Death of British Agriculture: Wanton Destruction of a Key Industry [Paperback]

Richard A.E. North (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2001

Even before the foot and mouth epidemic British agriculture was already in its death throes. Struggling under the onslaught of successive crises - the effects of the Common Agricultural Policy and the bureaucratic demands of the EU; food scares from salmonella to BSE; the spread of intensive farming and the concentration of buying power in the hands of the retail giants - British farming has been brought to its knees. Who is to blame? The government, the farmers themselves, supermarkets, the CAP, the EU? In this very timely book Dr Richard North investigates the many causes of farming’s imminent demise. His list of suspects is long, and his analysis pinpoints the guilty parties. There may just be a breath of life left in the corpse of British farming, but only if clear and successful policies covering land management, subsidies, government controls and how to deal with scares are formulated.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Richard A.E. North is a leading agriculture policy expert with experience of both the private and public sectors. He is the author, with Christopher Booker, of two books on bureaucracy and the EU: The Mad Officials and The Castle of Lies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Duckworth Publishers (December 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0715631446
• ISBN-13: 978-0715631447
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,601,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for all who care about Britain, January 23, 2002

By 

Mary (St Sorlin de Conac, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death of British Agriculture: Wanton Destruction of a Key Industry (Paperback)

"The fate of agriculture is intimately bound up with the fate of democracy
itself....no civilisation has ever survived the loss of its agricultural
base" concludes Dr North at the end of a most worrying, informed and
penetrating survey of the legislation that has led to the situation British
rural communities now find themselves in.

Dr North knows intimately the ways of successive bureaucracies who have
managed, by a combination of well meaning bungling and carelessly imposed
regulatory burdens, to put British farming at a disadvantage. Although known
to be an energetic and witty Eurosceptic, Dr North does not lay very much of
the blame for the plight of British agriculture at the feet of the EU
Commission. It is, to our shame, Britain itself that has so mismanaged food
scares, EU regulation, the CAP and - especially - the recent animal
diseases.

The book is both depressing and exhilarating. Dr North is under no illusions
about the many sad mistakes to have hit the farming industry but he also has
sensible suggestions for avoiding complete catastrophe. He writes in an
accessible manner which avoids any kind of sensationalism. Far from jumping
on bandwagons, he looks closely and critically at the many conspiracy
theories of recent months and debunks them, seeing much more to worry about
in the narrow self-interests of scientists, big business and empire building
government departments. Criticisms of current farming practices are looked
at very coolly, as are the complaints about unfairness from the
supermarkets. Even MAFF/DEFRA, the department who so grotesquely mishandled
disease control, is dealt with fairly - although he pulls no punches when
looking at, for example, the dirty dealing that led to the loss of so many
British slaughterhouses.

If anyone still wonders why so many thousands of concerned people in Britain
have been calling out for a proper public inquiry into the government's
handling of the foot and mouth crisis they need only read this book. They
will then see the foot and mouth crisis to have been just the latest in a
long line of tragic errors - a final straw that cannot be ignored.