Future trends

milkloss said:

the last time the NFU were talking that kind of thing the value of commodities fell through the floor. If basic commodities see any increase in value there are many,many thousands of acres of ground around the world that could/would come into production. Our small amount of high quality assured produce isn’t really what the world wants nor can afford.

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M-J-G said:

What do you think is protecting us from all this cheap food being produced and brought to the UK?

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hendrebc said:

I haven't read it all but aren't the national beef association saying there should be some sort of tax on beef finished over 27 months. How fudgeing backwards is that! Cattle finished on grass can easily take that long or more to finish and the ones that do are the ones that are much more likely to be the ones kinder to the planet by sequestering carbon while they graze. Intensive grain fed cattle are the ones are the ones that will be emitting methane that doesn't get absorbed by bugs in the soil and grass and need carbon burning machinery to harvest sndtb bring them their food. If I was a member I wouldn't be renewing my membership over that and I would be telling them why. But I haven't read about it properly just something I saw on twitter so look it up before you quote me on it.

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Cowabunga said:

For the industry it is going to be death by a thousand cuts I'm afraid. Give it ten years and probably most animal production will be commercially unviable given that forecast future trends become only half fulfilled. It only takes a small decrease in underlying demand to make a big difference to commodity prices and profits are only marginal on most farms today.
Yes, the better land may well be converted to arable, but much of the new alternative products are likely to contain very little farm crop. Environmental schemes are likely to be significant income generators for more part time farmers in future.

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milkloss said:

odd question..... food is cheap in the Uk.

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Ffermer Bach said:

am I right in thinking grass fed meat is higher in Omega3 fatty acids (which are really healthy), where as cattle finished on grain are higher in Omega 6 (which is unhealthy), so even if we ignore the soil health argument, grass fed meat is better for us

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Cowabunga said:

There is no Asda store within 50 miles of me. The nearest is Swansea but it is the Merthyr store that delivers into this area. I stopped using them because of too many substitutions and poor quality veg plus dirty baskets. They are now in Covid lockdown.
Asda is in the throws of being taken over by two Indian/British brothers that have come from nowhere in the last ten years. I wonder if this publicity nonsense about a great big push towards expanding vegan is anything to do with that or whether it is part of a rapidly accelerating general trend. I fear it is the latter, considering the Tesco pronouncement only yesterday.

The Ostriches among us will have to acknowledge that this is happening and will continue to accelerate, sooner or later. When it really starts to hit their bottom line, which it will, make no mistake about that, they will have no choice.

In the meantime there are maybe three or four years left to somehow adapt on land that is good for little else other than grass production. What eats grass? What do people and the government want less and less of? Animals that eat grass. Ruminants.

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Cowabunga said:

The first world’s population is actually decreasing and is only because of those already born that the world population will continue to grow for a few decades yet.
The real population growth is going to be in Africa and you and I both cannot possibly grow food that people in that region will be able to afford to afford. They will need to grow their own.
The only possibility for growth in the demand for food in the Western World is if we let millions of African immigrants in to our countries.

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M-J-G said:

Yet you said the world cannot afford our produce.

If UK food is cheap and our produce cannot be afforded by the world, why is anyone buying it?

Why aren't they activating these thousands of unused acres you speak of to produce food cheaper than what we are?

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wanton dwarf said:

Processed food has always turned out to be VERY bad for you.

I have no doubt Vegan processed food will be no different.

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