Land of Milk and Honey is the long-awaited sequel to Red Rag to a Bull. Author Jamie Blackett finds himself in danger of losing the family estate as his beef business encounters difficulties and the spectre of Brexit bears down on the farming community. Meanwhile he feels under threat from extreme environmentalists attacking the very concept of livestock farming and by resurgent Scottish nationalism threatening the break-up of the United Kingdom. The book is the honest and forthright account of how he copes with the crisis by following the example of New Zealand farmers in similar circumstances and successfully embracing the new creed of regenerative agriculture and switching the farm into pasture-based dairying. Through Jamie's struggles the reader comes to understand the crossroads facing the British countryside as it attempts to adapt to free trade after eighty years of agricultural subsidies. We are also guided through the complexities and contradictions in the quest to reach Net Zero carbon and reverse biodiversity loss as he explores the current craze for re-wilding the land and puts some of its ideas into practice for the benefit of wildlife on the estate. Along the way Jamie becomes an outspoken newspaper columnist and establishes an unlikely political alliance with the maverick socialist George Galloway in an attempt to break the stalemate in Scottish politics and defeat Nicola Sturgeon's SNP in the Holyrood election. The book contains humour, vivid passages of nature writing and numerous polemical digressions on a wide range of countryside issues.

About the Author
Jamie Blackett is a former army officer and a farmer on the beautiful Arbigland peninsula on the Solway Firth in Dumfries and Galloway. He is also an award-winning journalist and a regular columnist for the Daily Telegraph, Country Life and other publications. He appears regularly on television and radio as a commentator on politics and rural issues. His first book, The Enigma of Kidson has been adapted for the stage. Land of Milk and Honey is the sequel to his second book, the much-acclaimed Red Rag to a Bull. In 2020 he won the Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust award for journalism and his essay has been published in a short book On Wilding. Jamie is married with two grown-up children.

Reviews
'Jamie Blackett crucially and eloquently stands up for real farming, real conservation and the real countryside, managing to be both lyrical and fearless at the same time.' -- Kate Green, Country Life
'a fascinating read for those interested in the countryside and the country...Well worth buying'
'Blackett's engaging style and lightness of touch belie the complexity of the issues with which he must contend, and make this a compelling read.'
'Land of Milk and Honey is a book with great variety and change of pace. the description of rural life, its seasonal rhythms, the grandeur of nature and all its creatures are a joy to read.'
'another highly readable and thought provoking work from Jamie Blackett.'
'superbly acerbic'
The author writes with admirable candour and detachment about his battle to save his farm in the face of adverse balance-sheets. As well as being an eloquent manifesto for saving the countryside from the unhappy fate that has overtaken large parts of urban Britain, this is a stirring evocation of rural life.



Book Information
ISBN 9781846893667
Author Jamie Blackett
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Quiller Publishing Ltd
Publisher Quiller Publishing Ltd