The rain came, the grass is growing the crops are looking healthy.
Local households are receiving regular weekly food deliveries from local farm shops and growers. These small businesses recognised the need and are delivering a vital service to their locked down communities.
They are providing Take Away meals, and a personal delivery to your door with a wide range of fresh meat, dairy produce, vegetables and fruit. Some have gone the extra mile and acquired additional household items, making it unnecessary to shop elsewhere.
I hope when things return to normal, we will stay loyal and continue to support these farm businesses and corner shops, which have ensured we have not gone without. We must not forget and revert to old habits.
Many farms have had to diversify over the past couple of decades. We have created business units, holiday accommodation, farm shops, restaurants and wedding venues. We have invested in these enterprises in an attempt to future proof our farms; many of which have been in the same family for generations.
Had we given up and sold to developers, the spread of housing and the commercialisation of the countryside, would have denied the public the space to walk during these difficult times.
I trust that local planning authorities will take into account the importance of the farming community, when they find applications for new diversification projects landing on their desks in the coming weeks and months. It is essential we adapt in changing times.
The majority of the public had never walked the local footpaths but took for granted farms and the countryside on their doorsteps. I hope in future they will be more supportive and appreciate of the farming community which manage the countryside, and provide the food on their plates.
The late Dr Jan de Winter, the leading Cancer Specialist and Radiologist at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, noted that during and after WW2, fewer people died of cancer or heart disease. Food rationing played a major part in this.
In those days the percentage of the overweight or obese, was way lower than today. Recently Cambridge University disclosed that of those contracting Corvid 19, the majority of those who do not recover are overweight.
The UK is the fattest nation in Western Europe, with obesity rates twice those of countries like Italy and Sweden. We are the sixth fattest nation in the world - and rising! Note – in cities like Rotherham, Doncaster and Hatton, 3 out of 4 people are overweight or obese.
It is estimated that the NHS’s projected annual costs for obesity related diseases will reach a staggering £9.7 billion by 2050.
Instead of blaming the government for the death rates due to Corvid 19, surely more responsibility should be taken by those of us who account for these shameful statistics.
As individuals we are responsible for how much and what we eat. When people are dying of this virus because they are overweight, or have related underlying health issues such as diabetes, this cannot be ignored. It is no longer acceptable to assume it is not appropriate or politically correct to warn people they are too fat and should lose weight.
Perhaps while fast food outlets such as KFC and MacDonald’s stay firmly shut, the health of the nation will improve. Unfortunately people will soon revert to their old habits, which will inevitably shorten their life expectancy and increase the burden on the NHS, as it copes with the resulting preventable and self-inflicted diseases.
As an overweight nation with one of the highest density populations in the world, it is not rocket science to understand why so many have fallen victim to this viral disease.
Boris is back - we have once more a reliable strong leader in place.
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