The quote “you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time” is attributed to Abraham Lincoln. It came to mind when I watched the TV reports on the floods on the Somerset Levels. The Environment Agency has, according to the reports, spent a huge amount of money on a bird sanctuary but little on cleaning out the river. Apparently this, as well as cleaning out ditches, is bad for biodiversity. I suggest that three weeks under water is even worse for biodiversity.
I have admired Owen Patterson’s approach to GMs and badgers. He has looked at all the facts and taken a stand. Now he has to look at the all the facts on the value of well maintained water channels, both in terms of getting water away and the impact of such maintenance on biodiversity.
Farmers in the flooded areas are reporting finding carcasses of wild animals, including badgers. I must give it to any burrowing animal that tries to establish itself in an area with such high water tables. I realise that the situation is “complicated”, to quote the Environment Agency, but to let water channels silt up that previous generations had thought necessary to keep clear was a ‘brave’ decision. I have been reading for years the concerns of farmers on this issue. Some would regard farmers’ comments as biased but it also has to be accepted that comments from single issue pressure groups are perhaps more biased because, unlike farmers, they do not feel obliged to weigh up all the issues.
It is so easy for single issue pressure groups to influence public opinion and decision makers. They tend to ignore the downsides and concentrate on the “cuddly” view of nature. This puts pressure on the media. Everyone with the full benefit of all the facts knows that badgers are not cuddly. They prey on a range of wildlife. Those with less than a full knowledge, including some of the media, can be influenced into thinking that these “cuddly” creatures would not do such a thing. This could explain why in a BBC programme on a hedgehog sanctuary a comment that badgers are a major predator was allegedly edited out.
The same applies to articles on hedgehogs in the Sunday Times. Not once is the predatory nature of the badger mentioned and one of the reasons given for the decline in the hedgehog is, according to this paper, (inevitably) pesticides! The same paper has just published an article under the banner headline ‘Farmageddon’ which again, perhaps in ignorance, has misquoted the countryside survey data on hedgerows. Apparently, 16,000 miles disappeared between 1998 and 2007. It forgets to mention that much of this is due to farmers, for environmental reasons, letting hedges grow above a certain size where they are no longer defined as hedges. Also it was not mentioned that there are huge losses of hedgerows associated with new roads and other non-farming developments. I personally know of no hedge removal by farmers during this period but I know of many hedges that have been planted but these may have not yet have grown sufficiently tall to be classified as hedges in the survey.
Sometimes, the comments of single issue groups have a sinister edge implying that we all have to change our lifestyle and dietary habits in order to fit in with their own very narrow agendas.
There is little doubt that agriculture has environmental issues. This is inevitable because natural vegetation has to be destroyed to grow food. Getting the balance right is proving very difficult to achieve and will become even more difficult as the pressure of an increasing and more affluent population grows. Decisions should be based on all the facts and not just the views of single issue pressure groups. Life is more complicated than that. It should also be highlighted that farmers are not the only ones to “meddle” in nature. Protecting badgers has led to a reduction in biodiversity.