Thursday, 5 2007

Germany – planned and productive

I visited Germany last week to look at anaerobic digesters producing methane for use in combined heat and power units (CHP) supplying electricity back to the grid. There was plenty to note:

Over 3000 digesters are now in use on farms all over Germany producing around 1 Giga watt of electrical energy.

Digesters are now running on forage crops, in some cases requiring no slurry component at all.

Windmills abound. Interestingly they were largely located as single units in valley bottoms. This low key approach may be a less visually intrusive way forward.

I saw no hedges. Non farmed habitats seemed few and far between in a planned and productive countryside.

Farmland bird populations soar

Experts have shown that over the past 6000 years farmland bird populations have soared as new farmland habitat has been created from the clearance of wildwood.

Probably true but not very enlightening.

So too recent reports that farmland bird populations have declined by 40% since 1980 and that the “intensification of farming” is to blame.

Farmland bird populations were declining from 1980 to around 1993 at which point they stabilised and from which they have now started to rise. The decline, which commenced prior to 1980 was almost certainly brought about by the intensification of agriculture in the 1960’s 70’s and 80’s. However that intensification ceased in the early 1990’s, since when there has been a marked extensification. Take a look at the agri-environment data in our farming statistics pages to see for your self. Factor in several hundred thousand additional hectares of set-aside and we have, according to Defra, around 40% of all agricultural land being actively managed for environmental gain.

Good news rarely makes a headline so expect the following in 2010:

Farmland bird populations have declined by 35% since 1980. Experts blame the intensification of farming.

Tuseday, 3 2007

Wye not?

More news from Wye where the Wye Community Land Trust www.wyecommunitylandtrust.org.uk is making a bid for the tenancy of the College Farm and looking for public support. More information from their website.

Food security – a cautionary tale revisited

The very wet weather of late has seen our subterranean water table rise – an almost unheard of event for June and very far from the drought we experienced in April.

It is the entirely unpredictable nature of our climate that should be at the forefront of policy makers’ thoughts - in the long run a reasonable degree of self sufficiency is a prerequisite to food security.