The other day I was checking bees I keep in a cider orchard on a local farm when I came across Bob, the farmer. After a bit of the usual chaffing, I said ‘When are you starting on the Regenerative Farming then Bob? What with the price of fertiliser having shot up with the war in Ukraine, you might save a bob or two,’ to which he replied ‘Load of bloody nonsense!’ This kind of snappy dialogue went on for a while, but the upshot was ‘I’m going to keep on farming the way I always have done, boy!’ And in a way I don’t blame him. Farming since the fifties has got into a very easy routine. You spray with Roundup or suchlike before you plough – that’s all the strangely yellow fields you see everywhere. Then you spread nitrates and phosphates from Russia or Ukraine, and you cultivate, and then you spray another weedkiller around the time you sow, just in case, and throughout the season you spray insecticides and fungicides and herbicides at regular intervals, often on the advice of agronomists employed by the chemical companies and paid commission on sales. Some fields are sprayed seven or more times each year, according to DEFRA surveys.
Very hopeful. Hurrah
Great read Richard, thank you.