Bosis’ leaked food strategy document; worse than half-baked

[Grass And Grain]

Can't see many people going into salad and veg farming. Supermarkets have so much buying power the producers get hammered on price. Relaxing the planning rules won't make much difference imho, although might help for existing producers. I won't be building a greenhouse to grow cucumbers or salads when the Spanish are using dirt cheap Moroccan labour.

 

[Dave645]

Dunno about that but what he’s saying i think is really vegetable farming is a bit of a lottery. I think @Hindsight was talking about potatoes at £90 a tonne and fields of greens being chopped in but they’re talking about a food crisis. Cargills and the other traders aren’t making any money talking a cabbage crisis.

Farmers have won and lost to market volitivity for decades, unlike the retail industry that take our produce, they profit regardless.
we only win in shortages, mean while the system is designed to ensure oversupply.
This cycle only works in retails favour, the current system decoupled production from BPS, which helped, but for how long, the moment governments see spiralling food prices they will try to tip the scales back to over production.

That's why I would like a revamped version of the old marketing boards, over some ham fisted attempt to get farmers to just increase production, without a careful plan.
I would also like for contracts with supermarkets to be far less one sided, where the supermarket can mess the farmer around on price and supply yet take non of the risk or costs it creates.

 

[Lowland1]

Farmers have won and lost to market volitivity for decades, unlike the retail industry that take our produce, they profit regardless.
we only win in shortages, mean while the system is designed to ensure oversupply.
This cycle only works in retails favour, the current system decoupled production from BPS, which helped, but for how long, the moment governments see spiralling food prices they will try to tip the scales back to over production.

That's why I would like a revamped version of the old marketing boards, over some ham fisted attempt to get farmers to just increase production, without a careful plan.
I would also like for contracts with supermarkets to be far less one sided, where the supermarket can mess the farmer around on price and supply yet take non of the risk or costs it creates.

If you were interested in food security I think all that you say makes sense however there are so many other agendas involved in the government's strategy and so many other groups they are looking to keep on side that means those things will never happen.

 

[Dave645]

If you were interested in food security I think all that you say makes sense however there are so many other agendas involved in the government's strategy and so many other groups they are looking to keep on side that means those things will never happen.

In reality, we have seen the EU already move to create oversupply, they allowed farmers to put back into production land set aside.
I am not 100% sure what that was or the effect it had, or will have, but the moment prices jump the governments move to limit the jump by stifling it with increased production.
they are not thinking about the reality of increasing costs of production , so farming is setup to take the fall.

the reality is food and the industries that support that, are the most important system yet we farmers which are key to that seem to get the least respect. Same for our fishing industry.
When we were leaving the EU the fishing industry was by most of the city guys written off as unimportant, yet all food is the most important aspect of our society.

This guy has the right of it, the problem is food security works against farmers because it crushes profits and the majority don’t even blink.
This second video, is more for the comments if you watch it on YouTube. Comments where farmers need to get payed if you want this reality.

This final one is for the reality where big business make all the decisions but the reality is small farmers dominate a lot of food production, and that it’s often done in poverty.

The reality is it’s the small farm that can make changes more simply, as they are not as heavily invested in big is best systems.
The second reality is more money needs to end up in farmers pockets from the crops they grow, or animals they produce. Food security can only come when farmers are profitable, at the moment super markets treat most farmers as expendable, we will just find it somewhere else for less.
@Janet Hughes Defra

 

[betweenthelines]

A "good" diet according to all the pressure groups and the Government would see a reduction in consumption of meat, dairy, imported cereals in any form, so no pasta or cornflakes and a lot less (or lower quality) bread, seasonal veg only (no soft fruit for most of the year) less salt and sugar. Home grown veg would be carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, kale etc-certainly no imported mangoes, avocados, grapefruit etc.

Just as most of the population will not change their lifestyle (travel, holidays central heating etc) due to climate change, they won't change their eating habits either.

For Airports jam packed with tourists desperate to go abroad, read Tesco Checkouts massive queues of people buying bacon, sausages burgers and Dairy ice cream