John Sherrell

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@BenGoldsmith @cleanupbritain 2. The same food system that says sorry, but we no longer wish to buy your milk to these guys who are a model of animal welfare and natural farming ... Support the Wild Cow Dairy: Building a New Future. - a Environment crowdfunding project in Bromyard by Wicton Farm

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@BenGoldsmith @cleanupbritain 1. Pretty sure that feedlot photo was not taken in this country Ben. The over-riding problem in this country is the food system driven by supermarkets that drives sustainable family farms out of business and industrialises farming destroying both rural communities and nature.

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@BenGoldsmith https://t.co/YDHoffy7Yj

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

Dartmoor's hill ponies have grazed those commons for longer than there has been a country called England. Fewer than a thousand are left, down from six thousand a generation ago. The United Nations listed them as endangered in 2023. So, naturally, the body charged with protecting nature has decided to get rid of nine in ten of the survivors.

There is a process, obviously.

Natural England's new grazing contracts now count the ponies in the same bucket as the cattle and sheep. A commoner with a fixed quota has a choice: keep a semi-wild pony worth nothing at market, or use the slot for a lamb he can sell. Guess which one survives the spreadsheet. The rest are gathered in the autumn drifts, and with nowhere to put thousands of unhandled moorland ponies, the next stop is the abattoir.

Natural England would like it noted that it has not ordered a cull. It has merely built a machine whose only output is a cull, switched it on, and handed the bolt gun to a farmer so the fingerprints land elsewhere. Very tidy.

And now the funny part. The pony is the best tool on the entire moor for eating Molinia, the coarse purple grass strangling Dartmoor into a brown monoculture. Cattle and sheep won't touch it. The ponies hoover it down and clear the ground for the orchids, the wildflowers and the insects behind them. Remove the ponies and the moor chokes into precisely the lifeless scrubland the contract was meant to prevent.

So the conservation strategy, in full: protect the habitat by deleting the animal that maintains the habitat. A masterclass.

Better still, Natural England's own Fursdon review looked at this exact question and told them, in plain English, not to lump ponies in with cattle and not to cut pony numbers. They read it, praised it, said they fully supported it, then did the precise opposite.

Four thousand years these animals have run Dartmoor with no committee and no contract. They could be gone within one, and the people who did it will write it up as a win for nature.

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

Dartmoor's hill ponies have grazed those commons for longer than there has been a country called England. Fewer than a thousand are left, down from six thousand a generation ago. The United Nations listed them as endangered in 2023. So, naturally, the body charged with protecting nature has decided to get rid of nine in ten of the survivors.

There is a process, obviously.

Natural England's new grazing contracts now count the ponies in the same bucket as the cattle and sheep. A commoner with a fixed quota has a choice: keep a semi-wild pony worth nothing at market, or use the slot for a lamb he can sell. Guess which one survives the spreadsheet. The rest are gathered in the autumn drifts, and with nowhere to put thousands of unhandled moorland ponies, the next stop is the abattoir.

Natural England would like it noted that it has not ordered a cull. It has merely built a machine whose only output is a cull, switched it on, and handed the bolt gun to a farmer so the fingerprints land elsewhere. Very tidy.

And now the funny part. The pony is the best tool on the entire moor for eating Molinia, the coarse purple grass strangling Dartmoor into a brown monoculture. Cattle and sheep won't touch it. The ponies hoover it down and clear the ground for the orchids, the wildflowers and the insects behind them. Remove the ponies and the moor chokes into precisely the lifeless scrubland the contract was meant to prevent.

So the conservation strategy, in full: protect the habitat by deleting the animal that maintains the habitat. A masterclass.

Better still, Natural England's own Fursdon review looked at this exact question and told them, in plain English, not to lump ponies in with cattle and not to cut pony numbers. They read it, praised it, said they fully supported it, then did the precise opposite.

Four thousand years these animals have run Dartmoor with no committee and no contract. They could be gone within one, and the people who did it will write it up as a win for nature.

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@horton_official Jam on first so must be a Cornish cake ! 🤣

[Alexia Robinson @AlexiaCRobinson]

This is HUGE for British farming. It’s 25 years of @lovebritishfood this year but The Hawkstone Choir has done more to bring farmers into the public consciousness than anything! In tears. As will so many of us who care deeply about British farming. 💕 https://t.co/BYOUiYqv9E

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@only1chargyle Sorry to hear this - you captured brilliantly so many iconic times and images over the recent years and were a big part of the place always dashing around on matchdays. Very best of luck in your next chapter.

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@DanicaPriest Hear Hear - they've also completely removed funding for species rich grassland in SFI despite this country having lost 97% of it. Utterly clueless and no way to genuinely support important habitats.

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@BenGoldsmith This habitat loss is staggeringly bad. I cannot understand why DEFRA have just removed the managment option for priority species rich grassland from the 'Sustainable Farming Incentive.' Utterly bizarrre.

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@vickihird @NFFNUK It's a great shame DEFRA don't understand this. Removal of species rich grassland option and others including payment cuts to other options in the 2026 iteration of SFI generally is not going to help this happen

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@Pxfarms Lovely job - quick question - have you had any luck finding Gregoire Besson decals as going to respray my own GB plough.

[Clive Bailye @TWBFarms]

Governments have failed to regulate & tax supermarkets giants properly for over 30 years, handing them control of Britains food supply ☹️

They have destroyed our high streets and farmers viability while peddling ultra processed food that places strain and cost on our NHS ☹️

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@AlexiaCRobinson Could add farmers to that description too....

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@TijaniMuhamed @Argyle Well done TJ - keep fighting 💪💚💚

[James Melville 🚜 @JamesMelville]

Before the election, Keir Starmer promised to support farmers. But since they got into power, the Labour government have instead punished farmers. Shameful.

[James Rebanks @herdyshepherd1]

Our moronic food system

Ban pesticide products here
Make U.K. products more expensive

Then import cheaper food from foreign farmers produced with the banned pesticides and undermine our farmers

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@herdyshepherd1 It is an absolute shambles - massive underspend last year and zero communication from anyone in DEFRA about how the plan going forward - especially concerning given huge BPS cut forthcoming.

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@horton_official This is almost word for word what Deputy PM John Prescott said many years ago when he said we'll do to the farmers what the tories did to the miners. Labour figures now saying we don't need small farmers shows such antipathy to farming may be rooted further than you may think

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@tatsumakibones @Argyle @DestinationPlym Awesome!

[John Sherrell @JohnSherrell5]

@Jakfirst @GNev2