On 22/02/07, David Cragg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > recently we received a book which included the gem that 'from now on > Bee-hives must not be placed on set-aside land (as they could be up til now) > as under the latest regs the placing of a hive on said land means the land > is being farmed and is therefore not set-aside. However, if the hives are > next to the set-aside area and the bees fly from them to use the set-aside > flowers then this is OK.
Presumably this is because from experience DEFRA knows as we do that farmers are prone to use all available legislation to maximise their public subsidy. Like a lot of people, I have problems with set aside. I wonder why we couldn't have had it for the mining industry. Then maybe we could start digging out some of these rich seams that weren't viable when Thatcher closed the pits but which would make a good profit now coal costs five times as much as it did then. Paying someone not to use land is bad enough, but paying them not to use if when they're actually using it for bee-keeping... Am I supposed to be incensed that DEFRA might object to that? Steve Steve [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
