Our yellow and pleasant land...I had a strange thought when I flew back to the UK last Friday; it was one of the changing landscape, still a beautiful patchwork of small, hedged fields...but the patches weren't the various shades of green but more and more patches of yellow; Oilseed Rape (the odd name is derived through Old English from a term for turnip, rapum....makes you wonder why the turnip is called a turnip then?) Back to the yellow; remember I arrived in the Westcountry (Bristol), where dairy WAS the main farming activity, not the windswept flat plains of Eastern England. Today, on my return to Spain I read that the hectarage of oilseed rape is increasing Europewide (PDF link). Germany and France are the main producers, next poland followed by the UK close 4th. Not a lot of searching led me to the Guardian's Environment story where the author Joanna Blythman began almost as I have; except that she was in France: "Seeds of discontent""Britain is losing its green fields, as the grass that once fattened cattle is replaced by oilseed rape. The bright yellow tide has upset lovers of traditional country views."
In terms of acreage, oilseed rape now accounts for 11% of the crops cultivated in the UK. Oilseed rape has hit the big time as a biofuel. Currently, most of the UK's production is snapped up by Germany for bio-diesel.Despite the discolouration of the scenery - and various other snags, reported in the Guardian article - extra virgin rapeseed oil is a perfectly acceptable alternative to Olive Oil - a northern version of the Med classic perhaps? Despite almost all production going for biofuel, rapeseed oil has a healthy nutritional/ fatty acid profile, containing more vitamin E and fewer saturated fats than extra virgin olive oil. One UK producer tells us that "Rapeseed oil is now recognised as one of the healthiest culinary oils available but it is not just for health reasons that many people are becoming ‘rapeseed converts", (OLEIFERA).
First cultivated by the Romans for its healthy properties, oil seed rape has been cold pressed and used throughout Europe since the 16th century and is widely known as canola oil in other parts of the world. At last this versatile oil is now receiving the attention that it has long deserved in the UK!
Cold-press rapeseed oil; "is simply gently squeezed from the seed at temperatures below 40°C to retain all the natural goodness", it contains both omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in an almost ideal ratio (2:1) and only flax oil has more omega 3. It is one of the most heart-healthy oils and has been reported to reduce cholesterol levels - amongst other health benefits. At Farrington Oils (link through image) they produce it to LEAF Marque Standards (LEAF: Linking Environment And Farming) "supports viable agriculture which is environmentally and socially acceptable and ensures the continuity of supply of wholesome, affordable food while conserving and enhancing the fabric and wildlife of the British countryside for future generations."Sorry for the subtle ads :-)
S.O.
6 comments:
I remember when I walked the start of the Ridgeway in 1997 (Marlborugh to Tring) how sad I thought it was that nearly all of Wiltshire was yellow when on my previous visit it was all green.
A beautiful part of the country indeed; at least the bright yellow flowering stage isn't around for long, but it has the most awful pong as well...and when it is green the 'green' isn't very nice either! Various stretches of driving down the 303 are another examples.
Interesting letter in last Thursday or Friday's Telegraph about "canary yellow" Herts.
A woman was writing that she had to deposit her husband somewhere else in the country for a while as he has developed an almighty allergy to rapeseed oil plants.
I'll see if I can read it online, there has always been a bit of a hoohah re health problems etc but in countries where they produce much more they do not 'seem' to have as much trouble.
I wonder about the whole biofuel thing, using fats/oils is one thing but the corn/sugar cane ethanol side creates a lot of CO2, I presume they've done their sums but for every molecule of glucose that gets fermented you get 2 of ethanol but also 2 of carbon dioxide :-/
The other things to take into consideration is that the rape seed is used by many farmers as a 'rest' crop because for many reasons it does a lot of good to the soil on the rotation plus they get money for it too.
I personally, don't have problem with the gold. Landscape changes over time. If it didn't we would still be farming strips. This is just another change and although I hate the smell I would rather it be the rape than some genetically modified stuff.
Rest crop...that was 'before' Mags, about 10 years ago sort of when Paul was walking the ridgeway. It was a good rotation alternative with it's narrow tap root breaking the soil more than the shallow rooting wheat etc; it needs different cultivations but now (as per my post) it accounts for 11% of the UK total crop (!!!!) Now remember that we are a 'meat and potato' eating people with beer and bread for pudding...all that wheat, barley and potatoes, plus turnips and cabbage etc...11% is a MASSIVE amount. It began when they could get a fortune from the EU for growing it, plus it mainly added to animal feed, then other alternatives started to appear (linseed etc...nice pale blue flower) but now the increase is solely from the take-up of the biofuel industry and so the 'rest' will be semi-permanant.
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