Tag Archives: Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Hello Ms Truss

Posted on July 15, 2014 by argylesock

Our new UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is Elizabeth Truss. Er… who? She’s been working for improvements to education, very important, yes, but I haven’t seen much to suggest that she knows anything about the … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, ecology, fish, food, horticulture, money and trade, weather and climate | Tagged Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, politics, Truss_Elizabeth | 4 Comments

Goodbye Mr Paterson

Posted on July 15, 2014 by argylesock

Here in Britain, our Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs has been Owen Paterson. Not any more! Today, in a Cabinet reshuffle, Mr Paterson’s been sacked. I wonder who’ll take his place. Whoever that person is, I … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, ecology, fish, food, horticulture, money and trade, weather and climate | Tagged Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Paterson_Owen, politics | Leave a comment

Owen Paterson wants Roundup Ready crops in England

Posted on July 2, 2014 by argylesock

Helen Wallace at GeneWatch UK tells us that a committee within our UK Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA, headed by Owen Paterson), hopes to see Roundup Ready crops on English farms. Those are genetically modified (GM, genetically … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food | Tagged biotechnology, corn, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, development, Europe, feed, food loss, food security, fruit, genetic modification, glyphosate, grain, grocery, herbicide, herbicide resistance, law, livestock, local food, maize, maize GA21, maize NK603, Paterson_Owen, pesticide, pesticide resistance, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, politics, precision farming, Roundup, Roundup Ready crop, soya, supermarket, sustainable, technology, trade, vegetable, weather, yield | 6 Comments

Will England grow GM maize?

Posted on June 12, 2014 by argylesock

Owen Paterson is the UK’s Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. We’ve known since at least a year ago that Mr Paterson loves GM (genetically modified, genetically engineered) crops. So it’s no surprise to learn that Mr … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture | Tagged biotechnology, corn, crop, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Europe, genetic modification, grain, law, maize, maize GA21, maize NK603, Monsanto, Paterson_Owen, plant_monocot, politics, Roundup Ready crop, Syngenta | 5 Comments

Feature: Protecting the pollinators part 1 – bees and ecology

Posted on April 21, 2014 by argylesock

argylesock says… We need bees and other pollinators. We really, really need them. Here’s the first of three articles about pollinators, from the Wellcome Trust blog, which I’ll pass on today.

Posted in agriculture, ecology, food, miniculture | Tagged apiculture, arachnid, arthropod, beetle, biodiversity, bumblebee, coleopteran, conservation, crop, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, dipteran, disease, ecosystem, habitat loss, honeybee, hoverfly, hymenopteran, insect, mite, pesticide, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, pollination, research, seed, Varroa destructor, virus, wasp, wild bee, wild pollinator | 2 Comments

Wild weather and a rubbish response

Posted on January 31, 2014 by argylesock

Yesterday our British Met Office announced an incredibly wet January in parts of Southern England. Before the month was over, ‘the southeast and central southern England region has already had its wettest January in records going back to 1910.’ The … Continue reading →

Posted in weather and climate | Tagged Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, drainage, Environment Agency, farmer, flood, Paterson_Owen, politics, rain, water, waterway, weather | 10 Comments

Getting rid of bovine tuberculosis?

Posted on November 30, 2013 by argylesock

A farmer in my family told me, ‘People want clean meat.’ Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is an infectious disease of cattle (Bos primigenius) caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis. Our UK Government wants rid of bTB, because then the European Union … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, money and trade | Tagged bacterium, badger, biosecurity, bovine tuberculosis, cattle, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, disease, disease reservoir, disease testing, disease transmission, farmer, food safety, law, livestock, mammal, milk, Mycobacterium bovis, native species, notifiable disease, politics, ruminant, trade, tuberculosis, vertebrate, wildlife, zoonosis | 6 Comments

Badger cull to end early in Gloucestershire

Posted on November 29, 2013 by argylesock

People with guns have been out shooting badgers (Meles meles) in Gloucestershire. This was one of the ‘pilot culls’ supposed to get rid of some of the badgers which, say some, are a reservoir of the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis which … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, ecology | Tagged bacterium, badger, bovine tuberculosis, cattle, data, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, disease, disease reservoir, livestock, mammal, Mycobacterium bovis, Paterson_Owen, politics, shooting, vertebrate, wildlife | 4 Comments

What the British government is doing about bovine tuberculosis

Posted on November 28, 2013 by argylesock

Did you think I’d stopped thinking about bovine tuberculosis (bTB)? I haven’t and nor has our Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Here are two announcements from DEFRA today. First announcement: There’s to be ‘zero tolerance’ of missed … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture | Tagged bacterium, biosecurity, bovine tuberculosis, cattle, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, disease, disease testing, disease transmission, farmer, Heath_David, law, livestock, mammal, Mycobacterium bovis, notifiable disease, politics, ruminant, transport, tuberculosis, vertebrate, zoonosis | 1 Comment

Why not feed insects to other livestock?

Posted on November 26, 2013 by argylesock

Here in Britain, our Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) coordinates PROteINSECT. This is about farming insects (entomoculture) as a source of protein for animal feed. FERA is part of our Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, miniculture | Tagged aquaculture, arthropod, bird, black soldier fly, chicken, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, development, dipteran, disease, disease transmission, egg, entomoculture, entomophagy, feed, food, Food and Agriculture Organization, Food and Environment Research Agency, food safety, food waste, housefly, insect, International Livestock Research Institute, invertebrate, larva, law, livestock, manure, meat, microlivestock, milk, poultry, research, technology, vertebrate, waste, welfare | 2 Comments