I watched the latest Harry’s farm video last night and I’m struggling to understand what Johnson is trying to achieve, the current policy seems to be to do away with food production and import everything which to me is utter madness, have I missed something? Is there a logical/sensible reason for doing this

Saw that last night too. Seems utterly bonkers and ridiculous. I’d love to know the justification for these bonkers policies. Thought we were supposed to all be eating more plant based foods so wheres the logic into turning it into land fit only for grazing cattle?

We’ve been walking into the current HGV driver shortage for decades and seem to be making the same short sighted, strategic errors with farming. Wind on 10 – 15 years from now and we’ll have a massive food shortage, or find ourselves completely reliant on food imports.

I think at this point the only way to understand Tory policy is to ask the question: “Which Tory donor gets rich off this decision?”

I’m struggling to understand what Johnson is trying to achieve, the current policy seems to

What makes you think he is trying to achieve anything? I’m convinced that the whole of the cabinet are so incompetent they are just trying to survive long enough to make their fan base believe they delivered sovereignty then “leave and spend more time with family” so the next unlucky bastard has to pick up the pieces and appears to be making an even bigger pigs ear of it.

IANAF

I am with @poly on this – I am not sure some of the calibre of our politicians to be able to think through some of the policy.

I would also say however, and I am aware Harry is bordering on a national treasure, that he has a strong personal view on how he farms. I am sure that many other farmers would take a different approach, and I think there are many  moving away from reliance on the chemicals and energy-hungry chemical fertilisers that many rely on.

Where I do strongly agree with him is that the land we have has to be used productively – feeding our nation, increasing climate resilience and biodiversity, recreation etc. And I do think there will be a set of farmers like him looking at the future and deciding that the government policy of the day is not the deciding factor over what and how they farm.

I was reading about Russia and agricultural policy the other day, apparently when Putin came to power they imported 50% of their food. 20 years later they’re now one of the biggest exporters of grain!

Just shows what you can do if you have the right policies (and masses of land).

“Vladimir Putin had just become president,” says a market consultant in Moscow, who asks to remain anonymous. “And he was told in a meeting that Russia imported more than 50 per cent of its food. His face went pale.

“Putin has since made it his goal to ensure better food security in the country,” adds the person who attended the meeting in 2000. “He dreads dependency. And now Russia is number one in wheat, and is having others depend on it.”

A hangover from the era of the Soviet Union, when it had been a net importer of grain, the sector was by 2000 neglected, with no subsidies to producers and heavily reliant on imports.

Putin launched a state-led programme to develop agriculture through national projects aimed at stimulating investment and developing production in 2004. It included targets to ensure 80-95 per cent of self-sufficiency in key products, including grain. A decade later a grain charter to boost transparency in the market was introduced. “Large players and the state agreed to make this market less shadowy for everyone’s benefit. The effect was very positive,” says Daria Snitko, analyst at Gazprombank. “This has helped exports for sure.”

https://www.ft.com/content/4d925bae-fa89-4e64-9063-0c01e3b5690c

The UK’s new ex-EU policy seeks to balance production and biodiversity, reduce the risk of floods and improve soil quality.

The U.K. made quite a strong case for these changes as an EU member in 2014.

The policy is set out for anyone who wants to read it – the thinking seems fairly sound based on a quick read:

https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2021/06/23/how-farming-is-changing/

The UK’s new ex-EU policy seeks to balance production and biodiversity, reduce the risk of floods and improve soil quality.

Harry covers this too, especially the bit about soil quality- the farming methods Harry uses is all about improving soil quality and he raises the very good point about the use of chemicals is very beneficial to that and the banning of some has been catastrophic for both biodiversity and food production so benefits nobody.

If it’s an ex-EU policy then why are the French farmers not following it? or at least not all of them. In the comments section on Harry’s video there is a French farmer boasting about how they still plough their fields after Harry has explained he no longer does that because its bad for biodiversity and soil health (he’s done a few videos on these very topics before too so he knows more than most about soil health and biodiversity) and how much more diesel a tractor consumes while ploughing, so not even good for CO2 emissions.

Just seems a policy at odds with all the other policies and goals around. We’re not a big country to begin with. Only a small area of the country is fit for growing crops and food so seems bonkers to limit that further.

Paying farmers to not produce is a throwback from the EU we need to cull right away. We don’t have to protect the French farmers anymore, especially in the face of rising grain prices.

Subject matter starts at the 12:30 mark, but as always the whole video is worth a watch.

I don’t understand it either, taking productive arable land out of use – or into less productive use i.e. grass for feeding livestock. Consumers will pay more, those that can’t will go without, imports will rise, and food security will further decline.

Paying farmers to not produce is a throwback from the EU we need to cull right away.

100%

Not seen Harry’s farm will have a look later tonight.

If it’s an ex-EU policy then why are the French farmers not following it?

I think “ex-EU” meant “now that we’ve left” not “brought with us when we left”.