Any Future.

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Better transport has also lead to some nonsensical situations such as British spuds transported to Belgium, made into chips and then transported back.
That simply wouldn’t have been done 50 or more years ago

True but it's not actually that far if the farm was in the south of England.
50+ years ago we often ran short of things.
Many seed spuds are grown up in Scotland and transported down to southern growers.
I remember around 2000 it was to wet for almost everyone in the UK to dig spuds, so some plants were hauling in from northern France. Otherwise the factories would have run short. It's not that far, if you ignore the stretch of water.
Not much different than the North and South Islands of NZ

Efficient transport has led to some silly situations but it has also increased the area people can sell their goods in.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Better transport has also lead to some nonsensical situations such as British spuds transported to Belgium, made into chips and then transported back.
That simply wouldn’t have been done 50 or more years ago

Thats what I’m doing this week. 2 loads a day of containers of frozen chips from Immingham dock to a distribution centre near York. From there they go off to supermarkets round the country. Their chips made from British potatoes, but processed in Belgium.
 
True but it's not actually that far if the farm was in the south of England.
50+ years ago we often ran short of things.
Many seed spuds are grown up in Scotland and transported down to southern growers.
I remember around 2000 it was to wet for almost everyone in the UK to dig spuds, so some plants were hauling in from northern France. Otherwise the factories would have run short. It's not that far, if you ignore the stretch of water.
Not much different than the North and South Islands of NZ

Efficient transport has led to some silly situations but it has also increased the area people can sell their goods in.
I’m sure spuds are travelling from all over the country to Belgium to make these chips even though the only ones I’m aware of travel from Shropshire
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Thats what I’m doing this week. 2 loads a day of containers of frozen chips from Immingham dock to a distribution centre near York. From there they go off to supermarkets round the country. Their chips made from British potatoes, but processed in Belgium.

Who's factory?

I’m sure spuds are travelling from all over the country to Belgium to make these chips even though the only ones I’m aware of travel from Shropshire

Would the growers have a market without them?
Perhaps more processing needed in the UK?

I believe frozen chips from Europe started turning up here recently as there was no market for them closer to home because of Covid.
At the end of the day no journey within the UK is that long and much of Europe is very close by.
 
Yeah.
Lets have all the cows in NZ. With tankers bringing the slurry to the UK to go on the barley stubble, as we will only be growing barley, to produce all of the whisky in the world.
Brilliant.
Eh🤔 Given the "creativity" of some of the political/environmental payment schemes then maybe that could actually be feasible, it would be legit as Trudeau's involvement in the WE charity.....🤔😆😆😆🇨🇦
 

Born lucky

Member
Livestock Farmer
The cash will be aimed at environmental goods, not just propping up agribusinesses like Agrii, Fendt and Vaderstad. Many folk haven't grasped the fact that that they will have to work a lot harder to get it from that different direction. Agricultural production will reduce and certainly de-intensify, or farmed normally on a smaller % of the farm. In my opinion, anyway. What's your view?
Yes. But that's only the thin end of it, have a read through the thread, it is going to do no 'public good' whatsoever, quite the opposite.
Thanks - didn’t realise there was another thread which have now read. Really interesting and thanks for starting and to all those that posted. As many many will know there is lots more information on what the pilots for the sustainable farming incentive bit of ELMS may look like out there now and the chance to express interest in signing up for pilots is now up and running. I say ‘may’ as the current way the scheme is laid out is a ‘first go’ to be shaped and improved not just during the pilots but hopefully ongoing as, love or hate EU exit, this is in our hands now and not set in seven year stone like CAP policy. Will ELMS be perfect? No. Will it be rubbish? Hopefully not. Will it be massively better if farmers sign up for the pilots and help Defra make it as good as possible? Absolutely.
However ELMS ends up it’s unlikely to replace CAP based payments on the bottom line (very unlikely), but hopefully there’ll be things in there to help the bottom line and also help make things better in general (who doesn’t want more wildlife on farm and to think the way they’re farming might be making things better for your children/grandchildren?). It’s already massively hard to keep the cash flowing, deal with the paperwork, markets and weather and still get to see the kids/have some type of life off farm - and that can make finding the time/energy get involved tough, but ELMS has got a potential, and if it does do any good it’ll be farmers, not Government, that make it happen.
Interested to keep hearing what people think on this - I’m not sure if it’s possible to link me up to any other similar threads, but if so that would be great. Thanks all.
 
Who's factory?



Would the growers have a market without them?
Perhaps more processing needed in the UK?

I believe frozen chips from Europe started turning up here recently as there was no market for them closer to home because of Covid.
At the end of the day no journey within the UK is that long and much of Europe is very close by.
Not sure who’s factory, I was told by a potato grower I know reasonably well so don’t doubt the fact one bit.
As far as distance is concerned, maybe I should get out more but I don’t often get as far as the far side of the county, journeys to further reaches of the country seem a bloody long way to me.

Little more than a generation ago the idea of shipping spuds to another country to make chips then fetching them back again would have seemed ridiculous, chips were made by peeling and slicing some spuds at home. Such things are the way of the modern world...........then we winge and moan about carbon emissions and saving the planet
 

delilah

Member
Thanks - didn’t realise there was another thread which have now read. Really interesting and thanks for starting and to all those that posted. As many many will know there is lots more information on what the pilots for the sustainable farming incentive bit of ELMS may look like out there now and the chance to express interest in signing up for pilots is now up and running. I say ‘may’ as the current way the scheme is laid out is a ‘first go’ to be shaped and improved not just during the pilots but hopefully ongoing as, love or hate EU exit, this is in our hands now and not set in seven year stone like CAP policy. Will ELMS be perfect? No. Will it be rubbish? Hopefully not. Will it be massively better if farmers sign up for the pilots and help Defra make it as good as possible? Absolutely.
However ELMS ends up it’s unlikely to replace CAP based payments on the bottom line (very unlikely), but hopefully there’ll be things in there to help the bottom line and also help make things better in general (who doesn’t want more wildlife on farm and to think the way they’re farming might be making things better for your children/grandchildren?). It’s already massively hard to keep the cash flowing, deal with the paperwork, markets and weather and still get to see the kids/have some type of life off farm - and that can make finding the time/energy get involved tough, but ELMS has got a potential, and if it does do any good it’ll be farmers, not Government, that make it happen.
Interested to keep hearing what people think on this - I’m not sure if it’s possible to link me up to any other similar threads, but if so that would be great. Thanks all.

A thoughtful, and thought provoking, post. Am taking it from that, and your avatar, that you have some level of involvement, if so then thank you for engaging on here. Re your last para, I guess best place to start would be put ELMS in the search box, probably keep you busy for a while lol.
 

delilah

Member
Not sure who’s factory, I was told by a potato grower I know reasonably well so don’t doubt the fact one bit.
As far as distance is concerned, maybe I should get out more but I don’t often get as far as the far side of the county, journeys to further reaches of the country seem a bloody long way to me.

Little more than a generation ago the idea of shipping spuds to another country to make chips then fetching them back again would have seemed ridiculous, chips were made by peeling and slicing some spuds at home. Such things are the way of the modern world...........then we winge and moan about carbon emissions and saving the planet

You want to see where all of the environmental issues are in the food chain, come and see me we can spend an hour stood on a bridge over the m20 and count all the food lorries. There is nothing wrong our side of the farm gate.
 
You want to see where all of the environmental issues are in the food chain, come and see me we can spend an hour stood on a bridge over the m20 and count all the food lorries. There is nothing wrong our side of the farm gate.
You often use that quote and I’m sure there’s a bit of poetic licence in it but yes , I’m sure the problems our side of the farm gate pale into insignificance compared to what goes on further down the line yet somehow farming has become an easy target and it’s accepted as fact that we are the bad guys, changing that perception is no easy task
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Not sure who’s factory, I was told by a potato grower I know reasonably well so don’t doubt the fact one bit.
As far as distance is concerned, maybe I should get out more but I don’t often get as far as the far side of the county, journeys to further reaches of the country seem a bloody long way to me.

Little more than a generation ago the idea of shipping spuds to another country to make chips then fetching them back again would have seemed ridiculous, chips were made by peeling and slicing some spuds at home. Such things are the way of the modern world...........then we winge and moan about carbon emissions and saving the planet

I know what you mean, but at least they have another spud buyer.
I suppose the question is, do you build a big modern factory with a low cost per unit of produce and have some transport or a lot of smaller processors in each town.
There's a dairy factory near here that can process over 12 million litres of milk in 24 hours. It takes some feeding. They actually haul milk past another dryer they own if they can run it through one of the more modern driers ( assuming they don't want it for something else) as the newer drier has a lower cost per KG of powder, even after the extra transport.

The local frozen chip factory gets all its spuds from fields up to 130km's away, a lot of the frozen product ends up in Asia.

Everything's complicated.
 
I know what you mean, but at least they have another spud buyer.
I suppose the question is, do you build a big modern factory with a low cost per unit of produce and have some transport or a lot of smaller processors in each town.
There's a dairy factory near here that can process over 12 million litres of milk in 24 hours. It takes some feeding. They actually haul milk past another dryer they own if they can run it through one of the more modern driers ( assuming they don't want it for something else) as the newer drier has a lower cost per KG of powder, even after the extra transport.

The local frozen chip factory gets all its spuds from fields up to 130km's away, a lot of the frozen product ends up in Asia.

Everything's complicated.
Yes, its the modern way, large scale efficiency but it’s not without its faults
 

delilah

Member
changing that perception is no easy task

It would be easier if we didn't continually heap blame and responsibility on ourselves, net zero being a prime example.
Folks on here moan about being accused of causing climate change, yet our own national bodies do exactly the same.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 77 43.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 35.0%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 28 15.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.3%

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

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  • 1
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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