EFRA committee on food security hearing

[jonnieboy]

Listened to this earlier Personally I thought all 3 spoke well especially the forum favourite Minette
ELMS was mentioned and they all agreed it needed to be financially viable for increased uptake
Food production needs to be financially viable for all involved was the message they put across

 

[DaveGrohl]

Bizarre they have to say that out loud.

 

[J 1177]

Will anything happen tho, will it influence policy or is it another talking shop?

 

[Huno]

Of course nothing will happen... EFRA = DEFRA they buy each other drinks at the bar after these inquiries... Democratic joke as a process

 

[CornishTone]

Bizarre they have to say that out loud.

It’s only said out loud if someone’s listening! It’s that whole tree falling in a forest thing…

 

[delilah]

Food security ? Environmental protection ? Just give it all to PP .

 

[steveR]

Food security ? Environmental protection ? Just give it all to PP .

Yep... eat grass fed red meat. Problem solved.

 

[delilah]

Yep... eat grass fed red meat. Problem solved.

Buy straw and grain off the arable farmer. Two problems solved.

 

[Old apprentice]

They could not be bothered to say farmers are getting screwed from every angle less money to invest and less to spend on attracting good people into agriculture production is going to drop and the sfi, is inevitabley going to cut production . Politicians also like to listen to w e f,

 

[Grass And Grain]

Generally quite good answers by the three speakers. Well done Ed, Minette and Will.

Maybe should have pushed more about poor payment rates of SFI. They did basically say that, but really ought to have used slightly stronger language. It's not that payment rates are slightly on the low side.....they are woefully wrong. We're not talking 10%, 20% type figures.....no, we're talking about 300+%.

Also more should have been made of inflexibility of SFI. Minette did touch on it. ELS was a success, and that had a whole lot of options to choose from. All good options providing benefits to wildlife, soil etc, but every farm is different, so what suits one farm might not suit another.

Also, having to pass Introductory ambition level before being allowed to go for intermediate ambition level etc is a problem.

SFI needs.....

1. 300% higher payment rates
2. More options to pick from
3. Scrap having to do tier 1, before can do tier 2
4. Acknowledge grass just being grass, has a good OM and nutrient holding capacity
5. Acknowledge a base payment for simple cross compliance rules, just like BPS. The public good is trying to maintain some self sufficiency in food production, and helping UK farmers compete with EU farmers who get BPS equivalent. Also to sustain rural communities and family farms (unless HM Gov wants industrialisation of our countryside. A mosaic of smaller farms is no bad thing. Each village can stand having a 200 sow unit in their parish, no-one want to live next door to a 2,000 sow unit (last sentence is my personal view, and might be a bit controversial!!!).

Edit. Make it more like BPS + ELS.

 

[Huno]

Did anyone mention double funding rules? Unlikely!!

 

[delilah]

(The numbers don't matter)....
Let's say you are an all livestock farm with 40 suckler cows and 200 ewes.
You claim £10k/yr BPS, of which you spend £8k on straw and feed.
That money goes, what are you going to do ?
Get rid of the cows and run the sheep more extensively. Rent the best field out to be ploughed up.
No purchased straw, £1k/yr on sheep feed.
Food security falls. Biodiversity falls. Carbon storage falls. Arable income falls.
If Govt wants ELMS to meet its environmental objectives and simultaneously ensure food security, then it must give the bulk of the money to PP.
I don't understand why it is even up for discussion.

 

[Huno]

(The numbers don't matter)....
Let's say you are an all livestock farm with 40 suckler cows and 200 ewes.
You claim £10k/yr BPS, of which you spend £8k on straw and feed.
That money goes, what are you going to do ?
Get rid of the cows and run the sheep more extensively. Rent the best field out to be ploughed up.
No purchased straw, £1k/yr on sheep feed.
Food security falls. Biodiversity falls. Carbon storage falls. Arable income falls.
If Govt wants ELMS to meet its environmental objectives and simultaneously ensure food security, then it must give the bulk of the money to PP.
I don't understand why it is even up for discussion.

Great idea but according to the defra accounts 21/22 there will be no money for any land use if they are to be believed including PP

 

[spin cycle]

).
Edit. Make it more like BPS + ELS.

ukups policy at 2019 election

 

[J 1177]

(The numbers don't matter)....
Let's say you are an all livestock farm with 40 suckler cows and 200 ewes.
You claim £10k/yr BPS, of which you spend £8k on straw and feed.
That money goes, what are you going to do ?
Get rid of the cows and run the sheep more extensively. Rent the best field out to be ploughed up.
No purchased straw, £1k/yr on sheep feed.
Food security falls. Biodiversity falls. Carbon storage falls. Arable income falls.
If Govt wants ELMS to meet its environmental objectives and simultaneously ensure food security, then it must give the bulk of the money to PP.
I don't understand why it is even up for discussion.

Because they are obsessed about trees to capture carbon, they dont seem to want agnowlage pp is a huge carbon sink.

 

[Grass And Grain]

Did anyone mention double funding rules? Unlikely!!

Don't think they did.
The double funding rules are silly.

ukups policy at 2019 election

Typo? UKIP?

 

[spin cycle]

Don't think they did.
The double funding rules are silly.

Typo? UKIP?

yep

 

[Grass And Grain]

Don't think they did.
The double funding rules are silly.

Typo? UKIP?

Problem is, if rest of Europe is subsidised, but we aren't, we've a competitiveness issue.

Have some LNR (CS replacement), then spend some on processor specific co-ops. Up to farmer if they join. E.g. ONE single one for ABP suppliers, ONE single one for Dunbai suppliers, ONE single one for McCain chips suppliers, etc.

 

[Grass And Grain]

yep

What did you think. Sensible or not?

 

[spin cycle]

What did you think. Sensible or not?

IIRC the exact policy was £80/ac with all land claimed subject to els scheme and capped at £150K

made sense to me....simple and delivered for food and environment IMO

modulation bit open for debate I guess