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Letters for Land & Business should be emailed to jasmin.mcdermott@cla.org.uk
Connecting the countryside In response to ‘An inclusive countryside’ Counterpoint in October’s Land & Business Sarah Mukherjee’s piece is not unusual, and it goes deeper than that. County constabularies struggle to find officers who want to serve in the countryside because it is so different to urban work – it can be lonely; few can read a map, so getting lost is a real issue; mobile signals are unreliable, and much more. How do we fix it? Unfortunately, there is a small minority of visitors who create real trouble for farmers, with gates left open, dogs off leads and little regard for footpaths.
This is a challenge for farmers and nurtures the ‘get off my land attitude’ cited by the Director General in her reply. Until there is a wider understanding of where, how and by whom food is grown, the public will remain disconnected. We have to connect them to what they eat, and more particularly to why waste matters. We must
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promote using raw product, not packaged, processed foods. There are myriad cooking programmes on TV, but many still do not cook. We need to create a hunger to understand, and find a route to inform. Maybe organisations such as the Country Trust and its focus on inner city schools could act as a springboard? Its ‘Farm in a Box’ and ‘Climate Action in a Box’ are a fine start. HUGH OLIVER-BELLASIS HAMPSHIRE
STAR PRIZE
Conflicting priorities We farmers are facing so much uncertainty with the agricultural transition and the planning bill. The biggest contradiction is the planned Environmental Land Management policy, whereby the government plans to introduce subsidies on the condition that farmers and landowners meet a great deal of environmental criteria, and the production of food seems to be the least of its worries. I have seen the volume of building on former farmland around Swindon and there is zero regard for the carbon footprint, fl ora and fauna, and ultimately mental wellbeing, which comes with closer association with nature. Where are the gardens and parks for both private and communal use? Where is the infrastructure for new schools, surgeries and other communal facilities? There is a huge loss of trust and a swell of suspicion and disaffection at the confusing agendas of the government.
A MAGNUM OF TANNERS EXTRA RÉSERVE, BRUT CHAMPAGNE worth £59.50
CLA FARMER MEMBER, WILTSHIRE
14 NOVEMBER 2021 | LAND & BUSINESS
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cla.org.uk
20/10/2021 10:31
