Watch this space very carefully............

Birdnuts

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13852053

If this goes wrong it will have profoundly negative implications for wildlife in Ireland and across the EU - as well as for rural communties, landscapes,water quality and rural industries like Tourism and small farmers:(

Most CAP money already goes to the biggest and most intensive farmers as well as big-agri business and their lobbying power threatens to bring about the above dire situation as soon as 2013!!

PS: I'm particulary concerned given recent actions of the EU which appear to be about anthing but the common good and my faith in MEP's from the major parties in this country ain't exactly high eithier in this area:(

Scrappychimow

Look on the bright side, at least these farmers won't have enough money to buy shotguns to shoot the crows ,foxes and rabbits.
Also they will be using less fertilizer-thus less nitrogen oxide polluting our atmosphere,and they won't be tearing downs as much hedgegrows. :cool:

kildare.17hmr

Scrappychimow wrote: »

Look on the bright side, at least these farmers won't have enough money to buy shotguns to shoot the crows ,foxes and rabbits.
Also they will be using less fertilizer-thus less nitrogen oxide polluting our atmosphere,and they won't be tearing downs as much hedgegrows. :cool:

so they loose their subsidies then loose more money from crops being destroyed by rabbits and grain being eaten by birds???!!! you have a great way of looking at things

Birdnuts

Scrappychimow wrote: »

Look on the bright side, at least these farmers won't have enough money to buy shotguns to shoot the crows ,foxes and rabbits.
Also they will be using less fertilizer-thus less nitrogen oxide polluting our atmosphere,and they won't be tearing downs as much hedgegrows. :cool:

I would prefer if this thread was used for a serious discussion !!

Half-cocked

Scrappychimow wrote: »

Look on the bright side, at least these farmers won't have enough money to buy shotguns to shoot the crows ,foxes and rabbits.
Also they will be using less fertilizer-thus less nitrogen oxide polluting our atmosphere,and they won't be tearing downs as much hedgegrows. :cool:

More likely in the medium to long term they will sell up their land and we will end up with far fewer, but much bigger, farms. Complete with all the intensive farming methods that will destroy our natural heritage. The small farmer might not be the perfect conservationist, but he's a hell of a lot better than the alternative.

Scrappychimow

Half-cocked wrote: »

More likely in the medium to long term they will sell up their land and we will end up with far fewer, but much bigger, farms. Complete with all the intensive farming methods that will destroy our natural heritage. The small farmer might not be the perfect conservationist, but he's a hell of a lot better than the alternative.

http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/arable/intensive-farming-can-be-the-greenest-foresight-scientist/37664.article

Birdnuts

Scrappychimow wrote: »

http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/arable/intensive-farming-can-be-the-greenest-foresight-scientist/37664.article

This model might work in places like Brazil or the US that have set-aside vast areas for wildlife - unfortunatly it would be devastating for wildlife in Ireland(and most European countries) since 80% of the land here is used for some sort of farming. It is very unlikely that big intesive farmers would set-aside any of their land for wildlife in any case!!

doctor evil

Biggest fear for me is that mega farms owned by companies could crop up.