I took a walk up the lane with the camera to see what crops were growing this year. No sugar beet this year but field beans on one side, barley on the other and further up the lane some very tall oil seed rape.
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| Field beans are an important part of many livestock feeds, being high in protein. |
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| Barley for malting and brewing or for animal feed. In some parts of the country it might be used for human consumption but here we have one of the main maltings companies not far away and Green King Brewery too. Barley straw was the best for goat bedding. Wheat straw was tough and not so good. |
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| Oil seed rape is grown for it's oil-rich seeds which are used for animal feed, bio-fuel or cooking oil. |
Sometimes we had a bale of rape straw for our goats for a change but they preferred good hay.
It's no wonder really that some people say it would be better if we were all vegetarian, when so much land is used to produce food for animals that then in turn provide food for us. We could cut out the middle man animal! The counter arguement is that lots of our land isn't suitable for crops anyway and it would be even more difficult to get anywhere close to national food self sufficiency and security if we were all vegetarian.
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I took a trip through the state of Ohio one year and was amazed at how much agricultural corn was grown too. In New York state (where I live), most of the corn I see is for human consumption. Regardless, it looks like a lovely walk!
ReplyDeletePerhaps if we made an effort to eat more mindfully - thinking about creating less food waste, and reducing the amount of meat we eat, that would be a good start.
ReplyDeleteAll the Barley around here goes to make lager, so alcohol more important than food it seems. There are a lot of dairy farms here, and sheep everywhere so as a lifelong vegetarian and tea total I would love to see more fields of vegetables grown, wonky veg and all. Sandra.
ReplyDeleteI've always considered it more realistic we are meat free a few days per week, here we eat without any meat twice a week.
ReplyDeleteI can remember some idiot Government person saying that Snowdonia should be given over to crop growing. He'd obviously never been to North Wales!
ReplyDeleteArguments have always gone on carnivore versus vegetarian, a middle road is of course the ideal. I think we are actually moving towards that anyway.
ReplyDeleteIf we were all vegetarian the only way we would ever see farm animals would be in zoos.
ReplyDeleteWe just eat less meat and more vegetables than we used to.
ReplyDeleteThe diabetes prevention course suggested a plate should be 1/4 each of carbohydrate and protein, and 1/2 vegetables. (I only did one session and then baled out as it was 10 months of fortnightly meetings - couldn't face any more after the first!)
I think we should just pay more attention to our consumption of everything, food included.
I do love watching the field change as the crops grow.
It's the 'meat with every meal' brigade, in large portions too, and constantly consuming chicken that has really impacted things. I agree with Angela in that if we do eat any meat it should be in reduced amounts and there should be no wastage.
ReplyDeleteI really don't like that so much of the oil seed rape these days goes to making bio fuel, it takes so much of it. Having lived on the farm in Oxfordshire I saw how much land has to be given over to it and how much has to be produced to make it viable for the farmer.
Sadly I think we are now past the stage where smaller farms can survive, but the old way of rotating the crops and the animals around the fields was definitely the best way for healthy animals and healthy soil.
Everything looks like it's growing as it should. Beautiful. I've heard of organic rape seed oil being used in things like organic mayonaise, etc. ~Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed with how much you know about it all, Sue. I'm not good at identifying crops in the fields except for corn. We say it should be "knee high by the 4th of July".
ReplyDeleteYour photos show beautiful fields with a future great harvest. I agree with everyone else, eating more vegetables and fruit makes a healthy lifestyle. Less meat is better overall.
ReplyDeleteYou are so knowledgeable! Thank you for sharing the photos and the information. Lovely photos!
ReplyDeleteLovely photos. I'd love to live that close to some fields lol. I think that's (another) reason I like visiting daughter. She lives in a small town and when you turn out of her road you are in the countryside.
ReplyDeleteI've stopped eating meat for these reasons (among others).
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