Whatever happened to the excitement experienced by us all as we eagerly awaited our season’s offerings?  Vegetables springing from the earth, our bushes oh so colourful with ripening fruit and our trees, laden with pears, plums and apples. Ah! Glazed pears, plum crumble, baked apple, I hear you cry! As the apples dance on the branches, growing in readiness for the big crunch experienced when we bite into their juicy flesh, the actual crunch comes when people become bored, lazy and uninterested in those lovely laden branches. “Oh no” comes the cry, “We want kumquats instead” - the big crunch. Our orchards no longer viable, they sadly disappear, pick your own centres struggle to survive and our farmers consider throwing in the towel and calling it a day. What has happened to the English apple, the soft fruit and our fresh meats and vegetables? Our Farmers, oh so proud, who took their produce to market then to adorn our grocers shelves and Butcher’s windows with those prime British joints.

Where, oh where have those days gone when cauliflowers were the size of dinner plates rather than that of a saucer; chicken with two tone meat oozing with flavour and beef oh so tender that it melted in your mouth? As our producers chased orders presented to them by the marketplace perhaps some lost sight of what they really did best which was to work in harmony with nature, to grow with pride
produce fit for a King, readily available for all of our tables. Intensive farming and its techniques became the name of the game as farmers serviced orders coming from large food outlets encouraging the attitude to spray crops and inject hormones, as this was sure to secure faster growth. Poultry ready in weeks, higher milk yields and perfectly shaped vegetables.

Should we not have foreseen the problems?

What problems?

What about the nutritional value of our food and health issues, such as eczema, asthma and allergies?
(Five years on Diabetes Cardio-Vascular Problems, Obesity and what are being termed child/adult diseases can be added to this list.  There are also many positives)

Well, there may be problems ahead, perhaps caused by the methods we use. Let's try integrated crop management and monitor the outcome. As the public become more interested in the food chain, more questions are asked and we start to hear the rumblings of Public Outcry, what is in our food? What about animal welfare, and what of our British produce? We can’t tell from the label what is in it or where the food is from. With the questions raised, should we go back to a more sympathetic, natural or organic way of thinking? In essence back to basics, back to working with nature.