As has been noted in a selection of agricultural journals recently, David Cameron assured the electorate, when he entered Number 10 Downing Street, that he would cut back the amount of red tape that is choking this country to death.
The farming industry has its fair share to cope with, which instead of declining is becoming increasingly invasive and is spreading like a virus.
It is quite clear to that there are more people snooping and checking on British Farmers and telling us what we can and cannot do, than there are farmers actually doing the job.
Regulations are becoming restrictive and quite frankly dangerous and costly. Do they ensure we do a better job? No, they are putting our businesses under stain both physically and financially.
Farm workers who have 30 years or more experience but did not take the necessary exams to qualify for the work they do so expertly, will soon be banned from spraying our crops and carrying out other daily tasks they have done for years.
Farmers will then have to employ an outside contractor who may only have had one year’s training whom the ‘system’ considers will do the job better. This will cost far more than using ‘in house’ staff, and is unlikely to be done at the optimum time.
We must continue to question why farmers are now being made to grow three separate crops each year. Will that make farming in the UK better, and will it improve the environment? No, of course not.
Why do we have inexperienced, often non farming inspectors coming to check we are complying with the Farm Assurance Directives on an annual basis? Surely if our farms ticked all the right boxes for the past ten or more years, not much will have changed.
On the crop side they check we keep records of everything we do from drilling through to combining and storage of the grain. And with livestock it is the same, including checking the water troughs are adequate and trees are there for livestock to shelter under when it is hot.
If farms pass the lengthy scrutiny as they have done for decades, you would think we could be trusted to carry on without this annual inspection, by someone less able than those who actually do the job.
There are hundreds of unnecessary rules, regulations and red tape which should if David Cameron meant what he said, by now have been removed so the farming industry can get on with producing good quality safe food, which we are very good at, without interference.
Other industries are suffering the same burdensome regulations and red tape piled high by bureaucrats who are most likely just ensuring the safety of their own jobs.
This week Her Majesty the Queen will meet Ms Nicola Sturgeon the newly elected leader of the Scottish National Party. Who would not want to be a fly on the wall!
Ms Sturgeon is a strong anti-Royalist, she boycotted a visit by the Queen to the Scottish Parliament in 2003. She also deliberately made her oath of allegiance in the Scottish Parliament to the sovereignty of the people, not the Monarch, when elected in 1999.
She has just announced that the Scottish Parliament will not honour the Act of the United Kingdom Parliament, under which it is the legal duty for Scotland to send Crown Estate money to the treasury, from which a percentage is given to the Queen as part of the ‘sovereign grant’.
The way Ms Sturgeon and the SNP are seizing power, stoking the embers of Scottish Nationalism and taking liberties way beyond her brief over devolution, one would be forgiven for thinking the Yes vote had won the Referendum.
Two very differing stories from north of the border have reached me which indicate that not only will Ms Sturgeon not have things all her own way, but also her brand of politics could well drive many Scots south into England.
One shows the venomous residue which is still evident after the shambolic referendum which was handled so incompetently and complacently by David Cameron and Westminster politicians.
It seems the atmosphere since the Referendum has become increasingly toxic. The level of intimidation against the ‘No’ campaigners was grossly under reported and anti-English sentiments are still commonplace, with examples such as the WI becoming bigoted against English members.
A couple from Galloway have decided to leave and move to England. (I am told there are many more) He is a Scot with an English accent which for the first time in his life, is leading to derisory comments and they now feel uncomfortable in their community.
House prices in retirement areas are already starting to fall, so those considering moving to England need to move fast if they wish to buy comparable properties.
I was encouraged to hear that a group of Sussex farming friends who spent most of last week shooting in the Highlands found the locals at complete odds with Ms Sturgeon and had not a good word to say for her.
Those involved in rural industries including agriculture, who rely upon the English coming north to shoot, stalk, fish and stay in local hostelries, recognise that should Scotland become independent, their income will dry up overnight. My chums and plenty others will not travel 600 miles into Scotland, they will stop in Yorkshire.
Carola Godman Irvine
The farming industry has its fair share to cope with, which instead of declining is becoming increasingly invasive and is spreading like a virus.
It is quite clear to that there are more people snooping and checking on British Farmers and telling us what we can and cannot do, than there are farmers actually doing the job.
Regulations are becoming restrictive and quite frankly dangerous and costly. Do they ensure we do a better job? No, they are putting our businesses under stain both physically and financially.
Farm workers who have 30 years or more experience but did not take the necessary exams to qualify for the work they do so expertly, will soon be banned from spraying our crops and carrying out other daily tasks they have done for years.
Farmers will then have to employ an outside contractor who may only have had one year’s training whom the ‘system’ considers will do the job better. This will cost far more than using ‘in house’ staff, and is unlikely to be done at the optimum time.
We must continue to question why farmers are now being made to grow three separate crops each year. Will that make farming in the UK better, and will it improve the environment? No, of course not.
Why do we have inexperienced, often non farming inspectors coming to check we are complying with the Farm Assurance Directives on an annual basis? Surely if our farms ticked all the right boxes for the past ten or more years, not much will have changed.
On the crop side they check we keep records of everything we do from drilling through to combining and storage of the grain. And with livestock it is the same, including checking the water troughs are adequate and trees are there for livestock to shelter under when it is hot.
If farms pass the lengthy scrutiny as they have done for decades, you would think we could be trusted to carry on without this annual inspection, by someone less able than those who actually do the job.
There are hundreds of unnecessary rules, regulations and red tape which should if David Cameron meant what he said, by now have been removed so the farming industry can get on with producing good quality safe food, which we are very good at, without interference.
Other industries are suffering the same burdensome regulations and red tape piled high by bureaucrats who are most likely just ensuring the safety of their own jobs.
This week Her Majesty the Queen will meet Ms Nicola Sturgeon the newly elected leader of the Scottish National Party. Who would not want to be a fly on the wall!
Ms Sturgeon is a strong anti-Royalist, she boycotted a visit by the Queen to the Scottish Parliament in 2003. She also deliberately made her oath of allegiance in the Scottish Parliament to the sovereignty of the people, not the Monarch, when elected in 1999.
She has just announced that the Scottish Parliament will not honour the Act of the United Kingdom Parliament, under which it is the legal duty for Scotland to send Crown Estate money to the treasury, from which a percentage is given to the Queen as part of the ‘sovereign grant’.
The way Ms Sturgeon and the SNP are seizing power, stoking the embers of Scottish Nationalism and taking liberties way beyond her brief over devolution, one would be forgiven for thinking the Yes vote had won the Referendum.
Two very differing stories from north of the border have reached me which indicate that not only will Ms Sturgeon not have things all her own way, but also her brand of politics could well drive many Scots south into England.
One shows the venomous residue which is still evident after the shambolic referendum which was handled so incompetently and complacently by David Cameron and Westminster politicians.
It seems the atmosphere since the Referendum has become increasingly toxic. The level of intimidation against the ‘No’ campaigners was grossly under reported and anti-English sentiments are still commonplace, with examples such as the WI becoming bigoted against English members.
A couple from Galloway have decided to leave and move to England. (I am told there are many more) He is a Scot with an English accent which for the first time in his life, is leading to derisory comments and they now feel uncomfortable in their community.
House prices in retirement areas are already starting to fall, so those considering moving to England need to move fast if they wish to buy comparable properties.
I was encouraged to hear that a group of Sussex farming friends who spent most of last week shooting in the Highlands found the locals at complete odds with Ms Sturgeon and had not a good word to say for her.
Those involved in rural industries including agriculture, who rely upon the English coming north to shoot, stalk, fish and stay in local hostelries, recognise that should Scotland become independent, their income will dry up overnight. My chums and plenty others will not travel 600 miles into Scotland, they will stop in Yorkshire.
Carola Godman Irvine
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