Stuart Meikle

Agriculture - analyst, strategist & writer. Seeking sustainable systems to mimic Nature. Always joining the dots. Past British Honorary Consul in Transylvania.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@pippa_hackett @IrishTimes Finishes by saying what we were saying 10 years ago, but where is the real mindset change or willingness to adapt agricultural systems away from the old dysfunctional 'model'. Ditto for post-farm gate systems. Talking the talk is one thing, but walking the walk quite another.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@ClarksonsFarm1 Chicken from China that is fed on Brazilian soya that is fed with phosphates from Western Sahara where there is apparently a cadmium problem that works its way right through the food system [check a recent French report}.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@fleroy1974 @redpilldispensr It all must begin with plant nutrition & sourcing/cycling those nutrients naturally. It creates 'emissions' as plants only take up inorganic nutrients - so during cyclical decomposition they must be separated from carbon releasing it either as CH4 or CO2.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@REGENETARIANISM That still misses the essential point of what regenerative should be about!

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@PeteGDunne Simply pig & poultry feed is based on maize/soya while barley for cattle feed is supplying an input into a system where the end beef/dairy product is an undifferentiated commodity that generates no premium to pass onto the barley growers. A failed system that nobody addresses.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@PeteGDunne "Gorbachev famously credited the BBC for providing him with accurate news while he was held captive during the 1991 coup attempt". From an era when the BBC was respected by World leaders. Sad that it no longer seems to be the case.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@Ketogranny @fleroy1974 @ChrisMartzWX @JamesMelville It is about the way they are kept & understanding the biology of how genuinely sustainable agricultural systems work, & the first thing to do is ditch the reductionist carbon myopia. Food systems have to work with Nature & that starts with understanding how Nature actually works.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@natalieben Natalie, it all comes down to naturally sourcing & cycling plant nutrients, & that needs a healthy soil biome living in an equally healthy soil habitat. The 1st rule of adding anything [I mean everything] into an agricultural system is, will this negatively impact the soil biome?

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@GrassBased Someone needs to look ice cream making. It is about balancing fat and sugar. As low-fat has trended up fat % has gone down, 'balanced' by more sugar, & sugar has got very high. Real ice cream has more fat & much less sugar. It also has real dairy fat & not palm or coconut oil.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@vickihird @WildlifeTrusts Many issues well deflected by the focus on carbon emissions rather than P, K, fossil fuels, novel entities etc. These industries also have massive impacts in, especially, South America. They are neither sustainable, nor are they 'farming', they bring the word into disrepute.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@PeteGDunne @fleroy1974 @FatEmperor @GrassBased @ireland_farming @JoannaBlythman @zoeharcombe @bigfatsurprise @SusFoodTrust @PastureForLife Butter should come with a nutrient complexity that confers health benefits & it can only come from milk that originated from a high degree of plant diversity that, in turn, was able to access a broad nutrient diversity. It is Nature & way beyond mimicking in an industrial process

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@PeteGDunne @fleroy1974 @FatEmperor @GrassBased @ireland_farming @JoannaBlythman @zoeharcombe @bigfatsurprise @SusFoodTrust @PastureForLife Do people actually believe this 'itis made from carbon' nonsense? To do so must first require a total absence of biological systems knowledge.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@JayneReesBuxton @bigfatsurprise It should be about a lot more physiology and a lot less epidemiology. Same in evaluating agricultural systems, more thought into understanding physiology and natural systems, and a lot less reliance on 'data'.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@vickihird Not sure about aging beef in containers on a container ship, seems a bit hands-off! But ultimately this again comes back to using a single-metric 'carbon' lens to evaluate systems and not wider, holistic appraisals.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@vickihird A touch confusing to talk about 'hotspots' given that these fungal networks should be functioning across 100% of the land area, bar that under tarmac etc. I also suspect that the Regenerative Ag. community is already onto this with a serious intent.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@KarenLorre @samdknowlton So what happens when all of the okra and fenugreek biomass degrades, or is it dried and incinerated? Sounds like a way to remove microplastics from water but beyond that? Another business-as-usual 'solution' to avoid the issue of how to stop creating them in the first place?

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@charlespaynter A very human-centric approach! Sadly the damage these forever chemicals is likely to go far beyond that to human health. I would start by asking what impact will they have on functioning of the soil biome and plants. They may also make recycling many nutrients nigh on impossible.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@fleroy1974 Limited if the comparison is with PRG and not a highly diverse sward. The latter is the future, the former the past. There will be value in grazing willow, but unlikely as a silver bullet to reduce CH4 [could ask how much CH4 from leaf fall given wet conditions willow favours].

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@HPG_Farmer @AlexiaCRobinson @AnnaLongthorp @NoFarmsNoFoods @LoveBritishFood Just how 'British' is it? Surely there should be a minimum of British feed used. And Ian is right, more industrial chicken is not the answer when looked at holistically, neither is more grain-fed meat. Look past the carbon counting, and consider all the factors involved.

[Stuart Meikle @StuartMMeikle]

@JulianMellentin Worth adding the own brand alternative into the mix before making broad conclusions, the graphic is about the branded version and switching to own brand must be happening more as incomes get squeezed.