Thanks Helen, this is a great summary. The best I’ve read at pulling apart what it does and doesn’t say in a straight forward way. You put it so clearly! Thank you!
Thank you so much for your kind words Luke! That really means a lot. My goal was to make the strategy as clear and accessible as possible, so I’m glad it came across that way for you. If you have any thoughts or questions about the report or if there are other food and farming topics you’d like to see covered please let me know. I really appreciate you taking the time to read and share your feedback!
At this point I would not trust any government department as far as I could throw them. They are dictated to by globalist agendas and have no choice but to follow them, whether they like it or not, and they will always sugar-coat their destruction of real lives with 'oh but we have to because of carbon, health and safety, inclusion and diversity etc etc'. It's all lies. (End of sermon! :-))
Thank you for sharing your thoughts I can hear how deep your frustration runs, and you’re certainly not alone in feeling this way. There’s a real sense among many people that decisions are being made far away from real lives and local realities, and that the language used to justify them can feel empty or disconnected from what actually matters on the ground.
It’s so important to keep questioning, pushing for transparency, and holding those in power accountable. At the end of the day, real change is most likely to come from the grassroots - people supporting each other, building resilient communities, and standing up for what’s right. Thanks for being part of this conversation and for speaking up about what you see happening.
Interesting how governments never do what’s truly important: like removing the red tape instead of just heaping more on top via ‘new policies’.
Enabling people to make their own choices and accept the personal risk associated with buying things direct from local farmers for things like milk would go much farther for enabling free and healthy choices that truly enable people to grow and sell local and healthy food to their neighbours.
Proper education around how ethically pasture raised meat actually helps sequester carbon into soil, and that cows raised this way can be a net positive to the environment… etc.
Sorry, but as a Western Canadian who is ready to separate from our Eastern overlords in Ottawa, the government needs to take a back seat and get out of policing our food by cutting any and all red tape that prevents small local farmers from doing what they need to do, and by eliminating all subsidies to ‘big ag’ junk food producers.
Thank you for sharing your perspective there’s a lot here that really resonates. I completely agree that endless layers of red tape often do more to hinder small, local producers than to actually protect consumers or improve food quality. Giving people the freedom to buy direct from farmers, especially for products like raw milk, (although in the UK raw milk is accessible) would go a long way in supporting both choice and transparency.
Education is so important too there’s still a lot of misunderstanding around the benefits of ethically pasture-raised meat and its potential for positive environmental impact. We need more honest conversations about what sustainable farming really looks like, and less blanket policy that treats all farms and food systems the same.
It’s frustrating to see how often government policies seem to favour large-scale, industrial producers over the small, independent farmers who are actually working to build healthier, more resilient food systems. Cutting unnecessary bureaucracy and shifting support away from “big ag” towards those doing things right could make a huge difference.
Thanks again for your comment and for raising these important points these are exactly the kinds of conversations we need if we want real change in our food systems.
Large organisations like dealing with large organisations. That's why the policy is big on words and short on action. The MD or Chairman of Large Corporate Food Producer can call the Minister or Senior Civil Servant and bend their ear if they actually do anything they don't like. The small guy can't do that.
It's also enables DEFRA to be lazy. It's much easier just to talk to three large firms than 20,000 small producers.
Thanks Helen, this is a great summary. The best I’ve read at pulling apart what it does and doesn’t say in a straight forward way. You put it so clearly! Thank you!
Thank you so much for your kind words Luke! That really means a lot. My goal was to make the strategy as clear and accessible as possible, so I’m glad it came across that way for you. If you have any thoughts or questions about the report or if there are other food and farming topics you’d like to see covered please let me know. I really appreciate you taking the time to read and share your feedback!
At this point I would not trust any government department as far as I could throw them. They are dictated to by globalist agendas and have no choice but to follow them, whether they like it or not, and they will always sugar-coat their destruction of real lives with 'oh but we have to because of carbon, health and safety, inclusion and diversity etc etc'. It's all lies. (End of sermon! :-))
Thank you for sharing your thoughts I can hear how deep your frustration runs, and you’re certainly not alone in feeling this way. There’s a real sense among many people that decisions are being made far away from real lives and local realities, and that the language used to justify them can feel empty or disconnected from what actually matters on the ground.
It’s so important to keep questioning, pushing for transparency, and holding those in power accountable. At the end of the day, real change is most likely to come from the grassroots - people supporting each other, building resilient communities, and standing up for what’s right. Thanks for being part of this conversation and for speaking up about what you see happening.
Thanks Helen! You can read some of my expression of ‘astonishment’ at how local authorities behave here: https://keepbristolmoving.substack.com/p/heres-one-i-made-earlier
Thanks for this Helen. Sadly I have seen first hand the effect local authorities can have, for other farms and at home on my own farm.
Post swap 📖
Here is my post on our experience, part 2 I coming soon.. https://www.memypigsandi.com/p/the-final-stand?r=4j9ufy
Interesting how governments never do what’s truly important: like removing the red tape instead of just heaping more on top via ‘new policies’.
Enabling people to make their own choices and accept the personal risk associated with buying things direct from local farmers for things like milk would go much farther for enabling free and healthy choices that truly enable people to grow and sell local and healthy food to their neighbours.
Proper education around how ethically pasture raised meat actually helps sequester carbon into soil, and that cows raised this way can be a net positive to the environment… etc.
Sorry, but as a Western Canadian who is ready to separate from our Eastern overlords in Ottawa, the government needs to take a back seat and get out of policing our food by cutting any and all red tape that prevents small local farmers from doing what they need to do, and by eliminating all subsidies to ‘big ag’ junk food producers.
Thank you for sharing your perspective there’s a lot here that really resonates. I completely agree that endless layers of red tape often do more to hinder small, local producers than to actually protect consumers or improve food quality. Giving people the freedom to buy direct from farmers, especially for products like raw milk, (although in the UK raw milk is accessible) would go a long way in supporting both choice and transparency.
Education is so important too there’s still a lot of misunderstanding around the benefits of ethically pasture-raised meat and its potential for positive environmental impact. We need more honest conversations about what sustainable farming really looks like, and less blanket policy that treats all farms and food systems the same.
It’s frustrating to see how often government policies seem to favour large-scale, industrial producers over the small, independent farmers who are actually working to build healthier, more resilient food systems. Cutting unnecessary bureaucracy and shifting support away from “big ag” towards those doing things right could make a huge difference.
Thanks again for your comment and for raising these important points these are exactly the kinds of conversations we need if we want real change in our food systems.
Large organisations like dealing with large organisations. That's why the policy is big on words and short on action. The MD or Chairman of Large Corporate Food Producer can call the Minister or Senior Civil Servant and bend their ear if they actually do anything they don't like. The small guy can't do that.
It's also enables DEFRA to be lazy. It's much easier just to talk to three large firms than 20,000 small producers.