Your reminder, should it be needed, that the populist right does not care about farmers or our concerns. Weโre just a vehicle for their wider aims, for as long as weโre useful. Do not be taken in.
A brilliant piece highlighting issues facing ๐ฌ๐ง Agriculture. So important to share the these issues with a wider audience.
Kudos to @EdConwaySky & the Bower family ๐๐ผ
Before farmers protested against the new government's inheritance tax, Ed Conway followed a family on their farm, as they face climate change, and the reality of Brexit.
Watch the full report at 9 PMโฌ๏ธ https://t.co/8u8xsypWzj
@LakesWeather@MetMattTaylor@Hoofcount1 It was a brilliant & challenging walk - I look forward to following your progress this winter!
The change from the normal suit and tie threw me at first ๐คฃ
What a surprise to meet @MetMattTaylor ๐ฆ๏ธ today up Helvellyn โ๏ธ who was with the Lake District National Park team๐๏ธ. These guys will be climbing up Helvellyn every day over winter to measure the weather #Legends ๐
BOVAER.
Should you be worried?
In short: no.
Let me explain...
Firstly, wtf is it?
It's classified as a "feed additive". The active ingredient is something called 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP).
Chemically, this is a primary alcohol (similar to ethanol) and a molecule of organic nitrate stuck together.
Stick with me because it gets interesting...
So this 3-NOP stuff stops a very specific enzymatic reaction in the cows rumen (the largest part of it's stomach).
See the image.
Everything you see in the image is what normally happens.
3-NOP enzymatically blocks ONLY the last step to prevent methane forming.
What happens instead is the cow produces something called NOPA -> then HPA -> then eventually lactose and carbon dioxide.
We know this because some (thankfully) paranoid scientists radioactively labelled some 3-NOP, fed it to cows, goats and rats and followed what happens all the way to the end.
From this experiment they also figured out that zero detectable 3-NOP ends up in the milk or meat.
Link to that study: https://t.co/q6cXUJkuFc
A separate study also did NOT find any 3-NOP ended up in the milk but the milk did have 21% more vitamin B12.
This is probably because the cows stomach produced more microbobes that make B12.
Link: https://t.co/xYczzYmEPh
So back to the question, should you be worried?
Personally I don't see anything to be worried about here. None at all.
That doesn't mean I think cows are burning the planet nor do I like the idea of the food supply being tampered with.
That said I am happy this isn't gene editing and this isn't pumping cows with pharmaceutical drugs.
I'm also happy I can continue enjoying my steak and butter.
P.S. all the health warnings you're seeing about 3-NOP irritating the skin etc is because it's made with a primary alcohol. Pure ethanol does all the same stuff if you handle it directly.
IN PARLIAMENT TODAY: There is a debate on farming and food security. It has been reassuring to hear the new government repeatedly recognise that food security is national security, but now we must see an increased multi-year agriculture budget to match words with action๐งต๐
๐While some of us are starting a new school year, others, like @JoeBramall a recent graduate, are celebrating the successful completion of studies with #MasseyFerguson!
๐ Tell us in the comments: are you starting a new year of study, or have you recently graduated?
Interesting from new @DefraGovUK SoS @SteveReedMP this morning - @UKLabourโs manifesto mention of โfood security as national securityโ formalised as a โcore priorityโ of his department.
Many cross-departmental discussions to make that a reality. But a positive start.
I had a brilliant morning at Grosvenor Farms ๐ @downtoearthuk_ with a great speaker line up ๐ค.
Key takeaways for me -
1. Reaffirming the importance of measuring carbon๐
2. Exciting possibilities for the future๐
2. Sharing dairyโs great story together outside the industry๐ฃ๏ธ
Great to have the opportunity to ask๐ฃ๏ธ a question at #NFU24 last week about communicating the positive message farming ๐จ๐ผโ๐พ has to a wider audience ๐
Really positive talk from @Jack_A_Bobo before highlighting the impact of polarised debate to the farming message ๐