Potential sites for new mega-solar farms

[Cooper]

Using cable driven machines between known points…

That was how traction engines were used 100 years ago. Also when I stayed on a farm in Switzerland in the 60s that was how they harvested the hay on their very steep fields.

 

[Fergie 307]

Already quite a few farmers using bio methane fuelled tractors. Not zero emissions but a lot better than diesel. If your farm produces enough biomass then big cost savings as well.

 

[highwood122]

Our new political masters have a plan to raise £5.1bn by reducing tax evasion by the end of the parliament - lets see whether they actually do any better than their predecessors.

I can't help but think those who blame the fat cats and tax evasion for all our economic woes are broadly balanced by those who think benefits cheats and scroungers are likewise to blame.

A sterile argument!

how they gonna do that,? stop selling isa,s

 

[Jake]

No I'm not panicking - what a curious interpretation of what I said. We should simply reserve agricultural land for agriculture. There are other places to put solar panels - I have some on my roof.

Yes, sorry unfair and I apologise. But have you ever considered expressing concern about the proliferation of golf clubs?

 

[niall Y]

Yes, sorry unfair and I apologise. But have you ever considered expressing concern about the proliferation of golf clubs?

No offence taken . I'm inclined to agree with Mark Twain / Gladstone, about golf - that it is a good walk spoiled.

As for the courses I would have to remark that not all golf is played on greens fit for arable crops. Our local one is coastal sandy soil - fit at best for grazing sheep. I suppose that golf courses, by their very nature, are land set aside for recreation and could easily be returned to agriculture, if needed.

I would rather cynically assume that whoever made the link between golf courses and solar farms , was doing it to allay any concerns, about the amount of land being set aside for this purpose rather than to draw our attention to golf courses multiplying at an uncontrollable rate.

 

[Fergie 307]

Having been vegetarian for over thirty five years it is just normal to me and when I see young people putting shiete from Donalds and such into there bodies it makes you cringe thinking that it will still be going through them in a months time rotting away and raising there risk of IBS if they are lucky or bowel cancer if they are unlucky. Are you comparing like for like, how much are real sausages made with meat and not packed out with cereal and sinew ?

Think of fake mince like tofu, if done properly it taste the same but without the chewey tendons and grissle and have you tried

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Also

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It takes time to sort out what you like and don't like as it is so varied but the hardest thing for many is to avoid gelatine, a glutinous residue from bones which is even found in childrens sweets.

I would certainly recommend the Richmond sausages, very tasty as is most of their stuff.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

 

[Jake]

As for the courses I would have to remark that not all golf is played on greens fit for arable crops. Our local one is coastal sandy soil - fit at best for grazing sheep. I suppose that golf courses, by their very nature, are land set aside for recreation and could easily be returned to agriculture, if needed.

True, but many are. And the same holds true for solar farms (which are also compatible with continuing agriculture - although it restricts types, that's better than golf courses).

I would rather cynically assume that whoever made the link between golf courses and solar farms , was doing it to allay any concerns, about the amount of land being set aside for this purpose rather than to draw our attention to golf courses multiplying at an uncontrollable rate.

Well yes of course. But it is curious don't you think that the proposal for one brings an outcry and the other has gone virtually unnoticed.

 

[Cuthbert Dibble-Grub]

Those who benefit the most should shoulder their fair proportion of the cost. Will the young not have the most to benefit from net zero? Do the young have a ‘hall pass’ that means they are entitled to shout and protest about climate change but not be affected by the changes and costs needed?

Our generation dropped the trash. We should pick it up.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Our generation dropped the trash. We should pick it up.

Nice analogy but if you ever attend an event catering for young people, pop festival etc., you would see it the other way around.

 

[mcostello]

Over here golf courses are going bust and being sold for houses.

 

[woodieallen]

Over here golf courses are going bust and being sold for houses.

Trump has that effect

 

[woodieallen]

There are one group who will be disenfranchised by these Mega-solar farms and that is tenant farmers. "Sorry mate, you and your family have got to b****r off"

 

[woodieallen]

An excellent article here

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/property/hurtful-call-nimbys-homeowners-swallowed-up-solar-farms/

 

[Ozi]

Nice analogy but if you ever attend an event catering for young people, pop festival etc., you would see it the other way around.

I once ranted at my son about the state of his room, he had a per-prepared photo of my workshop. Two wrongs make for a good argument.

 

[TRITON]

Yes, Jacob, but the top wealth owners also provide, I think from memory, around 1/3rd of the total income tax take in this country. They also buy more and more expensive goods and therefore pay much more of the total VAT.

These two taxes are two of the major sources of government income.

So, given that there is a limited total wealth, would giving (how?) more to the bottom, increase, decrease or leave the income tax/VAT tax take the same?

I think we know the answer to that.

Phil.

See thats the problem. The political parties(ok the tories) dont work or care for the people of this land, they care only about the mega wealthy. And its that tiny percentage they actually work for.

 

[woodieallen]

See thats the problem. The political parties(ok the tories) dont work or care for the people of this land, they care only about the mega wealthy. And its that tiny percentage they actually work for.

I think you have missed the point of Phil's post. This is the key quesion he asked...

So, given that there is a limited total wealth, would giving (how?) more to the bottom, increase, decrease or leave the income tax/VAT tax take the same?

 

[TRITON]

I would certainly recommend the Richmond sausages, very tasty as is most of their stuff.

It's really not made with the best of meat, unlike a small retail butchers, where all the meat going into their sausages is trimming from grade A class 1 carcasses
The likes of Richmond and other mass produced sausages is coming from breeding pigs who have reached the end of their working life.

Richmond ingredients
Pork (42%), Water, Rusk (Wheat), Pork Fat, Starch (Wheat), Soya Protein, Salt, Stabilisers: Diphosphates, Guar Gum*, Flavourings, Preservative: Sodium Metabisulphite**, Antioxidants: Ascorbic Acid, Alpha Tocopherol, Colour: Carmine

Some right nasty things in there. Which i should add is fine as a one off, but over a lifetime of consumption can bring about many problems for the body.

 

[treeturner123]

I unashamedly eat meat. If I have beef, it is from local producers who I know graze year round with only hay as an 'Input'. Chicken and Pork are more problematic of course, but I do ensure they are at least British sourced so well looked after and with low food miles.

The trouble with a vegetarian diet is that all crops are grown as mono-cultures. Yes, I know that field margins are larger than they used to be, but there are, I would suggest, very few insects, which after all are the main base food source, that live in a corn field and those that would like to live in a field of broccoli (cabbage whites for example) are severely discouraged! Whereas, a field that is grazed by animals is an amazing micro ecological miracle because that is how it has developed over millennia. It supports huge numbers of diverse plants and insects, not just grass of which there are in fact a huge number of varieties!

In addition, much of the protein rich vegetables such as soya, lentils and many of the beans that are used, come from far away so have the added issues of Food Miles, destruction of habitats and over use of fertilizers.

As for vegan food, sorry, other than vegetable, so much is actually Ultra Processed. Look at the contents of Vegan 'Cheese'.

Phil

 

[woodieallen]

I unashamedly eat meat. If I have beef, it is from local producers who I know graze year round with only hay as an 'Input'. Chicken and Pork are more problematic of course, but I do ensure they are at least British sourced so well looked after and with low food miles.

The trouble with a vegetarian diet is that all crops are grown as mono-cultures. Yes, I know that field margins are larger than they used to be, but there are, I would suggest, very few insects, which after all are the main base food source, that live in a corn field and those that would like to live in a field of broccoli (cabbage whites for example) are severely discouraged! Whereas, a field that is grazed by animals is an amazing micro ecological miracle because that is how it has developed over millennia. It supports huge numbers of diverse plants and insects, not just grass of which there are in fact a huge number of varieties!

In addition, much of the protein rich vegetables such as soya, lentils and many of the beans that are used, come from far away so have the added issues of Food Miles, destruction of habitats and over use of fertilizers.

As for vegan food, sorry, other than vegetable, so much is actually Ultra Processed. Look at the contents of Vegan 'Cheese'.

Phil

Have you been to Knightwick Butchers ? Best fillet steak we've ever bought. Grass fed as well.