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OPINION

Opinion: Defensive noise shouldn’t drown out self-analysis

In August I wrote a piece intended to initiate a conversation about the role of young children on farms, and their safety. It was not a comfortable subject, nor was…

OPINION

Editor's View: Will AI's impact on farming be meek or mega?

“The data revolution will be bigger [for the farming industry] than the invention of the tractor.” Perhaps the most remarkable claim at AI(Live) – a conference held this week that…

OPINION

Opinion: Water companies can fund positive farm-level action

I remember sitting around the table with our environmental farm adviser when it was announced that the SFI 22 agreements were to be closed early and all agreements ceased. He…

OPINION

Opinion: Crofters better equipped to survive than bureaucrats

Autumn is normally my favourite time of year. Even though the nights are drawing in, and the hard Hebridean winter lurks on the horizon, autumn has an unrivalled richness here…

OPINION

Editor's View: Why is US ag secretary in the UK with Trump?

Last Saturday (13 September), new Defra secretary Emma Reynolds remarked on social media she had made her third trip of the year to Whipsnade Zoo, home to exotic animals from…

OPINION

Opinion: Collaboration key to cutting food waste in agriculture

Every farmer knows the feeling. You work the land, nurture a crop, invest time, labour and money, yet some of what you grow never leaves the farm. It might be…

OPINION

Opinion: Capital is vanity, income is sanity, cashflow is king

Does farming make money? This is a question my mates ask me, and it’s frustratingly tricky to answer. As someone born on a dairy in the year the Milk Marketing…

OPINION

Opinion: Competence and delivery more important than gender

What to make of the new Defra line-up? The most striking aspect is that the entire ministerial team is now made up of women – not just the top two…

OPINION

Opinion: A letter to Emma Reynolds, the new Defra secretary

Dear Emma, may I congratulate you and your ministerial colleagues on becoming the first ever all-female team at Defra. It’s therefore at risk of being accused of mansplaining that I…

OPINION

Opinion: Analysis has become paralysis in TB battle

As a cattle feeder and someone heavily involved in the beef industry, I’m wondering if we have a joined-up plan to eradicate bovine TB? In 2014 the then-government stated we were…

OPINION

Opinion: Don't expect your sprayer to provide post-BPS answers

It has been a particularly easy combinable harvest, but after our hottest and driest growing season to date, not one of our most bountiful. While bludgeoning some of our late…

OPINION

Editor's View: Much policy drama to come before Christmas

Should politicians have such a long summer holiday? Sometimes it feels like it simply gives them too much time to engage in other activities such as deputy prime minister Angela…

OPINION

Opinion: Why we need to stay in control of AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to drive fundamental change in the monitoring, data interpretation and reporting on farms, enabling “big data” to bring productivity, health and environmental benefits to…

OPINION

Opinion: Farmers don't get time to grieve loved ones

My mum passed away a couple of months ago. She was a farmer all her life and a trailblazing woman in farming “before it was a thing” – her words…

OPINION

Editor's View: Difficult decisions being taken in arable sector

Writers of editorial columns akin to this one are forever on the lookout for reasons to be gloomy and I frequently find myself on guard against it. Doom-soaked forecasts of…

OPINION

Opinion: Big won't be beautiful in the tough years ahead

I’m fed up of hearing the crowing from the rooftops that scale will be the saviour and only possible future for arable farming. I wonder if these people’s calculators are…

OPINION

Opinion: Pubs are the beating hearts of villages

I was showing a fellow farmer around the place the other day when he spotted a funny round patch in the crops at the top of a field. “What happened…

OPINION

Opinion: David Richardson was a towering figure in farming

The sad news of David Richardson’s death last week arrived just a few hours before the deadline for submitting this column. As one would expect from the ultimate farming journalist,…

OPINION

Editor's View: David Richardson's wisdom will be missed

Farming folk have lined up this week to mourn the passing of David Richardson, an industry stalwart who was one of our sector’s most effective communicators for decades. Born in…

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