstock Prices'.How the Programme has changed in those years. Now most of the time is taken up by 'interviewing' academics and other 'Spokespersons' that want the Farming industry to follow a certain agenda connected to political points of view. Sort of leading the Farmer by the Nose into Bureaucratic E.U. policies. Who really cares what the French, Spanish, or German farmers want to send to Britain under false labels.Please go back to Fighting the case for Britain instead of spreading the EU word on their 'Directives'

Ian Baldwin
I see you are still giving airtime to the now discredited theory of global warming.In the last interglacial period about 120,000 years ago, sea level was about 6 m higher than today. There are wave-cut notches at this level along cliffs in the Bahamas. On the southwestern coastline of West Caicos Island in the West Indies there are coral reefs about 3 metres above today's sea level - created in the Pleistocene Period. This shows that sea levels were at this level long enough for the reefs to grow. (source Wikipedia)

Ted Fryer
28.11.09"Colin from Bristol". Good point. It is amazing how legislators never quite finish the job. As well as banning egg production using battery cages they should also have prohibited the SALE of eggs produced by this means. In that way, importers would have to demonstrate that imported eggs are produced to the same standards as in EU. Level playing fields come to mind.

Elisabeth Lewis
I wish to support theuse of "Destination of food" on labels in supermarkets In my opinion and most British shoppers this is vital as we want to support British farmers. Most French people support their own produce as do Americans.. and some supermarkets are sadly lacking in their support. This especially refers to cheese (the best in the world) meat, milk and eggs. I dread the time when our dairy farmers are put out of business and we have to rely on european milk with its dubious sources...

David Friend
What a waste of time the FSA comments were today. On the example of a meat pie I feel that all the ingredients would have to be produced in Britain for it to be a British pie. Charlotte Smith only seemed to mention supermarkets. The law would have to apply to all from WI to Tesco.

Nigel Richards
Labelling of food. The unanswered questions are still the same after saturdays programme.If a food package has any word or symbol that would be associated with the uk then it is only because the selling company sees a benefit in packaging it as such. Therefore it is at least misleading to do so if the contents were not produced where the public associate those symbols or words.Labelling has become less misleading but the bad examples in the programme are clear examples of the problems. We still have a retailer that calls itself Farm Foods which I think has misleading connotations as they have no connection to any real farm in the understood sense.There are a large section of the public who unwittingly or unknowingly are being misled . Clever words by marketing men for the selling companies cannot disguise the fact.Legislation may or should exist to be enforced by trading standards. It shouldn't need to have the food equivalent of copyright to get transparency in this.

Jonathan Morse
A lot of the comment board entries critizise the FSA man yet if you have a Steak and Kidney Pie with the steak from one country, the kidneys from another, or bought from a supplier where one day they'll be from one sourse, another from another, and the pastry ingredients from another, e.g. if all the meat is imported but the pastry is from the UK piemaker, how do you label it and how do you stop meat importers claiming it's UK meat if it's slaughtered in the UK having only just been brought in.As for UK being best didn't that foot and mouth thing start with a UK farmer mistreating his pigs, yet being willing to sell the food onto us?

Anne Palmer
I have listened to Farming Today for quite a number of years now and food labeling has been the subject many, many times throughout those years and STILL the EU manages to 'fudge' the matter to the advantage of those on the continent of Europe. What are they afraid of? Are their good so inferior they dare not put on exactly where the goods come from? I do not believe that because I know farmers on the continent are just as proud of their product as we are of ours, but we and they need to know they are buying the taste the people have come to enjoy. Take the label/title "Farming Today" for instance, not so long ago that title should have been changed to "Wind-Farming Today" and I would not have bothered to switch on. Then there is the Food Standards Agency on air this morning (Sat 28th Nov) which should have their title changed to "Food Without Standards Agency" because all we ordinary folk want is to be able to support our own Famers, know our food is fresh because it does not have to travel so far, and is, the taste and quality we have come to expect by what it says it is on the label. Not some insipid and rubbery imitation that is not the genuine article. We want "Country of Origin" and "Packed in the UK". How many more years have we got to endure so many different ways of 'conning' the people and 'doing our own farmers out of business? And why can't this Country even decide on a simple thing such as a "Food Label"?

Jonathan Morse
I'm more likely to buy on price and previous experience than country of origin but you should be able to know the country of origin. You could have given the customers you interviewed suspect products like Wiltshire cured ham to see if those who saw it as obvious what was British were being taken in. Yet that farmer seemed to think us customers are thick when we see something described as 'British packaged'.It seems quite reasonable if the Law bans misleading packaging, i.e. claiming it's British when it isn't. When CD's came in they had all had a description as to how the sound was producted, did it start off as analogue or digital, how was it processed, etc. Perhaps where food makes a Country of Origin claim it should have a similiar label for all the possible stages it goes through.You picked the easy case of cheese but the law has to applicable to difficult cases as well. If we say 'Wiltshire cured ham' has to be UK produced then this lable could indicate country the pig was born, was young, was matured, was killed, butchered, cured, then packaged.If you say 'Wiltshire cured ham' has to be UK produced why not go the whole hog and say it has to be produced in Wiltshire! I would be happy buying Polish or Pakistan Cheddar if it was cheap, good quality and only claimed to use the Cheddar style as long as those who want to buy British can tell what is British but I resent the claim that it can only be good if it is made here.

Tom nash
I lislened with interest to the question of food origin and labelling.This has been an issue for ages and is a scandal. Commercial vested interest of mass food manucaturers and retailers holds up clarity. I felt that yet again Farming Today and in this case Charlotte Smith was very WEAK in questioning. You simply fail to tie any one down. All we can rely on is our own knowledge and hear the interviewee squirm and lie.You ought to be far more investigative and decisive like TV reporters and some of the papers. I feel that the NFU etc should do more but they ofetn have conflicts of interest too and Farming Today is often just not strong enough for some reason either of weak ability or editorial concerns....

Vexed Foxy
Food labelling in this country is insane, manufacturers have to (for example) on a packet of cornflakes if there is a picture of a bowl of cornflakes with milk added they have to write 'serving suggestion' clearly because we are sooo stupid we cannot work that out, however when it comes to country of origin we are running blind, I am so fed up with this system we put up with in this country.

Lynn Scoones
the Sainsbury representative interviewed this morning omitted to mention that whilst foreign pork was clearly labelled it is regularly promoted and at a much cheaper price than British pork. shoppers will therefore go for this rather home grown. The best way to avoid foreign produce is not to use supermarkets if at all possible, better value and prices can be found within the independent sector.

The Truth was Out
After the usual Nulab Goobledegook from the ministerial drone Mr J Fitzpatrick "We are determined...to make you poor etc. etc." the truth came out. "The Commission" doesn't like it. Of course it doesn't like it. The Nation State governed by a democratically elected parliament shouldn't exist and certainly should not have any power. Latvia is the same as Lancashire, Romania the same as Rutland. So Latvian Chedder is the same as Lincolnshire Steak and Kidney Pudding. What's the difference?All hail to "The Commission". Pay your tithes, subjects of the Brussels Sprout.

Fiona, Glos
Imogen - regarding your message below, I hear that (Woman's Hour Radio 4 yesterday) Kate Humble will feature in March 2010 in a programme that follows the life of a lamb from birth to slaughter. It would be of benefit to you to watch this and learn something about farming rather than make thoughtless comments. I live within a farming community and I know just how much time and devotion farmers put into their flocks at lambing time and throughout the year. To suggest a farmer wouldn't or shouldn't care if his sheep drowned in floods makes me very cross. And, returning to your message, if nobody ate meat, there would be no flocks of sheep or herds of cattle grazing this wonderful countryside of ours - no grazing and the land would simply turn to nettles and thistles and would be impenetrable. (Imagine how the walkers would THEN complain).

George Partington Cambridge
Farmer of the Year choice !!!!It is back to the Sixties, Flower Power, Hippies. Will we see buyers at Cattle Auctions wearing Kaftans and saying "Yeah Right on" and planting " Funny Plants". All 'New-Age' farming. Should be interesting for the Common Agricultural Policy in the E.U.

Ernie Pollard
The platform, and implied seal of approval, given to biodynamic farming and homeopathy by the Food and Farming award was very depressing - a major defeat for scientific rationalism.

Paul Wotherwell
I was disturbed to see that the winner of the BBC food and farming awards is a proponent of biodynamic farming. With its irrational beliefs in vitalism, astrology and homeopathic preparations this is more like a new age religion than anything else. Does the BBC endorse their beliefs that burying minerals herbal preparations in deer bladders and cow's horns is an effective way to make fertiliser or anti-fungal sprays? Worrying too that young children are being indoctrinated into the evils of chemicals before they even know what chemicals are, or that all food nutrients are chemical compounds. If I was an organic farmer, I would want to keep a clear distinction between rational farming practices and a wacky cult like biodynamics.

Rod Jones
What an excellent choice of a judge for Farmer of the Year Alex James is. A couple of months ago, in his colunm in The Independent, he admitted he didn't know the difference between bullocks and cows.

Ian Baldwin
I was surprised at who won farmer of the year. Properly conducted scientific studies have proved that homeopathic remedies work no better than simple placebos (Dr Ben Goldacre, Guardian 16/11/07) and other research has concluded that the difference in organic food is not sufficiently important to make any difference to a person’s health or give nutritional benefit. (Dr Alan Dabgour, London School for Hygiene and Tropical health) I can't help thinking that had the public judged the outcome would have been different. With reference to bacon - I can easily identify Danish so why no British Bacon Company ?