Latest farming opinions OPINIONOpinion: Defra secretary 'lacks compassion' over family farm taxLast week’s NFU conference was never going to be a celebration, given the numerous issues overhanging the sector at the moment. The presence of Defra secretary Steve Reed wasn’t going… OPINIONOpinion: It's time to 'chew the fat' on our food systemsThe concept that “there is no love sincerer than the love of food” (George Bernard Shaw) is something pretty much all my friends and family wholeheartedly agree on. We are… OPINIONOpinion: Out-of-luck farmers wait for that elusive aceAs Kenny Rogers once said: “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.” He could… OPINIONEditor's View: Ask not what Defra can do for youWhat should be the reasonable minimum expectation for the performance of a secretary of state when speaking at the NFU conference? Defra secretary Steve Reed won plaudits on Tuesday (25… OPINIONOpinion: A new day dawns for the much-maligned mouldboardThe clear-out of now-redundant machinery has gone very well over the past couple of years, with combines, sprayers and drills heading off down Hinton Hill on an assortment of lorries… OPINIONOpinion: Time for a new approach to regulating biopesticidesThe “emergency authorisation” of pesticides is often misunderstood. Inherited from the EU, it was designed to allow regulators to adopt the precautionary principle, but to have the option of allowing… OPINIONOpinion: Farmers, like net zero, could be historyI’m confused. I thought there was a climate and nature crisis and we desperately needed to get to net zero. Various things I’ve seen recently have made me question the… OPINIONEditor's View: New low with Treasury - but we can't give upThis week marked a new low in the relationship between Labour and farm lobbyists. Representatives of the NFU, Country Land and Business Association, Tenant Farmers Association and the Central Association… OPINIONOpinion: Labour's 'anti-farming' policies just keep comingThe government’s inheritance tax changes might be getting all the headlines – and certainly all the protests – but I fear that for many the once-a-generation nature of them is… OPINIONOpinion: Spending time with a 'farming genius'I’ve known Matty since he was 27, and he’s known me since the day I was born. We sit together and talk in the hospice. He was once my father’s… OPINIONEditor's View: Two points of hope over IHT as gloom deepensWeek by week we learn more about the priorities of this Labour administration, and week by week they are doing a poor job at persuading people that farming is one… OPINIONOpinion: Starmer and Reeves are like Laurel and HardyPicture the scene – prime minister Keir Starmer turns to his chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and says: “That’s another fine mess you’ve got me in.” Watching this government is like watching… OPINIONOpinion: Is it time for a new political party for rural voters?There’s an unmistakable feeling within the rural and farming community that we’re being sidelined. For years, the major political parties have consistently overlooked our needs, challenges, and values, seemingly disconnected… OPINIONOpinion: Farm profitability is at the heart of IHT challengeLast week, 47 Labour MPs wrote an open letter to the “big six” supermarkets, calling on them to give a better deal for farmers, and to end the harmful practice… OPINIONOpinion: Local food should be at the heart of daily lifeBack in the autumn, my husband and I visited the Morvern peninsula. On a warm afternoon, we walked along a thickly vegetated riverbank, the air full of invertebrates above trout… OPINIONEditor's View: Winners and losers inevitable in land battleWhat should go where on our precious and finite land area, and how should we decide? That is the essence of the Land Use Framework consultation, published last week by… OPINIONOpinion: Why I'm disenchanted with the National TrustI am middle-aged and middle-class so, naturally, I am a member of the National Trust. However, while I used to be confident that the Trust was a good thing and… OPINIONOpinion: A postcard (and some inspiration) from South AfricaI am writing this as a postcard from South Africa. The winter sun must be influencing my mood because this column will primarily be an optimistic one. I am here… OPINIONEditor's View: We must persuade Reed of merits of compromiseCollateral damage… a phrase Defra secretary Steve Reed didn’t utter, but left hanging in the air, when he spoke at the Farmers Club in London this week. Taking question after… More articles
