Vermaisung

A modern German swear word - The Maizing of the countryside - the alarming growth of maize/corn for use in gas/electricity production with meadows being ploughed up to satisfy the needs of those farmers who built such units originally conceived to use waste organic matter Farmers then discovered maize gave off more methane than waste.

Where in 2007 the maize grown for gas was 12% of the total maize grown, it doubled by 2011 & has now reached 50%. The other maize is made into silage & fed as "power food" to cows, making them even fatter & sicker but increasing the milk production to the point where the udders are scrapping the ground. Not that long ago a cow was good if it produced 6,000 litres of milk a year, now 10,000 is expected.

The farmers in our parish are now publishing a regular newspaper on the parish council website justifying their work, denying the "Vermaisung" of the countryside with its enormous use of the nastiest of herbicides (Round-up - Glyphosate), the enormous requirement of industrial chemical fertiliser & the much hated GMO seeds & market dominance of Monsanto.

For us normal people walking our dogs & enjoying the countryside, the most visible effect of the maize at this time of year is that one's enjoyment of the countryside scenery is heavily restricted.

You may get the impression I hate the stuff - you are spot on. Bad for humans, bad for our farm animals, bad for our soil & water, bad for bio-diversity,  bad for our bugs & bees. Like Brexit, name me one thing in it's favour. (Human eating corn/starch is not grown here).