[Diggers350] Farmer/author James Rebanks: I hate the word rewilding its been weaponised
Tony Gosling
tony at cultureshop.org.uk
Wed Nov 6 00:14:57 GMT 2024
Farmer and author James Rebanks: I hate the word
rewilding its been weaponised
https://tlio.org.uk/rewilding-britain-timeline-cover-for-private-equitys-global-enclosures-by-stealth-and-pantheism/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/06/james-rebanks-interview-farmer-author-defra/
Ahead of the publication of his third book, he
talks about turning down Defra, his fears for UK
farming and a life-changing trip to Norway
It has been a hectic few months for farmer and
author James Rebanks, what with his familys farm
in the Lake District to tend, as well as a
much-anticipated new book, the follow up to his
prize-winning best-sellers The Shepherds Life
and English Pastoral. To add to the pressure,
over the summer he received an invitation from
the new government asking him to sit on the board
of directors of the Department for Environment
Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the ministry
responsible for the nations agriculture.
Emacs!
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/315745/the-place-of-tides-by-rebanks-james/9780241426937
No wonder, then, that when we meet on his farm,
tucked away in a vibrantly green Cumbrian valley
in Gowbarrow Fell, 1,100 feet up in the hills
between Keswick and Penrith, 50-year-old Rebanks
is running rather than walking as he shows me its
500 acres where they keep Herdwick sheep and Galloway cows.
I turned Defra down, he says. Mostly because
of my fundamental problems with Defra about budget.
For much of our time together, the
straight-talking, personable Rebanks is all
smiles and jokes. At school, he recalls, before
he left at 16 with just two GCSEs, I was rough
round the edges, and only good at making people laugh.
But when he talks about farm budgets he is deadly
serious. It is a measure of just how deep he
believes the crisis in farming to be.
With Brexit, the £2.4 billion in subsidies based
on acreage paid to British farmers by the EU
under the old Common Agricultural Policy are in
the process of being replaced by Defra with a
system that instead rewards good environmental
stewardship. Rebanks wholeheartedly approves of
the direction of travel, but we havent
delivered on the new deal and farmers cant go on living on air.
They are telling him, he reports, that because of
delays, shelf-loads of bureaucracy and general
ineptitude, the ministry is effectively
standing by while their old-style subsidy
payments are tapered off, without giving farmers
access to the promised new funding for nature
that is meant to replace them. Some farmers have
lost as much as 38 per cent of their income. They
cant get on the new scheme unless they have a
Natural England adviser prepared to treat them
seriously enough to process their application and
there arent enough advisers, he says.
In such a chaotic situation, he has been one of
the lucky ones. His money has come through, but
overall he labels the transformation as a
tragedy. There are literally hundreds and
thousands of farmers wanting to do amazing things
for nature on their land who are being turned away, he says.
To add insult to injury, in his eyes, Defra
recently announced a £358 million underspend in
the agricultural budget over the last three
years. That sounds to anyone not in farming as
if farmers dont want that money, arent trying
to claim it. That is not at all what is happening.
His refusal of the Defra offer is beginning to
make more sense. In his own case he can point out
around the farm how the new funds are being used:
to put back hedgerows to reverse an alarming drop
in bio-diversity in the countryside; to restore
rivers to their old meandering courses to reduce
the risk of flooding in towns and cities
downstream; and to replant lost species like
betony in his pastures that do remarkable things
for degraded soil. But far too many farmers are
not able to get on with the job that needs doing
and which they want to do because of a logjam at the top.
That should matter to all of us, he insists.
Insufficient capacity in Defra means we are not
buying enough of the nature that we need. We are
miles away from doing what we need to do to mend rural Britain.
It quickly becomes clear, as Rebanks races ahead,
that he is as passionate about the acres he farms
he stands in a line of dog-and-stick Cumbrian
Hill farmers stretching back 600 years as he is
about just how vital such family farms are. We
need more small farmers but at the moment we are losing them.
Economics are driving them to the wall at the
same time science is suggesting they are crucial
to our collective future. The best farming, the
evidence shows, is quite human-intensive, less
mechanical, less mono-cultural vast fields of one
thing. Our diet and our landscape need much more of a patchwork.
Rebanks grew up on his farm, working as soon as
he could walk alongside his father and his
grandfather (the heroes of his first two books).
That has given him a profound respect for
tradition that sits sometimes awkwardly alongside
his belief that farming has to adapt to the
crisis in nature and to climate change.
Many of the improvements he is making on the farm
fit broadly under the banner of rewilding. I
dont like the word rewilding and the
permutations of it. If rewilding means, do we
need more nature in our landscape, I absolutely own it.
Other uses, though, annoy him. My problem is the
word is weaponised and then you have rewilders
saying: Your farm takes up too much room, James,
thats space we want for the wild. I get it, but
Im not going anywhere, and neither can I because I have to pay my bills.
He continues: What really bugs me about
rewilding is when it simply becomes greenwashing.
If you are a government not following through on
your promises to transform 70 to 80 per cent of
the countryside to make it better, you do some
token rewilding bits here and there, flagship
projects you can take people round.
Farming can be a fraught business. There are,
Rebanks reflects, trying to be more diplomatic,
people on both sides of this debate playing
culture wars, and I am in the middle. And, he
adds, getting caught in the crossfire, because of
the public profile his books and numerous public
appearances have given him (which, of course, is
why Defra wants him on board).
I believe in compromise, but the current
situation leads to grumpy farmers who no longer
trust government or environmentalists, and a
whole new breed of rabble rousers who know
exactly how to play to their own tribe, he says.
Rebanks is sometimes referred to as Britains
best-known farmer, but surely that crown belongs
to Jeremy Clarkson? He is massively helpful,
Rebanks says, whether you like him or not. Im
not a petrol head but hes got people seeing how
insane the economics of farming are. Ive had
more non-farmers approach me to talk about
farming because of Clarksons Farm than anything
else that has happened in the last 15 years.
The sins Rebanks attributes to Defra happened
under Conservative ministers. Does he think the
incoming Labour team might do better?
He has just come back, he tells me, from
attending a fringe meeting at this autumns
Labour party conference. Ive never done
anything like that before in my life. Ive never
been to anything political. He is not even a
member of the National Farmers Union (NFU).
Yet the farming minister, Daniel Zeichner, who
has also been praised in these pages earlier this
year by Tom Bradshaw, current president of the
NFU, has visited the Rebanks farm not once but twice.
Hes saying the right things. Im absolutely
confident he believes in a compromise between
farming and nature, but I am not absolutely
confident that he is going to in an argument with
the Treasury on the right amount of money so we have the nature we need.
If he doesnt in Rachel Reeves forthcoming
budget, what will be the consequence? Instead of
a gain of nature as has been planned, I think we
are going to have a loss of nature. If you short
change the spend, we all lose. It is very simple, says Rebanks.
His passion for restoring nature is what took him
to Norway for his new book, The Place of Tides,
to a remote, uninhabited rocky island on the edge
of the coastal shelf in the Vega archipelago, a
Unesco World Heritage Site. He spent 10 weeks
there working alongside two elderly women, Anna
and Ingrid. Each spring they are single-handedly
reviving a long-standing tradition of protecting
nesting eider ducks, and harvesting their
feathers once they leave their nests for duvets.
It feels like a bit of a departure from the very
English setting and subject matter of his two
previous books. I went there, he explains, to
get away from people, from history, to step out
of all the stuff that worries me in the world.
The trip also came four years after the death of
his father, Tom, from cancer. Their relationship
hadnt always been easy, especially in his late
teens when he left school and they were working side by side on the farm.
At the time it was getting a bit desperate
financially, he was getting a bit nasty, I was
getting a bit uppity. There were some nasty fights.
It was only in retrospect, he says, that he
realised that taking himself off to a remote
Norwegian island was a form of grieving. In the
years before I went there, Id lost my dad, my
aunties and all that older generation that
anchored me, but on the island I found myself with people who were like them.
He remembers shaking Annas hand for the first
time. I got a chill. Her hands felt like my
grandmothers hands, boney, sinewy, working-class
hands. She was my people. She didnt give a toss about my books.
He makes it sound as though he had reached a
crisis point in his life, yet inside his Cumbrian
farmhouse, an old barn that he has been able to
extend with the significant royalties from his
books to better accommodate his growing family of
four, Molly, Bea, Isaac and Tom, aged from seven
to 18, the atmosphere is unmistakably one of warmth and love and life.
His two sons are just home from school, his
mother-in-law is helping with the school-run,
while Bea, who works on the farm and wants to
follow in his footsteps, pops in and out. Missing
is Rebanks wife, Helen, who in 2023 published
her own book, The Farmers Wife, which followed
her husbands into the best-sellers charts.
Are they setting themselves up to become the
real-life Phil and Jill Archer for the nation? He
smiles. Ive only ever listened to The Archers
for half an episode. That was enough.
His wife is currently on a trip to London to see
a stage dramatisation of her book. Will there be
similar adaptations of his books? I must have
been asked about 20 times to be in a documentary
about my life and Ive turned them all down. I
dont like being recognised any more than I am.
Helen came from another farming family and grew
up close by. She was the swotty, academic
farmers daughter, determined to get out of the
small town we had gone to school in. We met when I was 21 and she was 17.
He credits her with awakening ambition in him
after a misspent, rough-round-the-edges youth,
encouraging him to go to night school to get his
A-levels, and landing a place at Magdalen College, Oxford, to read history.
I didnt like it, he recalls of his university
days. I had a vague, chippy and I now realise
completely pointless hatred of whoever them
was, as if everyone at Oxford was one thing and I
had to beat them. I could have enjoyed it more.
It didnt stop him getting a double first. His
initial plan had been to use Oxford as a stepping
stone to get a job that would pay him enough to save the farm.
Instead, he returned after graduating to work on
the farm, but it had given him the courage in his
spare time to attempt to realise an ambition to
write that he had developed while reading his way
through the novels on his obsessively bookish
mothers shelves. It is a habit he still makes
time to indulge in, having just finished the
Booker Prize shortlist (Percival Everetts James is his top tip).
The Place of Tides, marks quite a shift in his
writing, more novel than memoir, realised in
rhythmic, poetic language. But it is familiar
territory, namely his struggle to balance the
timeless with the timely, tradition with the
changes that need to be made for a changing future.
He first caught a glimpse of Anna on a 2012 visit
to Norway. To make ends meet he had taken on some
consultancy work on sustainability for Unesco. I
got 40 minutes off the coast, looked back at this
panorama of mountains and rocks and sea and
thought: This might be the best place Ive ever, ever been.
Its quite a compliment for someone who believes
his farm in the Lake District is the place he
always wants to live. But something else caught his eye that day.
These quiet, unheralded women were working out
there with the eider ducks and I was curious. I
remember thinking at the time: I wonder if
anyone else has written about this?
The challenge of finding a subject for his third
book revived the memory. I was probably a little
bit dazed and confused after the first two
books, he concedes. All sorts of weird things
come out of success. His second book, English
Pastoral, won the Wainwright Prize for nature
writing and was like his debut, The Shepherds
Life, translated into more than a dozen languages.
With his familys blessing, he returned to spend
the duck season with Anna and Ingrid. Anna comes
from a long line of men and women who have done
this work, stretching all the way back to a
great, great grandfather in 1852. Nowadays,
though, the tradition is teetering on the edge of extinction.
I went there to get away from my worries about
the future, but it was there. The sea is broken
[by overfishing that has decimated the local
fishing industry]. The people are getting old...
From his trip to Norway he has brought back a
variety of things. It was the first time I had
spent time in a place dominated by women, with
womens rules. I had to really think about that,
embarrassingly, for the first time in my life.
And on the farm? I came back determined to mend
home as Anna was determined to mend her island
and its ecosystem. On the farm, we had been doing
our bit, but we have definitely gone up a gear.
He believes they are doing the best farming we
have ever done. We might now be one of the most
progressive farms in Britain on transforming our
soil. We have 15 worms per spade-full, when our
neighbours have four. We need more worms in the soil.
Not, he adds, that the day-to-day headaches of hill-farming ever go away.
One of the biggest problems for anyone who farms
around here is dogs off-lead that attack sheep.
If we walk up the fell now where my sheep are, I
can guarantee that there will be at least three
people walking with their dogs off-lead, despite
the signs telling them not to. They have an amazing sense of entitlement.
What does he do when he catches them? I give
them a stern telling off. My dad would have said their dogs should be shot.
Another medium-term cloud on the horizon is one
that hovers over many family farms succession.
How will he sort it out with four children?
He shakes his head. I havent got a clue what
the perfect succession looks like when the
capital value of land is wildly higher than its
agricultural value because it is a tax dodge for corporates and pension funds.
I cant help thinking that whatever his
reservations, accepting a seat round the Defra
table would enable this articulate and thoughtful
man at least a chance to impact on government
policy in such matters. But then he has been
burnt once already. In 2018 he resigned shortly
after joining a Defra panel set up by then
Secretary of State, Michael Gove, after
environmentalists complained it had too many farmers on it.
Isnt he actually both farmer and
environmentalist? Yes, he replies with a laugh.
And I need to show that there is a place for
farmers like me in the environment of the future,
and that we can deliver multiple things from the same piece of land.
The Place of Tides by James Rebanks is published
by Allen Lane on October 17 at £22
See King Charles III's $25 billion Real Estate Portfolio
Giovana Gelhoren May 4, 2023,
https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2023/05/04/inside-king-charles-iiis-25-billion-real-estate-empire/
As the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom,
<https://www.sheknows.com/tags/king-charles-iii/>King
Charles III is the owner of many opulent royal
residences across Britain. After
<https://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/slideshow/2221482/queen-elizabeth-ii-dress-hat-collection/>Queen
Elizabeth II passed away in September 2022,
Charles officially became the King in a lavish
2023 coronation and thus took over duties and
properties previously owned by his mother.
According to a deep dive into the properties from
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2022/10/21/inside-king-charles-iiis-25-billion-real-estate-empire/?sh=7995704641ec>Forbes,
Charles now owns seven palaces, 10 castles, 12
homes, 56 holiday cottages and 14 ancient ruins.
The elaborate real estate portfolio is known as
the Duchy of Lancaster estate, a private and
ancient estate owned by the reigning sovereign.
The estate has been passed down to the next King or Queen for over 750 years.
As if that deal wasnt already sweet enough,
Charles wasnt required to pay inheritance tax on
the luxurious real estate due to a rule
introduced by the UK government in 1993. Per
<https://www.businessinsider.com/charles-doesnt-have-to-pay-inheritance-tax-750-million-estate-2022-9>Business
Insider, the rule doesnt require the Royal
Family to pay the same tax as other UK citizens
to prevent the royal familys assets being wiped
out if two monarchs were to die in a short period of time.
Properties include massive estates that are known
across the globe, such as Buckingham Palace and
Windsor Castle, but there are also some lesser
known properties that have been in the family for generations.
Though one might think that larger and more
expensive is better, Charles disagrees. A source
recently told the
<https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11323027/King-Charles-WONT-Buckingham-Palace-fit-purpose-modern-world.html>Daily
Mail that the royal might be thinking of breaking
royal protocol by
<https://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/2643134/king-charles-new-home-buckingham-palace/>not
moving to Buckingham Palace at the end of its
renovation in 2027 (the Palace is worth an
estimated $4.9 billion, per Forbes). I know he
is no fan of the big house, as he calls the
palace, the source said. He doesnt see it as a
viable future home or a house thats fit for
purpose in the modern world. The source
continued, He feels that its upkeep, both from a
cost and environmental perspective, is not sustainable.
Thus, the King seemingly spends most of his time
in other properties and we have all the details
about where they are. Below youll see some of
Charles most extravagant and opulent estates, palaces and cottages!
How King Charles and Prince William's royal
estates earn millions in rent from taxpayers
Sat 02 Nov 2024
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/how-king-charles-prince-williams-34022693
The two most senior royals make £50m a year from
their inherited estates as revealed by a
bombshell new Mirror and Channel 4 Dispatches investigation
The two royal Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster,
owned by Prince William and King Charles III,
earn millions of pounds in rent from the taxpayer.
Details of how the two most senior members of the
Royal Family make £50m a year from their
inherited estates can be revealed for the first time.
It owns the coastline from Barrow-in-Furness to
the River Mersey and five leases reveal the Duchy
will received at least £28m from power cables crossing this land.
A Duchy of Cornwall spokesperson it was a
private estate with a commercial imperative.
The Duchy of Lancaster said it operates as a
commercial company and that while His Majesty
The King takes a close interest in the work of
the Duchy, the day-to-day management of the
portfolio is the responsibility of the Council and executive team.
King Charles doesn't have to pay inheritance tax
on the Queen's private estate worth more than $750 million
Jyoti Mann Sep 11, 2022,
https://www.businessinsider.com/charles-doesnt-have-to-pay-inheritance-tax-750-million-estate-2022-9?op=1
King Charles has inherited the Duchy of
Lancaster estate valued at more than $750 million.
He will not have to pay inheritance tax on
the estate due to a rule approved in 1993.
The duchy generated income of $27 million
for the Queen last year, financial records show.
King Charles will not have to pay inheritance tax
on the Duchy of Lancaster estate he inherited
from the Queen due to a rule allowing assets to
be passed from one sovereign to another.
Charles automatically inherited the estate, the
monarch's primary source of income, while his
eldest son, Prince William, inherited the Duchy
of Cornwall estate - valued at more than $1 billion - from his father.
The new king will avoid inheritance tax on the
estate worth more than $750 million due to a rule
introduced by the UK government in 1993 to guard
against the royal family's assets being wiped out
if two monarchs were to die in a short period of time, i News reported.
The provision was first exercised in 2002 when
the Queen Mother passed on an estate worth about
$80 million to the Queen including a collection of Faberge eggs.
The clause means that, to help protect its
assets, members of the royal family do not have
to pay the 40% levy on property valued at more
than £325,000 ($377,000) that non-royal UK residents do.
The Lancaster estate generated revenue of £24
million ($27 million) last year, its financial
records state, and the King is now entitled to its income.
Advertisement
It had assets worth more than £650 million ($754
million) at the end of March this year, the
duchy's website states. A law passed in 1702
forbids the monarch from selling any of the assets.
The Queen began voluntarily paying income and
capital gains tax on the estate in 1993 and Charles may decide to follow suit.
The Duchy of Lancaster estate, founded in the
13th century, consists of "commercial,
agricultural and residential" properties,
including a portfolio of financial investments, according to its website.
Its five rural units, or Surveys, cover about
18,000 hectares of land in England and Wales.
The Foreshore Survey covers about 36,000 hectares
(one hectare is equal to about two and a half
acres) from the river Mersey, on which the city
of Liverpool is built, to Barrow-in-Furness in
the north of England. It also consists of the
Minerals Survey, comprising limestone and
sandstone quarries from south Wales to North Yorkshire.
However, most of its income comes from the Urban
Survey, which includes extensive commercial
property interests in central London such as the Savoy Hotel.
The Balmoral and Sandringham residences are owned
by the royal family, while most of the other
properties they use including Buckingham Palace
and Windsor Castle are part of the Crown Estate.
The Duchy of Lancaster was contacted for comment.
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