Kitchen Garden Forum

I heard on the Farming Today programme the other morning that a crop of Miscanthus grown in Cornwall has to be transported to the Newcastle upon Tyne area to be burnt. This involves a round trip of around 860 miles for every lorry-load which somehow defeats the object of growing the crop.
Sometimes you could weep at the stupidity of some of the schemes afoot in this country.
The farmer in question said that he intends to continue growing the crop so long as he is being paid for it. You bet your sweet life he will. Having planted the Miscanthus there is very little you have to do and I have been advised that the crop could last for up to 50 years!
Sometimes I really do despair!
JB.

Hello Johnboy

I listened with despair to the same report. The trouble is the subject is far too complicated than the lobby groups will admit.

I was listening this morning to a report on the world service where they were again predicting that food prices could well increase. The reasons previously cited such as increasing population, organic production and bio-fuel crops were added to because principally the Chinese as well as other countries are changing their diets as they grow more wealthy. They now want to become meat eaters the same as the richer nations. All this (especially the staggering population increase prediction) will put an ever increasing burden on us to grow sufficient food. Dare I say the conclusion was that science must be used to help with future food shortages and the GM crops were most likely to provide a solution.

Barney