Oxford Student Beef Ban: Let’s Choose Facts Over Fashion
News that the Oxford University Student Union has voted to ban beef and lamb from campus canteens in a misguided effort to tackle climate change will no doubt dismay many British farmers—particularly those who are doing their best to farm sustainably. The vote follows similar initiatives to ban the sale of beef at Goldsmiths, University of London and the University of Cambridge, in the half-baked belief that a reduction in the consumption of beef lowers an individual's carbon footprint. The…
Partridge Farm—Bishop’s Castle, UK
Set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and only three miles from the town of Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire, Partridge Farm is part of the prestigious Linley Hall Estate. Farmer James Evans manages a Certified Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World (AGW), Certified Grassfed by AGW and Certified Non-GMO by AGW beef cattle and sheep on the 750-acre arable and livestock farm. After a new owner took over the Linley Hall Estate a few years ago, James used…
UK Farmers ‘Collateral Damage’ in Post-Brexit Trade Deal Considerations
UK farmers will have woken up this morning to the news that measures in the Agriculture Bill 2020 to ensure future trade deals will meet UK animal welfare and food safety rules were rejected by the government. Ministers have ruthlessly and serially reneged on pre-Brexit and pre-election manifesto promises to protect food and farming standards around food safety, environment and animal welfare. Instead, we have another empty and equally unbelievable comment from Defra’s Victoria Prentis that the government is “absolutely…
Is the National Beef Association missing the point?
Farmers across the world could be forgiven for feeling somewhat unloved at the moment – and it’s probably fair to say that those with cattle have been unfairly singled out as being solely responsible for the climate emergency. Against that backdrop the UK beef industry’s self-proclaimed representative body, the National Beef Association (NBA), appears to favour the further intensification of beef production in the UK (at the expense of sustainable, grass-fed systems) as the most ‘climate friendly’ solution looks frankly…
Trefranck Farm – Cornwall, UK
Matt and Pip Smith raise Certified Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World (AGW), Certified Grassfed by AGW and Certified Non-GMO by AGW sheep and venison at Trefranck Farm in Cornwall. The farm has been in Pip’s family since 1703 and the couple took over the running of it together from her parents in 2014 with a flock of roughly 1,100 sheep. The Smiths were awarded Sheep Farmer of the Year in 2017 by the Farmers Weekly Awards and Matt,…
