EU and Mercosur agree huge trade deal after 20-year talks

baabaa said:

some sobering numbers
eu beef farmers might want to paint on the side of redundant cattle wagons

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/mercosur-impact-assessment-needed-for-all-brexit-scenarios-ff/

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Thank you for posting that. I have nothing to do with beef. But a quick scan through the article interesting. The emphasis on several occasions of social rural policy and impacts on rural Ireland. Always find these broader side issues quite fascinating.

wanton dwarf said:

Oh the irony .. remind me how many Billions of people are in the Southern Hemisphere ?

The excuse that UK farms produce more CO2 therefore you can sail your product, is it 8,000 miles ?, rather than selling it locally.

Food should be produced and consumed locally where ever possible.

Far better NZ was put down to growing trees and consuming CO2 instead

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Not as many as in the Northern Hemisphere, we are also opposite seasons which is why we can produce at different times of the year and send to the highly populated North to keep them fed.
New Zealand already has lots of trees that consume CO2, along with very productive agricultural areas able to grow produce more economically than the UK.
To only consume locally grown may see the UK down to a subsistence diet, reduced to eating turnips a gruel through the long winter months, the world has moved forward from those medieval days, a great pity that many in the UK long for their return.

stewart said:

Not as many as in the Northern Hemisphere, we are also opposite seasons which is why we can produce at different times of the year and send to the highly populated North to keep them fed.
New Zealand already has lots of trees that consume CO2, along with very productive agricultural areas able to grow produce more economically than the UK.
To only consume locally grown may see the UK down to a subsistence diet, reduced to eating turnips a gruel through the long winter months, the world has moved forward from those medieval days, a great pity that many in the UK long for their return.

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How the feck did we ever manage ? Before 24hr shopping ,and having an avacado all year long.

br jones said:

How the feck did we ever manage ? Before 24hr shopping ,and having an avacado all year long.

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Oh feck i remember ,we had a thing called a freezer

br jones said:

How the feck did we ever manage ? Before 24hr shopping ,and having an avacado all year long.

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You didn’t manage. The UK needs to import food to meet the needs of a large population and if that population wants avocados year round so be it, let the market dictate.
To rely solely on home production would see the UK revert back to medieval times.

The British population resorting to a diet more along the lines of the sort enjoyed in the 1950's might (paradoxically) do the nation a bit of good. Less calories, less salt, sugar and a return of basic fruit and veg.

The demand may well exist for avocados year-round but they should be expensive and it sure as heck is not sustainable.

stewart said:

You didn’t manage. The UK needs to import food to meet the needs of a large population and if that population wants avocados year round so be it, let the market dictate.
To rely solely on home production would see the UK revert back to medieval times.

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We managed just fine ta ,

br jones said:

We managed just fine ta ,

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Because we had to,we grew shed loads

br jones said:

Because we had to,we grew shed loads

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All the wimmen were a bit slimmer, too.

br jones said:

Because we had to,we grew shed loads

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And we still do ,so we will manage just fine ,some people might starve ,but hey ho

br jones said:

And we still do ,so we will manage just fine ,some people might starve ,but hey ho

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I reckon you can live on food bought very very cheaply in the UK, if you go to the right store you can buy the basics at nearly a ridiculous cost these days. If you can be bothered to cook it properly.

France will not sign up to the European Union’s trade deal with the Mercosur group of South American countries at any cost and it remains to be seen whether Paris will eventually back it, French ministers have stated.

Prominent French Ministers said they will continue to fight against the accord agreed by the EU and the South American countries, which concluded two decades of talks between the blocs. France, the EU’s largest farming power, has regularly expressed concern over the risk of a surge in South American agricultural exports to Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed provisions in the draft accord protecting European geographical origin certification for food products and limiting Mercosur exports of sugar and beef.

However, growing uproar among the country’s agricultural community and lawmakers since the deal was announced has put the government under increasing pressure before the agreement goes to parliament for ratification, according to reports by French-based reporters for news agency Reuters.

“We won’t have an accord at any price. The story isn’t finished,” Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume has told French lawmakers. “We are going to wait see what exactly is in this text but, I would like to tell you that the whole government and I will be vigilant. I will not be the minister who sacrifices French agriculture on the altar of an international agreement.”

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian echoed that view, saying that while the draft trade deal provided opportunities for European exporters, it remained to be seen whether it met France’s demands.

“The red lines we have drawn for the agreement are firm,” he told parliament, adding that it “remained to be seen” whether Paris would support it.

French farmers’ groups are strongly opposed to what they see as lower standards in Mercosur countries, and Guillaume said a ratified deal would notably have to show proper traceability and good livestock practices in the beef sector.

France’s main farmers’ union, the FNSEA, has said that had requested a meeting with Macron and was also planning protests over the EU-Mercosur accord.

Meanwhile, all the main Irish farmer representative bodies have criticised the deal, stating that it threatens to decimate the beef sector, an industry which is already under severe pressure in relation to Brexit impacts.

IFA president, Joe Healy, said: “This deal represents a backroom deal with big business and kowtows to the likes of Mercedes and BMW in their drive to get cars into South America. It is a disgraceful and feeble sell out of a large part of our most valuable beef market to Latin American ranchers and factory farm units.

“Irish and European farmers adhere to the highest standards on traceability, animal welfare, food safety and the environment. Farmers in Brazil do not. Yet our Government and the EU Commission waved the white flag

br jones said:

We managed just fine ta ,

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Really? Are you sure you can manage without importing?

br jones said:

And we still do ,so we will manage just fine ,some people might starve ,but hey ho

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What a great attitude to take, "some may starve as long as it's not me I don't give a fu¢k" I know reading this Forum just how low the UK has gone but I am surprised it has now sunk as low as that, but hey ho I no longer live there.

Maybe that's why we are on the up

br jones said:

Oh feck i remember ,we had a thing called a freezer

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Can you freeze avocados?

Yes

stewart said:

What a great attitude to take, "some may starve as long as it's not me I don't give a fu¢k" I know reading this Forum just how low the UK has gone but I am surprised it has now sunk as low as that, but hey ho I no longer live there.

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Not my fault the world is full of snowflakes,who at the first sign of misfortune ,have to blame someone.get off your arris and sort it .

br jones said:

Not my fault the world is full of snowflakes,who at the first sign of misfortune ,have to blame someone.get of your arris and sort it .

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You should really read what you write.... but it did make me laugh