This week’s offering is about organisations that are often little more than a name. Yet despite their lack of corporeal substance these outfits enjoy considerable support from the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’.
Which is bad enough, but Wales has far too many of these organisations, and their numbers seem to be increasing monthly.
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The title of this piece is taken from an old English song about a lad whose father dies leaving him, his mother, and five siblings, to fend for themselves. The lad goes to a farm seeking work. The farmer’s wife and daughter take pity on him, and he’s hired. He marries the daughter, and when her parents die, he becomes the farmer.
Here’s a good pub version from West Yorkshire.
And here’s an interesting version by Shropshire singer Fred Jordan. The old rhotic accent of the central border coming through well.
God! I spoil you.
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SONS (AND DAUGHTERS) OF THE SOIL
This first section is about a shindig planned for November called the Wales Real Food and Farming Conference, at the University of Wales Trinity St David in Lampeter.
Where else? For this venerable institution is to where Jane Davidson, authoress of the Future Generations legislation, retreated after leaving Corruption Bay.

I particularly love their use of the term, ‘Real farming’. Does it suggest those involved enjoy a monopoly in knowledge of the subject? Inferring that those beyond this coterie are wholly ignorant of farming?
So who are these enlightened ones?
The website is a minimalist creation, perhaps explained by the fact that this group comes alive only for the annual knees-up. Like some sort of Earth-botherers Brigadoon.
Here’s the line-up (from the match programme, 6d from the boys at the turnstiles):
Hazel Thomas, who might actually know something about food. But after that promising introduction it’s downhill all the way.
Laura-Cait Driscoll, University of Wales Trinity St David Lampeter. Whose life is a mystery ere she rocked up in Lambed in 2016 to work at Shapla Tandoori.
Catherine Hughes. Is it a local Plaid Cymru councillor? Or this Catherine Hughes? If it’s the second, then she works with the ‘Welsh Government’.
Alicia Miller, Sustainable Food Trust. An international organisation, reflected in its directors. Monmouthshire council among the donors tells you who’s moving to rural north Gwent, have taken over the local Labour party and, through it, the council.

A farming source tells me Patrick Holden, founder of SFT, is a good egg, but my source fears his organisation is going the way of others, like the Soil Association, in being taken over by anti-farmer activists. Or worse.
Dr Jane Ricketts Hein, Cynidr Consulting. Is there such a company, or is it a one-woman band? The name crops up in relation to this 2017 conference, and then, nothing. Though Dr Hein seems to be connected with Bangor university.
To confuse matters(?), there was a company called Cynder Consulting.
Lowri Hedd Vaughan, GwyrddNi, which is a climate action group . . . at a conference on food and farming?
Ieuan Davies, Natural Resources Wales. ‘Welsh Government’ representative.
I said it was downhill after the full-back, and now it starts to get slightly ridiculous.
Jackie Pearce-Dickens, Whole Health Agriculture; from Oxfordshire, which wants us to consume less meat and fewer dairy products. A perfect fit for a food and farming conference in a dairy farming area of a livestock-raising country.
Lisa Mundle, Landworkers’ Alliance Cymru. An organisation of middle-class fantasists who want to be seen as peasants, such as might be found in Asia or Latin American. Sad, really.
The group belongs to La Via Campesina. So Viva La Revolucion!
Delyth Phillips (actually, Phillipps), of Wildlife Trusts Wales. An organisation that haunts me, because – and as I’ve reported more than once – it doesn’t exist.
Wildlife Trusts Wales dissolved as a charity in 2021, and as a company a year later. Thereby surrendering Wales’ distinct identity in that sphere. But reflecting the English takeover of the ‘nature’ and ‘environment’ rackets in Wales.

Despite lacking any legal structure Wildlife Trusts Wales carries on as if nothing happened. Led by dissembling Rachel Sharp. Ably assisted by Tim Birch, the Extinction Rebellion nut-job who was run out of the Peak District. And now, we have Delyth Phillipps.
How many more are there in this wraith-like organisation?
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But do you know what’s missing from that line-up? That’s right – a farmer!
And that’s because we’ve reached the stage in Wales where conferences can be organised to discuss food production, land use, the rural environment . . . yet genuine, traditional, Welsh, farmers, are excluded.
I’ll explain this in the Conclusion.
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TIR NATUR
This is a gang I’ve mentioned a few times before. And that’s despite them climbing aboard the environmental bandwagon only very recently. Here’s their website.
I think the first time Tir Natur appeared here was in July 2022, in a Miscellany post, scroll down to the section headed with the name.
But I think they’re worth another look. So let’s turn to the website, where we see Tir Natur’s vision laid out:
A Wales where beavers return to build their dams . . . where cranes dance in the setting sun and golden eagles soar above Eryri once more.
Poetic, like, innit?
But seriously, what soul-dead ghoul among you could not be moved by the uplifting images of foxtrotting cranes and soaring eagles?
And there’s more.
A Wales where large grazing animals roam freely in natural herds . . .
Note that Tir Natur is not referring here to cattle. If previous TN output is anything to go by, then this is a reference to European bison. In fact, an image of said beasts appears on the TN website.
Picture it! It’s 2035, and herds of bison roam from Crickhowell to Caeathro and from Crymych to Caerwys, pausing to rub themselves against the wind turbines, many of which have now toppled. Useless, unrecyclable, their owners untraceable.
The bison often wander into towns and villages, trampling people, wrecking cars, buildings, and gardens, but nothing can be done – because they’re protected. And that’s because, unlike cow farts, bison farts do no harm to the planet!
This is re-wilding. And it’s what Tir Natur is all about. So let’s get to the nub of it.
Tir Natur is a rewilding charity, set up to address the nature & climate crises in Wales. The state of nature in Wales is truly devastating . . .
Globally, 1,000,000 species are at risk of extinction, and Wales is one of the worst culprits in the world for loss of nature. We are ranked 224th out of 240 countries for biodiversity intactness . . . but rewilding offers hope
What you’ve read there is how modern environmentalism operates. Imagine or exaggerate a problem – then come up with the solution. A ‘solution’ that will greatly benefit those who identified the problem in the first place!
Such an elegant and circular solution to the woes of the world.
If you think I’m wrong, then tell me who decided that, ‘The state of nature in Wales is truly devastating‘, and that Wales is, ‘ranked 224th out of 240 countries for biodiversity intactness‘.
Was it some respected and impartial authority, or was it off-the-wall activists such as we find at Tir Natur? Come to that, who accepts these ‘findings’? The truth is that it doesn’t matter what you and I think; what matters is getting politicians and funders to pretend they believe this garbage.
But look around the world, for God’s sake, where forests bigger than Wales are being cleared, where species are hunted to extinction, at countries with no environmental controls whatsoever – yet we are expected to believe that little Wales, where hardly anything has changed, where regulations get tighter by the year, is ranked in the top 10% of countries suffering biodiversity loss.
Insulting bullshit. Insulting to all Welsh people, but especially to farmers, for they are the real target of these lies.

I was directed back to Tir Natur a couple of weeks ago because of two new arrivals.
First was Sally Weale, zoologist and maker of documentaries. She had previously been a director of The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.
Weale greeted her appointment with, and very predictably:
With the loss of so much of Wales’ once abundant wildlife, I’m excited by the scale and ambition of Tir Natur’s vision
I don’t know what species have been lost in my lifetime, but I suspect it’s very few, if any. Which leads me to believe that when Sally Weale and others talk of ‘loss’ they’re thinking in a much longer timescale.
Which then allows them to include beaver, lynx, wolf, and other animals as having been ‘lost’. If I’m right, then how far back do we go? To bears? Pterodactyl?
But while using the longer timescale they still want to pretend that we, living today, are responsible. Or, at a stretch, it starts with the Industrial Revolution.
This is a deliberate and dishonest conflation designed to deceive us, and benefit them.
The other recent recruit was none other than Tim Birch, still looking over his shoulder for mutton-chopped Derbyshire gamekeepers.

I conclude this section with another extract from the TN website. Go to the ‘About Rewilding’ tab, then click ‘What is Rewilding?’ Where you’ll be regaled with:
Here in Wales, where ecosystems are more depleted and 88% of land is managed in some way for agriculture, rewilding is about restoring the complex and dynamic mosaic of habitat that once was.
The link is now clearly made between ecological degradation, species loss, and farming. An environmental tragedy created by farming that can only be remedied by taking land away from farmers and giving it back to nature.
Well no, not really. The land must be given to organisations like Tir Natur. Who will introduce all manner of strange critters, some of which were never known in Wales. Such as the Konik horse. For as all Wales knows, from Gower to the Carneddau, we have no wild equines of our own.
And that, my friends, is ‘rewilding’. It’s a colonialist land grab by shysters who know nothing of our country, or us. But then, we Welsh don’t figure in the future they want.
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CONCLUSION
Readers may have noticed that the methodology employed by the environmental and land grab scammers is remarkably similar to that used by climate alarmists. That’s because they’re directed by the same source.
I refer now to the UN, WEF, EU, assorted supranational bodies; the mega corporations like BlackRock and Vanguard; and unhinged multi-billionaires like George Soros and Bill Gates, who think their wealth is a mandate to dictate our lives.
They too operate by dreaming up a crisis, then, like magicians producing rabbits from top hats, they come up with the ‘solution’. This pattern is now established.
The ‘climate crisis’ demands we rely on heavily subsided – and therefore expensive for consumers – ‘green’ energy, reject the internal combustion engine, have fewer children, and radically modify our diets.
A number of ostensibly unconnected agencies and movements have been recruited by the Globalists to promote the ‘destabilisation leads to control’ agenda.
These include Cultural Marxists pushing BLM, ‘trans rights’, open borders, and the idea that all white people are guilty of slavery, etc. Done to encourage division and violence that will be used to justify increasing censorship and authoritarianism.
Also, environmentalists, vegans and others, who’ve been platformed in recent decades because they too serve the Globalist agenda.
Simple, really. Control the food supply, control the people.
Which is why the Globalists encourage and fund environmentalists to demand an end to farming. While simultaneously pushing the idea of eating bugs, and ‘meat’ made in laboratories.

But the Globalists may not want the land from which farmers have been evicted for themselves. Other than perhaps what they can use for carbon offsets and other scams.
The priority is to ensure that that land no longer produces food.
Now I don’t know about you, but if, after all we know about Bill Gates’ involvement with Covid and the vaccines, you’re still happy to eat ‘meat’ from his factories, then the best of luck to you.
(You’ll find his ‘meat’ factory next to his mosquito breeding sheds.)
Call me old fashioned, but I’d prefer to stick with the Welsh countryside as it is, dotted with Welsh family farms producing good, wholesome, and natural food.
And helping maintain Welsh identity.
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© Royston Jones 2024
Nothing to do with the matter at hand but I wish to publicise the fact that the Wales NHS has a licence to kill, since those guilty of medical negligence have their backs protected by the twin wet lettuces, the Ombudsman and Llais, both of which are there for nothing more than show. The Welsh Junta allow this and I think that if Harold Shipman had been a GP in Wales, he’d have got away with what he did. Drop me an email, when you see this and I can explain more in detail.
E-mail sent.
Laura[Hyphen]Cait. You can just *tell* the sort of person you’re dealing with, with a ridiculous name like that can’t you? Like that Fabian Sean Lucien Faversham-Pullen berk.
I’m not surprised that farmers are selling their properties or surrendering lettings because the profit from their produce generally goes to the layers of businesses that inhabit the space between farmer and consumer. There are a minority of situations where farmers are able to transact directly with the public – sale of milk, vegetables at “farm gate” etc but most of their commercial reality is being screwed by big corporates who supply supermarkets who dominate the retail space.
The majority of those interested in buying up farms are the new wave of highly suspect tossers, the mix of spongers who prefer to attract a grant for growing bushes, wild flowers etc or carve up medium sized farms into “plots” upon which goodlifers can come to pretend they are self reliant and “sustainable” yet claim all sorts of benefits whenever possible.
The P.R attack on our rural communities in general is akin to genocide except they haven’t sent out the execution squads…yet. Apart from the assault on farming we see a total failure to provide decent reliable public transport despite the taboo surrounding motor vehicles, the repeated attempts at centralising or removing services like primary education, G.P centres, care for elderly in their homes. It looks like the countryside is slowly being cleared to make room only for those who conform to certain oddball templates or can afford a spot of isolation. The rest of us will have to move into designated “communities for the future” where if we’re lucky some kind of services will be provided. But don’t hold your breath !
You are missing one point and that is struggling farmers are lured into contracts with the Supermarkets to supply them with their produce whether it be meat or crops. The supermarkets offer them a good price for their Beef and the farmer accepts. They then may go out and buy new machinery or whatever they think is needed or more cattle to breed etc…then a year or two into the deal the supermarket lowers the price they pay because at the end of the day its all about profit. The farmer then finds themselves trapped. This happens across the UK and imo the world where suppliers who deal with the big corporates as you say are screwed. Again, years ago I attended Birminham COT to give a talk on the dangers of doing business with the supermarkets and that was for the Wholesale Independent Bakeries who are now virtually extinct by comparrison…scuse my spelling errors I am dyslexic…so…welcome to 20mph where bus services are cut because they cant make the journeys and the road rage and no GPs in West Wales…all closing down..ooops…and Mr D back in charge of Health…Everything is devolved to the Welsh Govt except Tax and Legal system…so what you hear from Starmer or anything on the News doesnt apply to us here in Wales…in the dark middle ages regression.
207238 is the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts…so the Wildlife Trust of Wales you mention is using their Charity Number…but as I just said…if its got to you…They all jump on the band wagon of the cash flow…whether its inland or marine with virtually NO expertise in their subjects…seen it all in dare I say
https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/results/page/1/delta/20/keywords/207238 Wild life Trust of Wales..They all jump on the band wagon. ALL
Yes, I know about that, but it doesn’t clear up the mystery. If WTW has joined the ‘national’ organisation, no different to a county wildlife trust, then how can it pretend to still be the national body, and umbrella body, for Welsh wildlife trusts?
Yes I totally agree, but I cant post it on here…happy to send a comment to you directly…its not safe to say the truth any more…
Send to editor@jacothenorth.net
Because as you know…they rely on people not asking questions or digging in company house…Its a play on words…its still a National Body but its charitable status is amalgamated for want of a better word…ive seen it over the years esp with Marine Conservation and who jumps on that band wagon…could write a book.
And must not forget NRW or the old Wales Environmental all employed by the Wgov. Environmental reports as part of the conditions of building Marinas eg…are put before the NRW but they are commissioned by the developers so NRW is basically being paid by the developer…so is that a non bias EIA?…environmental impact statement…of course it isnt…
Its separate charitable status has ended. Whereas the individual wildlife trusts are still registered charities, WRW has no official existence. Yet it must be receiving money from somewhere to pay its staff. So where is that money coming from? And is it recorded and accounted for?
Via the Development Bank of Wales?
Nothing would surprise me when it comes to the DBW.
well, as you know under the Devolution Act the WG is supposed to publish what they spend over 25K monthly but now its 6months or more in arrears…how convenient and of course the DBW is owned by the WG and all its sub departments…and under banking law its client confidentiality…and its all going through there…I was looking at something about Turbines and various companies to do with Marine Licencing which is now devolved to Wales since 2016 and finance was from the DBW…A lot of the Wildlife Charities genuine or were but everyone these days is getting onto the wagon…so who pays wages…etc…??
Pet hates, Herds of wid European Bison trampling on the meadow designated section of my garden. Talentless, third sector, unaccountable, Self-important, public money parasites who supplement their weekly Aldis’ shop with countless free finger buffets & other luncheon expenses. 🙈
I personally would like to see the afanc (beaver) back in the Dyfi and other Welsh rivers. But its a touchy subject in Wales and progress is slow. Its touchy for the reasons you give, Jac. The beaver would be the thin end of the wedge. And on that I completely agree with you. As you say, until the voice of the farmer is heard there is no dialogue. And a lot of danger.
Exactly my point. How far back do we go to find these ‘lost’ species. And how can today’s farmers be hed responsible?
It makes no sense until we accept that environmentalism is being used to promote an agenda that wishes to do away with farming.
It’s a similar conundrum to the whole ‘slavery reparations’ bit, in a way, trying to retroactively and ham-fistedly right past wrongs. Such efforts bring to mind that scene in Father Ted, where Ted tries to ‘beat out’ a small dent in his car, and of course it ends up completely battered to shit.
These naturalists seem to forget that we, Homo sapiens, are part of nature too, and it could quite reasonably be argued that whatever has happened to the environment by our doing is just another stitch in the tapestry of the world’s natural history.
Predict a disastrous problems with reintroduction of beaver due to the complete lack of local connection or native engagement.
A species ideally suited to riverbanks of chalk streams and the alluvial meanders downstream. The munching of willow and damming up pools, has advantages, both for aquatic fauna and coarse fish. However, once loose in more upland streams ‘of spate bordered by temperate rainforest’ will do significant damage to the eco-system. There has been illegal ‘beaver bombing’ in Carmarthenshire where misguided activists have trapped beavers in Devon and released them into the upper reaches of the Cothi. Not only is trapping beavers a crime under the Wildlife Act but their activities have trashed the spawning grounds of sewin and salmon. A cull may be required at some point.
Important to understand and consider the current eco-system without some artificial ‘wind in the willows’ view of the existing habitat.
I suspect that beavers were chosen as the thin end of the rewilding wedge because they’re quite cuddly, won’t kill lambs, and most people won’t even know they’re there.
Some species punted by ignorant re-wilders are not native to the British Isles, like Eurasian Bison. A captive breeding programme running in Kent does not have the acreage for sustaining a wild herd, so they are eventually destined to be released somewhere else in the British Isles. Doubt if it’s Epping Forest or Clapham Common. Suspect they have eyes on locations in Wales.
Yes, but sadly thats going to be a difficult one…just because you are in farming doesnt mean you actually care about your animals…money!!…ive seen many cattle with really bad leg injuries limping in fields due to lack of care of damp ground. The new M&S Advert where its all about happy pigs is a joke…they should then show them being hauled up screaming as they go off to be hung up and gutted at the slaughter houses…then that might teach people where their pork comes from…oh and I grew up in farming…they get eaten and thats a reality that todays world doesnt want to acknowledge and all our food is nicely packaged so as not to offend us…as to where it comes from..Too many years ago I went to the world food conference for 4 days which was a very amazing experience as it was totally professional…not in Wales. I have attended many seminars and it was interesting to see how content is delivered and not original but people pay for misinformation. Re introducing our beavers would be difficult as farmers these days is always about the money, which is understandable its a business but ….did you know that the Vultures are dying out in India due to antibiotics in animals…it was banned but…so now you have issues on the town tips because the vultures eat the dead cows and the effects are that they become infertile…so now no vultures and so the dogs are moving in and the tigers which they kill…cause and effect…Vultures are not prolific breaders so they are intruducing breeding progs…In Pembrokeshire they have a bug farm because they have discovered what is called wet pastures in the UK and Wales where there are no dung beatles to eat the dung…so its sodden with cattle excrement…cause and effect…but sadly the human race…just doesnt get it because we are greedy!!…wooops…
Don’t know what abattoir you refer to with these screaming pigs being hung. Was it in Wales?
The one I’ve visited near Cross Hands has a much more efficient system. Each animal is corralled into a restrictor cage. All happy grunts. Then the stun grip that hangs off a gimble is applied to each side of the skull and the electric current renders the animal instantly unconscious. It’s body mass then taken by the chest support arms and a pneumatic bolt gun on the other end of the gimble is fired into the skull, splitting the skull/brain. The carcass is then hooked by the hind legs and pulled up vertically as the support arms retract and the hanging rail takes it further down the line for further butchering.
Did you report the ‘hanging of screaming pigs’ (an illegal method) to the inspectorate or is it just a conspiracy theory spread by vegans on social media?
I am not a vegan we used to breed the Fron Dirion Welsh Black cattle whose blood lines run through to todays..Pigs are highly intelligent animals and they know…I have never seen happy grunts!!…they can smell death. I object to the horrendous cruelty in which they are bred in our quest for cheap meat.I grew up in farming and my family are still in it…I have shot an animal to put it out of its misery but you are not allowed to do that anymore…some things have changed for the better and others havent…Ive seen live turkeys stung up having their feathers pulled out…what u see and what you dont see are two totally different things…
I agree with humane killing. So why do we tolerate Halal?
Because it goes back a long time and for a reason the same as why Pork is not eaten its to do with the teaching that forbids it because of the diseases that are carried in the blood of the animal. The old rule in the UK was you can only eat pork if there is a R in the month…and in the old Cattle markets in the UK Towns..the Pig market was completely separate in another location to avoid cross contamination and disease…Halal with cows and beef etc was again to do with the contaimination and disease in the blood of the animals in hot climates. Disease is carried this way…so if you drain the blood then that lessens the risk.I think in the UK today there is no need as the climate and disease doesnt exist, though you could add that we killed millions of cattle due to foot and mouth. We had to walk in to the farm via chemical solutions in pits…if one cow had it then the whole herd had to go…was that necessary…I would say no…but look at TB atm and Badgers…I am glad they have stopped the badger cull and badgers are vital to the cleaning up…they eat everything, like pigs, lol…but keeping animals in badger proof enclosures would be better…but its cost!! and at the end of the day..we want cheap meat!…cause and effect…worth a read below..
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/halal-meat-exports-welsh-lamb-7093889
One of the pillars of Halal slaughtering is to respect the animal and minimise suffering. I’m sure one of the prayers said in the blessing procedure is an expression of respect or thankfulness to the animal for what it has provided.
That Yorkshire ditty reminds me of when I missed the last train from Paddington one year after the game. We’d won. Got mixed up with some bad characters from the north, Ruthin I think. We were arrested by the Met for being drunk and disorderly and taken to a police station in Hammersmith. After we recited about fourteen verses of Y Mochyn Du they let us all go without charge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vecz87HecZg
Fortunately lyrics was lost on the arresting officers but the custody seargent who was from Ystradgynlais or there abouts, found it hilarious. Wouldn’t be allowed these days. Has it been banned yet by the Welsh Government?
I’m not sure the song’s originally from Yorkshire, there are various claims as to its origin. Yes, I’ve been in similar situations with the police, though I didn’t have to resort to ‘Y Mochyn Du’.
Ironic that the conference is being held on Lampeter campus where the university’s Tir Glas project was supposed to be running a slow food project, and sucked up over a million of government funds to visit a project in Italy, pay tame consultants from Pembs, and employ Hazel and several other “food experts” to work up a Growing Mid Wales (sic) multi million bid to build a food centre on the campus. the new VC at the university (the one that defended the child murderer in Mach) has quietly dumped the project in her panic cull of staff numbers, but hasn’t yet told the local community, who still think the sale of the university cricket field is still going ahead to ALDI to raise the small match funding for the multi million promised food project. Hazel Thomas no longer works for the uni and is part time at the harbour master inn in Aberaeron. Simon Wright has gone back to wrights food emporium with his tail between his legs after milking the tit for as long as possible. Now the university is quietly trying to sell off it’s dangerous structure buildings on college Street before they actually fall down. You could not make it up!
As somebody who has been involved with the WRFR i can tell you that it is a really interesting project which is actually attended by Welsh farmers and Welsh people involved in the agri and food sectors of Wales. Be worth you listening to some of the talks. If we want to become more self sufficient in food, supply more Welsh food into our food chain, support rural enterprise, farmers , our nature depleted countryside and tackle Welsh food poverty its all good with me.
Tir Glas man draw. Don’t make me laugh. Another con by the now gone highest paid University Chancellor in Wales.
Drindod Dewi Sant is a shell sham university packed with Chinese students who speak no English and English retards who got rejected from other Unis as they were too twp . Honest to god they look real special around town. So Can you expose that institution rather than pick on a really worthwhile enterprise organised by a few good people who you have not named who have done some great work in the local food , education and agri sector.Because the asset stripping and hollowing out of Dewi Sant , once a respected university has killed the town off. It now is a dumping ground for problematic people migrating here and suck off the Welsh pension and welfare teat.