Looming food crisis,what can uk ag industry do?

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
With the serious possibility of a world food shortage looming due to Ukraine agriculture being seriously disrupted, what can the uk agriculture industry do to help alleviate the situation in the uk?
Getting very late in the season to rip up thousands of ha’s of ag land that is just growing environmental crops or fallow and plant eg spring wheat but what do other members think.?
I believe back in WW2 farmers were ordered to plough up as much land as possible by the War Ag committee that existed then.
Should the same idea be practiced NOW in these unprecedented times????
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
The way Governments have and continue to treat us, I won’t rush to help them do what should be their job for them.
Let them eat cake!

We can only deal with known knowns and with the prices of seeds and fertiliser as they are, not take speculative risks.

The market will decide what will happen and only then can we truly make accurate decisions as to the way forward we should go, what and how much we should grow.

Inflation has hit 7% mostly on the back of fuel prices. Yes there is food inflation, but it always takes a year for the reality of real food shortages for it to truly take effect. IMO, inflation could well be 14% this time next year, mostly on the back of food. About f’ing time too!
 

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
I have 30ha of land waiting to be drilled with BB mix in the next week Am I going to bother contacting the powers that be to get a derogation for 12 months, and then try and source seed and fert and agrochems.....?

Nope, not a chance. After all, our wonderful Govt do not think that there is any problem, and who am I to doubt them....
;)
I understand what you say, if government want increased production in this looming food shortage, they should be taking the lead.
Sadly with the time it takes Government departments to act on top of that the farming seasons roll on, it will be too late to do owt to help the situation.Meanwhile come next winter /spring the media may be saying “Uk farmers making a fortune meanwhile food is short”.
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
Well, the Welsh Assembly Government are just in the process of making the whole of Wales a Nitrogen Vulnerable Zone, and using Glastir money (which is top sliced from the farm subsidy) to pay for tree planting (where hedge funds are buying Welsh farmland and "carbon offsetting"). Not to mention, doing nothing to stop Bovine TB or controlling Badgers.

I think there are enough things for Government to do, to alleviate any upcoming food shortages, before we need to think of anything.

I know what we can all do to increase production, maybe drain wet fields, lets see how has government policy helped with that. Yes. Made quarries run on white diesel, so doubling the cost of drainage stone!

My advice if you are worried about food shortages, is get a veg patch.
 
Location
southwest
With the serious possibility of a world food shortage looming due to Ukraine agriculture being seriously disrupted, what can the uk agriculture industry do to help alleviate the situation in the uk?
Getting very late in the season to rip up thousands of ha’s of ag land that is just growing environmental crops or fallow and plant eg spring wheat but what do other members think.?
I believe back in WW2 farmers were ordered to plough up as much land as possible by the War Ag committee that existed then.
Should the same idea be practiced NOW in these unprecedented times????

Farmers should farm their land to ensure they make a living, sometimes this includes benefiting from Govt grants and subsidies.

If the Govt wants farmers to grow more food then the Govt needs to change the current rules.


Do you think Tesco etc are going to reduce prices and profit margins voluntarily because most households are being hit by rising fuel costs and inflation?
 

Pan mixer

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Near Colchester
It took some time for War-Ag to become effective after it became clear that the nations' tummy was rumbling.

This was in the face of a 'clear and present danger' as modern parlance would have it.

Given that the machinery of Government hasn't changed its' spots at all in the last century I predict that it will take a while for the Whitehall people to see the approaching crisis.

Another couple of years before they wake up and by then it could all be over........
 

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
Farmers should farm their land to ensure they make a living, sometimes this includes benefiting from Govt grants and subsidies.

If the Govt wants farmers to grow more food then the Govt needs to change the current rules.


Do you think Tesco etc are going to reduce prices and profit margins voluntarily because most households are being hit by rising fuel costs and inflation?
I certainly agree if the system is wrong ,poorly thought threw , it’s definitely not the farmers problem, that’s the problem of the government advisors , it would be interesting what @Janet Hughes Defra and her colleagues think about the situation.
That I doubt we will ever know.
 

Top Tip.

Member
Location
highland
The way Governments have and continue to treat us, I won’t rush to help them do what should be their job for them.
Let them eat cake!

We can only deal with known knowns and with the prices of seeds and fertiliser as they are, not take speculative risks.

The market will decide what will happen and only then can we truly make accurate decisions as to the way forward we should go, what and how much we should grow.

Inflation has hit 7% mostly on the back of fuel prices. Yes there is food inflation, but it always takes a year for the reality of real food shortages for it to truly take effect. IMO, inflation could well be 14% this time next year, mostly on the back of food. About f’ing time too!
I read the other night that producer price inflation which I take will be the cost of product going into manufacturing has hit 19.2% which from where I’m sitting would be closer to the mark . The article also said that this was an indicator for where the rpi was headed.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
With the serious possibility of a world food shortage looming due to Ukraine agriculture being seriously disrupted, what can the uk agriculture industry do to help alleviate the situation in the uk?
Getting very late in the season to rip up thousands of ha’s of ag land that is just growing environmental crops or fallow and plant eg spring wheat but what do other members think.?
I believe back in WW2 farmers were ordered to plough up as much land as possible by the War Ag committee that existed then.
Should the same idea be practiced NOW in these unprecedented times????
I wonder what the Saintly Minette is doing with her farming, after urging us to increase production....

I'll tell the ewes to lie back, produce more lambs, and "think of England"!
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
I certainly agree if the system is wrong ,poorly thought threw , it’s definitely not the farmers problem, that’s the problem of the government advisors , it would be interesting what @Janet Hughes Defra and her colleagues think about the situation.
That I doubt we will ever know.
This is exactly why I am taking a fairly relaxed view on the LR, LNR and SFI that @Janet Hughes Defra is talking about. We have at last had confirmation that our CS MTS has been agreed. But with the rates Janet is talking about at the moment and by the time ELMs proper kicks in by 2024 (allegedly!), it won’t be worth the bother thanks to farm gate price inflation. I can well see us wanting to end or seriously amend out MTS in 2024.

Why stress ourselves with regards ELMs when by the time we get there it is unlikely to be in operation and highly irrelevant?
By the time we get there, there may well be a massive turn round by a Government desperately trying to get votes by trying to make food more affordable to the voters
I just hope the voters don’t forget the utterly ridiculous policy and direction we have and continue to be heading towards right now!

Basically, The Government has treated very badly and abused us.
It continues to do so.
I hope they don’t expect any favours in return.
 
Last edited:

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
Farmers should farm their land to ensure they make a living, sometimes this includes benefiting from Govt grants and subsidies.

If the Govt wants farmers to grow more food then the Govt needs to change the current rules.


Do you think Tesco etc are going to reduce prices and profit margins voluntarily because most households are being hit by rising fuel costs and inflation?
I see Tesco had doubled their profit last year!!!
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Why stress ourselves with regards ELMs when by the time we get there it is unlikely to be in operation and highly irrelevant?
By the time we get there, there may well be a massive turn round by a Government desperately trying to get votes by trying to make food more affordable to the voters
I just hope the voters don’t forget the utterly ridiculous policy and direction we have and continue to be heading towards right now!

Basically, The Government has treated very badly and abused us.
It continues to do so. I hope they don’t expect any favours in return.
I suspect the vast majority of votes are in total ignorance of the situation... After all, food comes from Supermarkets...
 

digger64

Member
The way Governments have and continue to treat us, I won’t rush to help them do what should be their job for them.
Let them eat cake!

We can only deal with known knowns and with the prices of seeds and fertiliser as they are, not take speculative risks.

The market will decide what will happen and only then can we truly make accurate decisions as to the way forward we should go, what and how much we should grow.

Inflation has hit 7% mostly on the back of fuel prices. Yes there is food inflation, but it always takes a year for the reality of real food shortages for it to truly take effect. IMO, inflation could well be 14% this time next year, mostly on the back of food. About f’ing time too!
this is fair comment but ,how will we deal with desperate people who will just take it ?
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 5 2.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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