Councils complicit in Farming Crisis

[oldapple]

https://youtu.be/3AziUmJzuik?si=xkj4bRHl8TTxZyax

I’m hoping a few of you Snuggers will give the above interview a fair hearing. Rachel runs a newish channel, ‘Colchester Council Watch’, which (intelligently imo) investigates what this and other councils are really getting up to. She provides supporting links but, like she says, do your own research.

Her previous videos are enlightening too.

Disclaimer: I’m 100% in support of our farming community.

[ReformedCharacter]

https://youtu.be/3AziUmJzuik?si=xkj4bRHl8TTxZyax

I’m hoping a few of you Snuggers will give the above interview a fair hearing. Rachel runs a newish channel, ‘Colchester Council Watch’, which (intelligently imo) investigates what this and other councils are really getting up to. She provides supporting links but, like she says, do your own research.

Her previous videos are enlightening too.

Disclaimer: I’m 100% in support of our farming community.

I watched the video with interest. A few comments come to mind:

a) People in the UK (and to a greater or lesser degree elsewhere) want cheap food, I believe that the UK consumer spends a smaller proportion of their income on food than the rest of Europe, although TBH I don't have the figures at hand to show that.

b) The video participants seem to want to return to 'the old ways' and I have some sympathy with that but see my previous comment. That bird has flown and flew away before I was born.

c) A distinct anti-technology viewpoint 'poor cows with their 5G collars'. Perhaps making a cow wear a collar is unkind but they are already de-horned, castrated, ear-tagged etc. and frankly, if animal welfare is a consideration then there far worse examples of poor animal welfare on the majority of farms that keep stock. Used appropriately, technology can both benefit animal welfare and the land, such as the more judicious application of fertilisers and herbicides. I stopped eating a locally produced cheese after the farmer was found guilty of various forms of poor animal welfare. So much for 'village' farming.

d) Climate emergency. The video participants seemed to disagree with the consensus about the consequences of rising levels of CO2. Fair enough, everyone is entitled to their opinion. My local parish council (largely comprised of farmers) announced a local 'climate emergency' yet seem incapable of keeping the ditches maintained on the land that belongs to the parish council and seem surprised when there is local flooding.

e) I agree that supermarkets have too much power over pricing to the detriment of the farming industry.

f) Much criticism was made of growing crops with robotics and the use of indoor lighting etc. 'It isn't natural'. See my first comment. Also, if food can be produced with less land then land that would otherwise be used for food production can be used for other purposes.

g) The closest farm to me is doing a nice business disposing of spoil from one of the new housing estates under construction about 10 miles away. c. 10 lorries a day are making their way down the small local lanes and leaving a substantial proportion of their loads on the roads as well as damaging the verges. It's hard to be 100% supportive of them.

RC (trained as a farm manager a long time ago.)

[bungeejumper]

c) A distinct anti-technology viewpoint 'poor cows with their 5G collars'. Perhaps making a cow wear a collar is unkind but they are already de-horned, castrated, ear-tagged etc. and frankly, if animal welfare is a consideration then there far worse examples of poor animal welfare on the majority of farms that keep stock. Used appropriately, technology can both benefit animal welfare and the land, such as the more judicious application of fertilisers and herbicides.

RC (trained as a farm manager a long time ago.)

Hallelujah to that. Our local dairy herd went techno-organic about ten years ago. The cows spend all their days out in the fields, and whenever they feel ready for milking, day or night, they amble across to the million-pound techno-barn.

Where their 5G neck tags tell the computer who they are, then guide them in to the milking parlour where the laser-guided milking happens. While also feeding them whatever vitamin supplements they're due to receive. (It generally depends on their state of pregnancy, which their radio tags will know, of course.)

Soft lights and (on some farms) sweet music. The cows like it so much that they're inclined to overstay their welcome. In which case a bar comes down behind them and nudges them gently back out into the fields so that another cow can have a turn.

Yields are high, organic prices are fairly good, farmer is happy. Cows are not just happy, they're fully autonomous! Some might think it all sounds a bit Brave New World, but they have a better life than most. And a lot better than in an American feed lot, stuck in a barn and fed on growth hormones.

BJ

[servodude]

c) A distinct anti-technology viewpoint 'poor cows with their 5G collars'. Perhaps making a cow wear a collar is unkind but they are already de-horned, castrated, ear-tagged etc. and frankly, if animal welfare is a consideration then there far worse examples of poor animal welfare on the majority of farms that keep stock. Used appropriately, technology can both benefit animal welfare and the land, such as the more judicious application of fertilisers and herbicides.

RC (trained as a farm manager a long time ago.)

Hallelujah to that. Our local dairy herd went techno-organic about ten years ago. The cows spend all their days out in the fields, and whenever they feel ready for milking, day or night, they amble across to the million-pound techno-barn.

Where their 5G neck tags tell the computer who they are, then guide them in to the milking parlour where the laser-guided milking happens. While also feeding them whatever vitamin supplements they're due to receive. (It generally depends on their state of pregnancy, which their radio tags will know, of course.)

Soft lights and (on some farms) sweet music. The cows like it so much that they're inclined to overstay their welcome. In which case a bar comes down behind them and nudges them gently back out into the fields so that another cow can have a turn.

Yields are high, organic prices are fairly good, farmer is happy. Cows are not just happy, they're fully autonomous! Some might think it all sounds a bit Brave New World, but they have a better life than most. And a lot better than in an American feed lot, stuck in a barn and fed on growth hormones.

BJ

It's all great stuff. Gets a bit sad when the wee fellas are drafted away from their mums by a gate changing direction because it's decided they've grown enough, but it does mean that beef is a bit easier to produce.

I would have thought 5G a bit short range though for useful telemetry on a cow? I suppose it would work in a small urban-ish farm.
I did the back haul system for an automatic dairy in the middle of nowhere (western side of the north island NZ) that relied on an LEO satellite cluster - if you went over your 1k a month allocation it was charged at 3 of their NZD a byte... and if you picked up a satellite going the wrong way it could be hours until the data came back via Alaska