http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/ en Copyright 2008 Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:40:13 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RECENTLY I attended a meeting about food and farming which was designed to bring together the farmers on one side and food industry boffins on the other. Unfortunately there were not many farmers present which I suppose is not surprising bearing in mind the recent battering they have received from the FMD crisis. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/11/rip_welsh_lamb.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/11/rip_welsh_lamb.html Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:40:13 +0000 AS IF we had not had enough problems this year, there is now another in the form of high oil prices. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/11/end_of_cheap_oil_means_end_of.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/11/end_of_cheap_oil_means_end_of.html Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:55:57 +0000 THE recent publication of the Competition Commission’s preliminary report into the supply of food in this country has proved just another “kick in the teeth” for the farmers. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/11/supermarkets_free_to_carry_on.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/11/supermarkets_free_to_carry_on.html Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:16:24 +0000 By Arnold Pennant It is welcome to report a bit of good news for a change. All the regulations regarding foot and mouth disease have gone thankfully. There are two immediate lessons which should be learned from the most recent outbreaks. The first is that the foot and mouth virus should not be tampered with by scientific boffins and the second is that if bureaucrats which to impose restrictions on other peoples’ businesses that they should be prepared to pay compensation if they get things wrong. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/10/life_after_the_storm.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/10/life_after_the_storm.html Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:29:02 +0000 By Arnold Pennant Perhaps it is a good thing to have been away so much recently, because it has meant that I have largely missed the ravages of the foot and mouth disease epidemic. It has also meant that you can reflect on it from a distance. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/10/foot_and_mouth_disease.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/10/foot_and_mouth_disease.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:38:17 +0000 THERE are certain times in history when you can look back and be relieved that you made certain decisions. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/09/wouldnt_it_be_nice_if_the_gove.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/09/wouldnt_it_be_nice_if_the_gove.html Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:41:54 +0000 LOOKING out of my bedroom window this morning I am just glad that I was not where I was seven years ago. Home is much more preferable than Oil Tanks Road, Ellesmere Port, where a group of lorry drivers and farmers from North Wales and Cheshire and others blockaded the exit of the enormous Shell Oil refinery at Stanlow. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/09/the_2000_fuel_protest_was_a_si.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/09/the_2000_fuel_protest_was_a_si.html Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:27:12 +0000 THANKFULLY it is all over bar the shouting, for farmers at least. I refer, of course, yet again to foot-and-mouth disease. Apart from another piece of dreadful bureaucracy, 20-day movement rule, this awful disease has essentially passed away. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/09/fmd_the_perfect_terrorism_weap.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/09/fmd_the_perfect_terrorism_weap.html Mon, 03 Sep 2007 10:57:55 +0000 LAST Saturday I had a lovely rail excursion on the Settle railway via the Ribblehead Viaduct. It provided a beautiful and tranquil countryside scene, but this was not always the case: the Derwent valley, where the railway runs down towards Carlisle, was the scene of utmost carnage during the last outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in 2001. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/08/deja_vu_in_the_derwent_valley.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/08/deja_vu_in_the_derwent_valley.html Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:09:08 +0000 A FORTNIGHT can sometimes seem a long time, particularly if you a livestock farmer in North Wales at the present time. The announcement of another outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease could not have come at a worse time for many farmers. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/08/welsh_assembly_reveals_its_tru.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/08/welsh_assembly_reveals_its_tru.html Wed, 15 Aug 2007 19:12:27 +0000 THE scourge of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has now been with us for one week. So far the main plus was the prompt action by the Prime Minister and the environment secretary that brought about the rapid disclosure of the source of this virus as the Pirbright Scientific Centre in Surrey. I believe this centre and all companies operating from there should be shut down until such time as a full and independent investigation as to the actual source of this virus has taken place. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/08/how_much_more_can_our_farmers.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/08/how_much_more_can_our_farmers.html Fri, 10 Aug 2007 12:09:05 +0000 WE WAKE up to another farming week and another epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease. And yet I am somewhat baffled as to why a total ban has been placed on all livestock movements nationwide. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/08/fmd_reaction_is_ott.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/08/fmd_reaction_is_ott.html Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:36:28 +0000 PERHAPS a better ending to my last blog should have read “Aprés le Shambo, les shambles” - because nobody could have predicted that we were about to have another foot and mouth disease (FMD) fiasco. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/08/the_true_source_of_the_2001_fm.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/08/the_true_source_of_the_2001_fm.html Sun, 05 Aug 2007 12:50:45 +0000 HOPEFULLY this week will prove more relaxing than the one just gone when a planned countrywide tour went awry. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/07/hopefully_this_week_will_prove.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/07/hopefully_this_week_will_prove.html Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:02:47 +0000 WHILST on a recent farm tour to Germany, I became aware that the European price of wheat was rising. I used to grow wheat but quickly realised that any price below £100 was unprofitable and so I stopped the crop on my farm. http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/07/signs_of_optimism_for_growers.html http://arnoldpennant.welshblogs.co.uk/2007/07/signs_of_optimism_for_growers.html Sat, 21 Jul 2007 11:50:07 +0000