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CONTENTS scroll down the page to read: or click on the article 1) Farming in the Community 2) Non - farming in the Community 3) 4) Who are the Gideons? |
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Martin Shallcross |
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NON FARMING IN THE COMMUNITY
a letter sent by a hampshire farmer
Secretary of
State.
Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
16 May 2007
Dear Secretary
of State,
My friend, who
is in farming at the moment, recently received a cheque for £3,000 from the
Rural Payments Agency for not rearing pigs. I would now like to join the
"not rearing pigs" business.
In your opinion,
what is the best kind of farm not to rear pigs on, and which is the best
breed of pigs not to rear? I want to be sure I approach this endeavour in
keeping with all government policies, as dictated by the EU under the Common
Agricultural Policy. I would prefer not to rear bacon pigs, but if this is
not the type you want not rearing, I will just as gladly not rear porkers.
Are there any advantages in not rearing rare breeds such as Saddlebacks or
Gloucester Old Spots, or are there too many people already not rearing
these?
As I see it, the
hardest part of this programme will be keeping an accurate record of how
many pigs I haven't reared. Are there any Government or Local Authority
courses on this?
My friend is
very satisfied with this business. He has been rearing pigs for forty years
or so, and the best he ever made on them was £14,222 in 1968. That is -
until this year, when he received a cheque for not rearing any.
If I get £3,000
for not rearing 50 pigs, will I get £6,000 for not rearing 100?
I plan to
operate on a small scale at first, holding myself down to about 4,000 pigs
not raised, which will mean about £240,000 for the first year As I become
more expert in not rearing pigs, I plan to be more ambitious, perhaps
increasing to, say, 40,000 pigs not reared in my second year, for which I
should expect about £2.4 million from your department. Incidentally, I
wonder if I would be eligible to receive tradable carbon credits for all
these pigs not producing harmful and polluting methane gases? Another point:
These pigs that I plan not to rear will not eat 2,000 tonnes of cereals. I
understand that you also pay farmers for not growing crops. Will I qualify
for payments for not growing cereals to not feed the pigs I don't rear?
I am also
considering the "not milking cows" business, so please send any information
you have on that too. Please could you also include the current Defra advice
on set aside fields? Can this be done on an e-commerce basis with virtual
fields (of which I seem to have several thousand hectares)?
In view of the
above you will realise that I will be totally unemployed, and will therefore
qualify for unemployment benefits.
I shall of
course be voting for your party at the next general election.
Yours faithfully
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Most people know of the Gideons through the Bibles they find in hotel
bedrooms. Their official description is a Christian Business and
Professional men's Association whose purpose is to introduce people to the
Christian faith through the Bible.
If I tell you how this association
began you will understand the reason for its name. John
Nicholson, when
he was 12 years old, promised his dying mother that he would read a passage
from the Bible every day. Eventually he
became a travelling salesman.
One day in 1898, when he was staying in
an overcrowded hotel, he was asked to share a bedroom with a fellow
salesman. When they retired to bed, John Nicholson said to his companion,
"It's always my practice to read my Bible when I retire", his fellow
salesman said, "Please read it aloud that I might benefit too, for I am a
Christian".
They enjoyed each others company so
much that they decided to meet again and invite any other like minded
salesmen to join them with the view of forming a fellowship of Christian
business men.
At their first meeting only one other met with them, nevertheless they felt
God was
leading them to form a fellowship of
like minded Christians. They felt they needed a short name to be known by.
They chose the name Gideon after the Old Testament character who drove the
invading enemy from the Israelite's land with only three hundred men.
Their first
activity was to leave a Bible behind in every bedroom they stayed in, for
the benefit of those who would follow them. It proved to be so popular that
it was not long before they were
placing them in all the bedrooms in
many hotels.
It is the belief of the Gideons that
the Bible has the unique ability to speak to a person's inner
need like no
other book. We believe it is Gods tool to bring everyone to Himself who will
read it.
From these three men inl898 has grown a
ministry that is active in 186 countries, not only
placing Bibles
in hotels, but also in prison cells, hospital bedside lockers and presenting
them to
10/11 year olds in schools where
possible, and various waiting rooms, anywhere where people have reason to
pause and think.
It is a laymen's association drawn from
various denominations, all believing with St Paul "all scripture is God
breathed".
Last year 65
million copies of scriptures were placed or presented world wide. 1,250,000
every week! 178,082 every day!
We like to describe ourselves as an arm of the
Church, reaching out
into the world
we live in.
You may ask, how is this activity
financed? It has always been the policy never to ask for
financial help,
or engage in fund raising .Amazingly all the necessary funds have always
been
found, as we pray for the needs to be
met.
We have fellow
Christians who are interested in this ministry but for various reasons
cannot be
active in this work, but wish to
support us with their prayers and in any other way they are prompted to,
they are on a mailing list and known as "Friends of the Gideons" who promise
to pray for this ministry and give as God guides. The website is:
www.gideonfriends.org.uk
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