Real resolutions

COVID-19 preoccupations may have meant that personal New Year resolutions have largely gone by the board, but that doesn’t let great national institutions off the hook. Agromenes has picked four that need real change in 2021.

First, the NFU. It won’t be taken seriously if it doesn’t face the issue of meat eating. On grounds of climate and health, Britons are going to eat less meat. Modern plant-based substitutes are significantly more appetising than old-fashioned nut roasts and lab-grown meat is going to be widely available within a few years (William Kendall, page 38). The NFU must accept the inevitable and lead farmers to adopt the slogan ‘Eat Less Meat, but Better Meat’. By insisting on quality not quantity and making all UK red meat pasture-fed, it could secure the future of our livestock farming.