Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
the backdrop of an overall decline in the number of dairy animals through the decade, the
role of larger herds in dairy production had been growing
3
. Many of the herds recorded
as being over 200 animals, are kept on separate farms but owned and managed by one
enterprise. The proposal for a single dairy unit of over 8100 cows, managed as one unit, a
step of 5800 more cows than the next largest unit, signalled a major leap in the scale of
farms producing milk in the UK. Those behind the proposal argued that they would be
able to realise economies of scale, in that the unit would be generate energy from
anaerobic digestion facilities on site and transportation costs would be lowered, with the
welfare of the animals welfare of the animals maximised maximised by being kept mainly
indoors, with only limited summer grazing
4
. The farmers behind this proposal were open
that their inspiration was the similar dairy units that they had seen in Wisconsin, in the
United States. In December 2009 an application for the requisite planning permission was
lodged with North Kesteven District Council.
The Nocton proposal tripped across the wires of numerous groups and cultural boundaries
that were not always found in common cause. Much of the debate was defined within the
cultural terms of 'Britishness' - that the UK had a distinct tradition of dairy farming and that
this represents a good example to other countries; post-imperial agricultural leadership. The
World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), a London based umbrella body for a
coalition of animal protection societies, launched a campaign against the use of milk from
battery farm cows. The “Not in my Cuppa” used of the role milk in the national beverage -
the cup of tea - as the fulcrum for arguments about the impacts of animal welfare for cows
in such a system as proposed at Nocton. In this campaign they were joined by the
Compassion in World Farming, Friends of the Earth, the Campaign to Protect Rural
England, The Soil Association, 38 Degrees and a group from the area near the proposed unit
- Campaign Against Factory Farming Operations. These latter groups widened the
arguments to the future of farming, the impact on the environment - locally and globally -
as well as the conservation of the traditional English landscape, with some proposing the
positive solution being the adoption of organic milk and dairying.
It was the statutory body charged with protecting the environment, the Environment
Agency, which withheld its permission over concerns about the amount of manure being
generated on the farm and its likely impact on the local watercourses. In April 2010, the
application was withdrawn in the light of this advice and in November a revised
application for a unit of 3,770 cows was submitted, only to be withdrawn in February
2011. In a statement from Nocton's developers, they cited the lack of research that they
could draw on to persuade the Environment Agency that the farm did not represent a
threat to the local aquifer. They were at pains to point to their relationship with the
Agency:
We believe the Environment Agency has not acted under any pressure in reaching this decision and
that no undue influence from other individuals or organisations has been brought to bear; any claims
to this effect would be both disingenuous and self-serving
(Nocton Dairies 2011).
The district council, as the ultimate planning authority, made it clear that it had concerns
about the housing of workers, the loss of amenity to local people and the wastes from the
3
http://www.dairyco.org.uk/datum/on-farm-data/cow-numbers/uk-cow-numbers.aspx
4
http://www.noctondairies.co.uk/
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