Rural Rulers?

Guardian columnist, George Monbiot, suggests that the vast majority of people, living in the English countryside, are treated as 'second class rural citizens' (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/20/minority-rural-britons-farmers-farming-countryside-environment). The UK government's own figures show that a maximum of 0.5% of the total population and 3% of the rural communities can be regarded as working on English farms. This tiny minority essentially dictates what happens to the land, the rivers and biodiversity in rural areas. In this, farmers appear aided and abetted by the National Farmer's Union (NFU). The NFU oppose many appropriate and necessary environmental/food policy changes. Monbiot also notes that the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is largely 'stocked' by people from farming backgrounds and/or with agricultural interests. Most strikingly, he highlights a quote by the UK's Environmental Secretary, George Eustice. Eustice maintains that "livestock, particularly if you do it with the right pastoral system, has a role to play in tackling climate change". Monbiot notes there is zero evidence for Eustice's statement, opining that "misleading climate claims are the livestock industry's tobacco tactics". Many people, concerned about climate change and human health, want to see more English farmland rewilded and reductions in meat-eating. The UK government's own Climate Change Committee has shown that transitioning one hectare of English grassland to forest, increases the soil carbon stock by an average of 25 tonnes. Such moves would require English farming to do less raising of beef and dairy cattle. Rewilding would, however, make a big dent in English farming's production of 'greenhouse gases'. Eustice reportedly has 'no intention' of advocating reductions of meat consumption. His family farm business produces pork and lamb.