Call for meat tax to turn people vegan!!!!

[Pilatus]

I see a Professor Sir Ian Boyd is suggesting a meat tax.
He says farming is in its last few decades, as humans must eat food from food factories if the world is to stand a chance of combating climate change.
Article is on page 12 of the Sunday Times (Dec8th)
He is giving a lecture on the subject at the “Royal Society on Thursday”.
This does not bode well for farming.

 

[vantage]

Hmmmmmm!

 

[HarryB97]

Sorting out the uncontrolled increase in the human population would be much more useful!

 

[Ted M]

I wonder how his research has been "funded"

 

[Cowabunga]

I see a Professor Sir Ian Boyd is suggesting a meat tax.
He says farming is in its last few decades, as humans must eat food from food factories if the world is to stand a chance of combating climate change.
Article is on page 12 of the Sunday Times (Dec8th)
He is giving a lecture on the subject at the “Royal Society on Thursday”.
This does not bode well for farming.

Shall I say it? Yes? No?
Might as well...

I told you so!

We are only at the very beginning of a new agricultural revolution. One that will require factories and scientists and robots but very little land.
I'm looking forward very much to what he says if not to the actual future of my industry. Land will be used mostly as a park and for growing starch/grain and some reduced acreage of vegetables I'm afraid, almost totally devoid of ruminants. Guess who will be at the forefront of this eco-rubbish revolution? Why the UK [if it still exists] of course.

 

[Bald Rick]

I see a Professor Sir Ian Boyd is suggesting a meat tax.
He says farming is in its last few decades, as humans must eat food from food factories if the world is to stand a chance of combating climate change.
Article is on page 12 of the Sunday Times (Dec8th)
He is giving a lecture on the subject at the “Royal Society on Thursday”.
This does not bode well for farming.

Here you go ...

Land will need to be managed and people want to see farm animals

 

[Happy]

I wonder how his research has been "funded"

Former chief scientific advisor at Defra.
Most of the current environment good, food production bad government policies coming out will be his.

I believe he is also on record as saying nothing at all wrong with chlorinated chicken and hormone implanted beef.

Very near to being sold down the river time now for UK Ag production

 

[Mr Mackay]

Gordon Bennet

 

[betweenthelines]

So lets get this straight, industrialisation over the last 200 years has created a problem with the climate. To solve that problem we need to stop growing & eating meat like we have done for centuries and produce food in an industrial process?

He also says he has "concerns" about bovine TB (which humans can only be catch from eating untreated infected milk or uncooked beef, btw) this from a scientist advising the Govt on bovine TB policy!

I can remember another eminent scientist, Professor Lacey, saying that before the end of 20th century, millions would die of vCJD caught form infected beef. Wasn't quite as he predicted, was it?

I think the general public is reaching their own conclusions about meat and the environment, and that statements like this only serve to reinforce their opinion that a lot of what is being said is either total rubbish, or driven by another agenda.

 

[M-J-G]

Take a look at the "Making Hay In China" thread, the world isn't really bothered about stopping eating meat, it's just a few rich places that seem to be making a fuss, everyone else seems to be just getting on with producing food.

 

[Suffolk Serf]

As a meat producer, I'm feeling a bit like what it must feel to be the weird kid in the playground, who is firstly turned on by one or two bullies, constantly badgering him. Then one by one, the other children join in, including those that he thought were friends, each taking a turn at hitting him, spitting at him, calling him names, until nearly the whole school is crowded round him, secure in the knowledge that they are part of the pack, acting like the worst of animals.
Eventually, a surge of adrenaline makes the kid hit back, swiping and jabbing, the bullies, cowards that they are abate.
.....And then a teacher comes along and puts the kid in detention for fighting.

 

[Cowabunga]

What the professor misses, probably on purpose, is that the UK has about 15 to 20% less ruminant livestock now than in the 1970's. I published the accurate figures recently but I'm damned if I'm going to look for them again for here.

Also he ignores the fact that almost all the extra population is going to be in Africa with some extra in Asia for a while until Asia, as with the Western World, stabilises. There will be hardly any population growth in developed countries from our current population, only slight migration towards richer countries from poorer ones relatively speaking.

Africa's food will NOT be supplied from Europe. They can't afford it. Not even cheap factory produced protein. They just have not got, and have no prospect of getting the foreign exchange with which to purchase it.

 

[Cowabunga]

Sorting out the uncontrolled increase in the human population would be much more useful!

That would, by definition, require 'controls'. That is unacceptable.
The only thing that really does work is education, the emancipation and empowerment of women, the loosening and weakening of religion, and most importantly lifting people out of poverty. Really poor people have many times more children than relatively richer people.

 

[spin cycle]

i've nothing against taxing stuff based on co2 ....BUT...it has to be even handed.....while back i calculated 50p/kg on my lamb would mean a transatlantic return flight would go up by £1700.....i shared this with the bbc but never got a reply

 

[egbert]

So lets get this straight, industrialisation over the last 200 years has created a problem with the climate. To solve that problem we need to stop growing & eating meat like we have done for centuries and produce food in an industrial process?

He also says he has "concerns" about bovine TB (which humans can only be catch from eating untreated infected milk or uncooked beef, btw) this from a scientist advising the Govt on bovine TB policy!

I can remember another eminent scientist, Professor Lacey, saying that before the end of 20th century, millions would die of vCJD caught form infected beef. Wasn't quite as he predicted, was it?

I think the general public is reaching their own conclusions about meat and the environment, and that statements like this only serve to reinforce their opinion that a lot of what is being said is either total rubbish, or driven by another agenda.

er....we don't produce much food the same way we did 200 years ago though, do we?
Even in Peasantville, I've been trundling about in 4-5 tonnes of Mannheims finest taking bales to cows, burning diesel all the while.

I'm not buying the Professors bollix, but we need to acknowledge our part in the problem.

 

[Pilatus]

I recently read , Cambridge University academics had clocked up thousands of airmiles flying to different parts of the world ,yet they complain that farm animals are polluting the atmosphere ,
I expect many of you will have also seen the above the above mentioned the farming press. It is the hypocrisy ,holier than thow ,attitude that is rife among so much of society that really irritates me.
Another gripe of mine is Vegans clothes and footwear , surely some of it must be made from synthetic materials which in turn come from the petro chemical industry, yet I thought Vegans are against polluting the atmosphere !!!!!!

 

[Tomr10]

We all need to look at the wastes we can remove, biggest waste for me is traffic jams if people have to drive need to minimise the time as much as possible.

Apart from is there really a need to fly In this luxury world we live in. The airline industry is fairly efficient for what it achieves. Airports however a lot of waste.

Will a tax make any difference anybody stopped eating chocolate or fizzy drinks I haven't just pay more for less.

Government needs to introduce more really beneficial measures like the plastic bag fee

 

[deleted user 837354]

Ignore this, the bloke is a complete numpty who doesn't know fudge. I bet he eats bacon for breakfast same as the rest of us.

If you think meat consumption is going to cease on the back of what this muppet says you are hugely wrong- a good portion of the world have never eaten an egg and bacon or drank a gallon of milk because they can't afford it. Good luck telling them they can't have it ever.

 

[betweenthelines]

er....we don't produce much food the same way we did 200 years ago though, do we?
Even in Peasantville, I've been trundling about in 4-5 tonnes of Mannheims finest taking bales to cows, burning diesel all the while.

I'm not buying the Professors bollix, but we need to acknowledge our part in the problem.

The basic production method hasn't changed much-ruminants eating pasture and pasture products. Yes farming now uses more carbon based fuel but at least we use it to improve production. 200 years ago nobody drove a car to work, or flew abroad on holiday, and everyone ate food grown in the same County, let alone the same Country. Think about it.
Lot's of factors in Global Warming, and yes farming is one factor, but certainly not a major one in terms of increase per unit of food produced. In fact, when you think of increases in output per livestock unit or per acre, you might even find farming has reduced it's carbon output per calorie of food produced.

 

[Swarfmonkey]

Ignore this, the bloke is a complete numpty who doesn't know fudge.

He's more than a numpty, he's a flaming hypocrite when it comes to environment. He happens to be a director of Hebridean Trust Limited, and one of it's major revenue streams is holiday lets and group accommodation on the Isle of Tiree. Obviously, in his warped world, eating meat is worse for the environment than burning large quantities of diesel and AVTUR getting tourists to the back end of beyond...