We live in the Trumpington ward of Cambridge. Since the US election there has been a debate amongst some residents about the Trump in Trumpington. A local LibDem councillor has been very concerned and has changed his Twitter handle because it contained …
The Soil Association was making a huge fuss over ‘Peak Oil’ around the new Millennium. Subsequently, new technology has resulted in the fears of an oil shortage evaporating. The reason for highlighting Peak Oil was that the Soil Association appeared to …
Back in July I forecast average wheat yields , with some areas having yields on the disappointing side of average whilst the far North perhaps having above average yields. Well, as they say on Strictly “the results are now in”. The Defra estimated yields …
One of our daughters had a weird dream over Christmas. Apparently, I went missing for six months and was eventually found on a golf course. When asked why I had not returned home earlier I simply replied that I was having a bad round. Obviously, at least …
In 1943 the then Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries introduced an Approvals Scheme for proprietary insecticides and fungicides in certain chemical groups. This voluntary scheme was for efficacy only and the approved products had a logo on the label …
In a recent blog I discussed the fact that the variation in physical yields between varieties in the winter wheat recommended list trials is the same in both high and low yielding situations. My logical conclusion is that variety choice, in terms of …
I have nicked the title of this blog from Jesse Ausubel of the Rockefeller University in the US. He has long held the view that technology liberates the environment. His papers include some on agriculture and forestry but there are also many papers on …
I was just starting to write this blog when news came through that Claudio Ranieri had been sacked. Last year, against all odds (well, 5,000 to1), he led Leicester City to the Premier League title. His sacking is indeed the end of a fairytale. Talking of …
A farmer recently mentioned the term ‘the promoted narrative’ over a stimulating lunch. I rather like that because arable agriculture is full of promoted narratives. A dictionary definition of a narrative is ‘a spoken or written account of connected …
I tend to be in despair over the quality of debate on new agricultural technology. This is because of the standards adopted by those who oppose such developments. In some ways it is comforting as it demonstrates that they cannot find facts that agree with …
Niab
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