nufsaid

April 2010 - Posts

• Is this going in the magazine?

  Without exception, conversations with young farmers at this weekend’s AGM in Torquay ran like this: Tipsy young farmer: Are you that woman from Farmers Weekly? Caroline: Yes. TYF: Can I have your Farmers Weekly t-shirt? C: No. TYF: Will you take... Posted Apr 27 2010, 08:41 PM by NufSaid Select Tags... SaveCancel Filed under: Farmers Weekly, Agriculture, New Media, Communication, farming, Nuffield, internet, Torquay, young farmers, yfc, yfc agm, magazines, FW [Edit Tags]

• *Childish snigger*

  Just been sent a press release from the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers. I assume an ‘e’ is missing from somewhere in this sentence: Read More... Posted Apr 27 2010, 12:14 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Farmers, Agriculture, farming, dairy, rabdf [Edit Tags]

• Serious journalism

  There are times when I do my best to convey an image of being a serious, hard-hitting journalist. Last night, dressed as a leopard whilst being hugged by an aligator, I realised this weekend can’t be classed one of those times. I’m currently... Posted Apr 25 2010, 03:29 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Farmers Weekly, Agriculture, farming, Torquay, young farmers, yfc, yfc agm, Fawlty Towers [Edit Tags]

• Liar, liar, non-organic pants on fire

  Since I started working in agricultural media, I’ve never been particularly impressed with the Soil Association’s often simplistic arguments that organic farming is superior to conventional food production. I had wondered whether the organisation... Posted Apr 21 2010, 04:33 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, Soil Association, Organic, Communication, farming, NFU, Politics, Food, Government, food production, food security [Edit Tags]

• How many mangos make a crisis?

  As the ash cloud drama continues with the news our favourite worm charmer, Howard Orange, and her lovely husband Farmer Phil are stuck on their hollybobs in Madeira, the panicky shoppers of the UK have begun to worry supermarket shelves are running bare... Posted Apr 19 2010, 06:37 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, farming, Food, Iceland, volcano, flights, imports [Edit Tags]

• Thank you, Icelandic Volcano

  The sun’s out so I’m sitting on my balcony to write this. I’ve resisted the ‘typing in a bikini’ method of work apparently favoured by a certain Farmplan worker – my balcony overlooks a communal garden, I don’t... Posted Apr 18 2010, 09:14 AM by NufSaid Filed under: London, Hyde Park, Iceland, sun, volcano, planes [Edit Tags]

• Musical interlude

  Thought I’d have an election break just to mention a fairly profitable farm diversification. The full Glastonbury line-up was announced yesterday, so Mr Business, Mr Arable and Miss Machinery and I have been discussing our plans for our Farmers... Posted Apr 16 2010, 02:26 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Farmers Weekly, Agriculture, farming, Michael Eavis, farm diversification, Glastonbury, Music [Edit Tags]

• Fairly liberal

  For those of you waiting with baited breath for the Lib Dem green manifesto word cloud (sorry Rob, you have my permission to have a nap rather than read this), here it is: Bit different to the others, innit? Agriculture-friendly words ‘fair’... Posted Apr 15 2010, 02:21 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, Communication, farming, Politics, Food, Government, Lib Dems, World, Liberal Democrats, general elecetion, election [Edit Tags]

• How to meet farming’s needs

  My inner geek has been having a field day. I warn you in advance of reading this post that any ideas you might’ve had about me having a shred of coolness are woefully off the mark. Today most of the parties have published their manifestos ahead of the... Posted Apr 13 2010, 07:14 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, farming, Politics, Food, Government, Europe, conservatives, labour, Plaid Cymru, general election, ukip [Edit Tags]

• Everyone on the bus in five minutes… (CSC reprise)

  If there’s something I didn’t expect to come back from Ireland with, it was a farmer’s tan and an appreciation of Guinness. In just three days on our mini Nuffield reunion we managed to fit in…. A tour of Dublin (complete with... Posted Apr 11 2010, 11:49 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, farming, Nuffield, Travel, farm, Ireland, Guinness [Edit Tags]

• The luck of the Irish

  I’m in Ireland at the moment having a mini Nuffield tour with Princess and some of the boy band. There have been fewer cattle and more John Deere so far on this trip, but thankfully less fried food and more trampolining. I’ll blog properly... Posted Apr 10 2010, 07:27 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, farming, Nuffield, Travel, Ireland [Edit Tags]

• Some badger to love

  Brian May’s back. Fan’s of my last post on the hirsute, badger-loving rocker’s anti-cull campaign will be distraught to know I haven’t got any quality puns this time. Sorry, Steve. I have, however, got this brilliant photo of the... Posted Apr 07 2010, 04:14 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Farmers, Agriculture, farming, Celebrities, farm, Food, Wales, badgers, tb, Brian May, Queen, badger [Edit Tags]

• An Easter miracle II

  I’ve been baking today. Did you know traditional Easter cakes were made with nearly a pound of chocolate, an entire block of butter and half a litre of cream? It was so rich I managed to defeat my Uncle Paul with a single slice. A miracle indeed... Posted Apr 04 2010, 09:38 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Food, chocolate, easter, cake [Edit Tags]

• An Easter miracle

  Admittedly this story doesn’t sound quite so lovely with the headline “LAMB DEATH MISS IS BACK” (the Mirror’s sub editors being as undramatic as ever there), but the story of a headteacher being reinstated after she resigned over... Posted Apr 04 2010, 01:01 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, farming, Food, easter, Andrea Charman, Lamb [Edit Tags]

• Dunno know why, but let’s chuck some more money at it…

  According to a survey by the European Commission published last week, about 70% of Brits want farmers to get more subsidies over the next decade. It’s a figure that’ll make lots of farmers in the UK feel pretty cheery. After all, that obviously... Posted Apr 03 2010, 12:27 AM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, farming, Politics, Government, EU, Victoria Beckham, CAP, subsidies, Europe [Edit Tags]

• Chocs away

  I was asked by a farming chum who was visiting Farmers Weekly Towers yesterday how I managed to get any work done in the office. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but the greyness and lack of natural light isn’t really conducive to... Posted Apr 01 2010, 04:53 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Farmers Weekly, Food, chocolate, easter eggs, easter, FW Towers, office [Edit Tags]