Rural Buckinghamshire-born, and representing fertile South Holland, Body was an early supporter of environmental causes within the Conservative Party. Coming from a British agriculture perspective, he was highly critical of many aspects associated with the heavily subsidised agriculture associated with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Economic Community (EEC). His "Agriculture: The Triumph and the Shame", a non-fictional agricultural book exposing, it asserted, its folly, was published in 1983, followed by "Farming in the Clouds" (1984). He was also critical over the use of pesticides in agriculture, and led an inquiry on the issue in 1986–87. The enquiry produced a draft report which contained 45 recommendations, mostly influenced by his support for organic farming and use of such methods on his own farms. The report was ignored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, which made no response and did not attempt to alter its own favoured methods. Between 1984 and 1993, Body (under the pseudonym "Old Muckspreader") also wrote the "Down on the Farm" column in "Private Eye", in which he regularly criticised both CAP and environmental mismanagement of farms.