Rothamsted Research – Eat Less Meat

BBC Radio 4 Farming Today at the Real Farming Conference 7th January 2016

This braodcast includes interview with Keith Goulding of Rothamsted Research

I have met and discussed the Howard-Higgins system of agriculture with professor Keith Goulding and the top four soil scientists of Rothamsted. His interview with Radio 4 starts at 1.00 minute. His point about eating less meat is extremely valid and this could be reduced still further, and the further it is reduced the more water is retained by the trees that replace the previously cleared forest to create grazing land.

My point to the top four soil scientists and Dr. Keith Goulding  was the allocation of a portion of each field or farm to become a biomass factory. If this were done and HH-4 compost were produced  then there would be  maximum water retention as this material not only holds 20 times its own weight of water it sequesters 3 times more carbon than any above ground growing plant life. (Lawton, PRI, Australia). This would massively reduce the destructive run off from land cleared for grazing. All boarders of arable fields that are normally sprayed clear of indigenous weeds should be used as part of the biomass factory. They would also be the home to indigenous wild flowers, insects, wild bees and small mammals. And with good management the respective plants can be harvested at the correct time to preserve the flowers for natural self seeding and the perennial and indigenous weeds harvested  at the right time as appropriate. This would be good field management.   No external chemical inputs would be necessary  and  subsidies could be reduced and directed towards more good agricultural management.

“Reduce livestock consumption by 20%” (or down still further depending upon how green you feel, encouraged by more accurate subsidising) and grow more trees was his message. Thus more land could be given over to various types of self sustaining food production.