“Re-wilding” advocate George Monbiot and sheep farmer turned barrister Philip Walling locked horns metaphorically in different Hay sessions focusing on the British countryside. Walling is the author of ‘Counting Sheep’, a homage to our pastoral heritage in which he credits the animals for shaping our landscape down the centuries and creating unimaginable wealth, leading to the construction of our finest medieval cathedrals. His book demands we support hill farmers, buy British wool, eat more mutton and defend the rural way of life. Environmentalist Monbiot’s ‘Feral’ calls sheep “the white plague”, and blames them for overgrazing and soil erosion. (There are currently eight million in Wales alone.) He was quick to point out that he was not attacking farmers, but those who lord over them, such as DEFRA, which he called ‘Doing Everything farm Representatives Ask’. He said the NFU (National Farmers’ Union) did not represent the average farmer, but the wealthy landowner.
Posted on: Sat, 31 May 2014 08:08:25 +0000
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