My fear for Yorkshire farmers as Net Zero drive targets beef production: GP Taylor

As a child of the 70s, I lived in fear as respected scientists told us that we were on the verge of another ice age and by the year 2000 we would all have to move to France as Yorkshire would be as cold as Siberia.

Since the 1960s, eminent scientists have been predicting climate catastrophes that have never happened. Drought, famine, flood and pollution were predicted to wipe humankind from the planet by the turn of the last century and yet we are still here.

In January 2018 the UK Met Office reported that the next five years may see the 1.5°C Paris limit exceeded. “It is now possible that continued warming from greenhouse gases along with natural variability could combine so we temporarily exceed 1.5°C in the next five years,” according to Stephen Belcher of the Met Office. That didn’t happen.

Worryingly, the climate change grifters have now turned their attention to farmers and especially those who produce milk, beef, and eggs.

The staples of a Yorkshire diet are now under an increasing threat from governments desperate to appease the great god Net Zero, a god that demands households will again pay a £170-a-year Net Zero levy on energy bills in the coming days.

Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt have been accused of “slyly” shifting costs back to consumers as the two-year suspension of green levies announced last autumn is to end from the beginning of July, after only nine months.

Not only that, but as Dutch farmers begin to have the farms seized by the government to fight climate change, British beef and dairy farmers are under threat.

The Irish Department of Agriculture is considering slaughtering 65,000 cows a year for three years. It’s part of a larger plan within the EU to reduce farming emissions by 25 percent before the end of the decade. This draconian measure is part of a United Nations plan to cut a quarter of all farming emissions by 2030. That figure includes Britain.

As in Holland, politicians in America also have their eye on cattle culling as a way of stopping the ice sheets from melting.

Culling 195,000 cows will have a significant impact on the Irish herd. It will also affect food production and influence what is available in our shops. My favourite Kerrygold butter might be in short supply and a filet of steak a thing of the past.

It is a policy that could be coming to British farmers very soon.

A press release from the Conservative government last year said, “In 2019, agriculture accounted for 10 per cent of total UK greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with methane accounting for approximately 54 per cent of agricultural emissions. The UK Government has set an ambitious target to achieve net-zero GHG emissions across the whole UK economy by 2050. To meet this target all sectors must reduce their GHG emissions.”

In other words, flatulent cattle and sheep must be got rid of to reach some mythical figure that may or may not stop the world overheating.

Food that we once took for granted could become in short supply. Instead of wanting farmers to produce more food, the government appear to want them to produce less. It is all part of a seeming plan to move us on from meat and dairy and have them replaced by factory produced insects. Supermarkets are already planning to sell food made from crickets. The EU have already given to go ahead for the human consumption of mealworms. The European Commission last year proposed that all cattle, pig and poultry farms with over 150 livestock units face the limits - around 184,000 of Europe's largest farms.

It is not just beef that may soon be off the menu. Pigs and chickens may be next.

Tory MPs in farming areas are at risk of being kicked out at the next election when people understand what is really behind Net Zero. When the ingredients for Yorkshire puddings are in short supply, politicians will be short of votes.

Be warned, the attack on food production is something all political parties will be in favour of. They would rather import beef from Argentina to meet UK climate targets than have home grown, locally sourced food.

My concern is that if a government can limit a particular food supply, then they can control the public. Freedom should mean the ability to choose what food you eat. No one should be forced to eat insects instead of real meat.

Yorkshire needs its farmers. When they go, our food supply goes with them. If the politicians want to get rid of flatulent cows, when will they come after flatulent people? I am doomed.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​