How things have changed and continue to do so...

[Cowabunga]

The most ironic thing I take from this video that points out that 35,000 farmers and workers were lost from the land every year from the War to the late 1960's and how land was also lost to development. Then they cut to the factory and boast on its output and exports. Where is it now? It's another blooming housing estate.

The narrator is apparently Michael Aspel who is a well known television presenter of 'This is Your Life', now an unbelievable 86 years of age apparently. Where have the years gone, so very quickly?

 

[Brisel]

Change is inevitable and continuous. That film just shows that today's rural problems were yesterday's too.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Its continuously adapting to that change that is the challenge.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Change is inevitable and continuous. That film just shows that today's rural problems were yesterday's too.

Indeed but it's the pace of change that has altered.
With the digital age the door has been opened to much more rapid change. Agriculture, being a primary industry is perhaps not at the forefront of this, but is definitely affected. GPS and autonomous systems are perhaps the obvious representations of this, but it will affect us across the industry.
Problem is man in his wisdom thinks he can solve every problem with technology. But often it just creates more problems. Sometimes it's good to look at nature, or our forefathers, and see what we've forgotten.

 

[DrWazzock]

Who are the winners though? We are still here on 200 acres.
My contemporaries have either left the land altogether or are driving quad tracks for days at a time when its busy then told to clear off for a few months. Some went down the professional route, but always end up entirely under the thumb of global capitalism, nailed down into the coffin of a respectable job as George Orwell maybe once said.

Mr Big has always dangled the "progress" carrot but when those displaced end up in rented accommodation on glorified council estates on zero hours contracts then where is the progress?

There isn't any in my view. The people who call the shots are just turning the UK into the colonialist system they got away with for so many years abroad during empire days. Driving many to serfdom, doing away with the smaller business man and private ownership,

It's evil in my view.

But in many ways we only have our short term greed to blame.

No. I won't be tempted by "progress" thanks. I will stick with being satisfied with mediocrity and a bit of control over my own life.

 

[fgc325j]

Change is inevitable and continuous. That film just shows that today's rural problems were yesterday's too.

Yes - the only guarantee that one generation can give to the next is that things will be
different for you, that it is for us.
However, reading the thread, "family farms- how do you cope",
then some things don't change. I'd say that it is rare for a farm succession to occur smoothly.

 

[Hindsight]

Who are the winners though? We are still here on 200 acres.
My contemporaries have either left the land altogether or are driving quad tracks for days at a time when its busy then told to clear off for a few months. Some went down the professional route, but always end up entirely under the thumb of global capitalism, nailed down into the coffin of a respectable job as George Orwell maybe once said.

Mr Big has always dangled the "progress" carrot but when those displaced end up in rented accommodation on glorified council estates on zero hours contracts then where is the progress?

There isn't any in my view. The people who call the shots are just turning the UK into the colonialist system they got away with for so many years abroad during empire days. Driving many to serfdom, doing away with the smaller business man and private ownership,

It's evil in my view.

But in many ways we only have our short term greed to blame.

No. I won't be tempted by "progress" thanks. I will stick with being satisfied with mediocrity and a bit of control over my own life.

You ought to stand as an MP for the UKIP and Socialist Workers combined Party. You have just written your manifesto. I jest.

 

[Farmer Roy]

Who are the winners though? We are still here on 200 acres.
My contemporaries have either left the land altogether or are driving quad tracks for days at a time when its busy then told to clear off for a few months. Some went down the professional route, but always end up entirely under the thumb of global capitalism, nailed down into the coffin of a respectable job as George Orwell maybe once said.

Mr Big has always dangled the "progress" carrot but when those displaced end up in rented accommodation on glorified council estates on zero hours contracts then where is the progress?

There isn't any in my view. The people who call the shots are just turning the UK into the colonialist system they got away with for so many years abroad during empire days. Driving many to serfdom, doing away with the smaller business man and private ownership,

It's evil in my view.

But in many ways we only have our short term greed to blame.

No. I won't be tempted by "progress" thanks. I will stick with being satisfied with mediocrity and a bit of control over my own life.

I was just listening to a story about the East India Company & the massive control they had during the days of “Empire” . . .

 

[David.]

Who are the winners though? We are still here on 200 acres.
My contemporaries have either left the land altogether or are driving quad tracks for days at a time when its busy then told to clear off for a few months. Some went down the professional route, but always end up entirely under the thumb of global capitalism, nailed down into the coffin of a respectable job as George Orwell maybe once said.

Mr Big has always dangled the "progress" carrot but when those displaced end up in rented accommodation on glorified council estates on zero hours contracts then where is the progress?

There isn't any in my view. The people who call the shots are just turning the UK into the colonialist system they got away with for so many years abroad during empire days. Driving many to serfdom, doing away with the smaller business man and private ownership,

It's evil in my view.

But in many ways we only have our short term greed to blame.

No. I won't be tempted by "progress" thanks. I will stick with being satisfied with mediocrity and a bit of control over my own life.

This^
I have long thought that when it was no longer PC to gallivant about abroad, claiming lands and minerals for The Crown, the institutions dug in at home and reverted to mining the citizens instead.

 

[7610 super q]

Yeah....progress. Take Milford Haven. A once thriving fishing industry, with many businesses supporting that industry. Well and truly f**ked off by the mid 80's, unless you count the Spanish trawler bought with EU funds, and maned by token locals......
Never mind, the oil industry was going to be the great saviour.... hmmmm..... that lasted 40 years.
So now it's a ghost town.
Should have just supported the ag and fishing industries. 4000 years can't be wrong.
Never mind, folks that know f**k all, know best.
As an aside, which is best for the local economy, one 2000 cow herd employing 2 Polish staff, or 70 small family farms with 30 cow herds ?

 

[Still Farming]

Onwards and upwards.
Horse and cart to Concorde in less than a generation.
Will there be a bigger leap in this Generation?

 

[Brisel]

Indeed but it's the pace of change that has altered.
With the digital age the door has been opened to much more rapid change. Agriculture, being a primary industry is perhaps not at the forefront of this, but is definitely affected. GPS and autonomous systems are perhaps the obvious representations of this, but it will affect us across the industry.
Problem is man in his wisdom thinks he can solve every problem with technology. But often it just creates more problems. Sometimes it's good to look at nature, or our forefathers, and see what we've forgotten.

Very much this

The problem with technology is that the makers of it are also looking for a profit margin out of us. We've become dependent on technology and the latest tool to give us a marginal yet temporary competitive edge over our competitors. During the time of this film, we were encouraged to use knowledge to improve food production. Somewhat ironic that the film decries the demise of farm labour is sponsored by a maker of the very tools that reduce farm labour requirement! This film was made long before we had much to do with the EEC and the Common Agricultural Policy - you can't blame Europe for the drain of labour away from the land, though farm subsidies did speed up that movement.

 

[Cowabunga]

Onwards and upwards.
Horse and cart to Concorde in less than a generation.
Will there be a bigger leap in this Generation?

I believe we are at the beginning of another revolution. The change from field food production based on animals for protein to an overwhelming dominance of factory produced protein, certainly in the developed countries.
This will mean that farmers will have their margins squeezed as never before and an even faster migration from the land, at least as far as employment goes. It is almost inevitable. Further increases in efficiency and scale will not mitigate against this new tsunami we face, at least not on a decade time scale.

For those that were not born in or didn't experience the 1960's and 70's, you missed the peak of agricultural prosperity, increased efficiency and expansion. Note the emphasis given in the video on 'balance of payments', our contribution to the economy and for feeding the nation, which had only emerged from rationing a short period before, in the very late 1950's. Farmers were viewed as being 'important' and some older farmers think they still are today. Yet even as production doubled per acre and doubled again, productivity raced ahead from increased mechanisation despite losing around 35,000 workers per year for many decades in succession. Keeping ahead of the game was the recipe for business success rather than stagnation and failure, much as it is today.

 

[Henarar]

Keep running fast and you may just stand still if your lucky

 

[Still Farming]

Keep running fast and you may just stand still if your lucky

Or let someone else run around?

 

[Henarar]

Or let someone else run around?

yep sounds good

 

[stroller]

All this progress and the never ending pursuit of growth, then we wonder why there is climate change.

 

[thesilentone]

Interesting debate, I have attended several symposiums over the years, some looking at where will be in 25/50/100 years time and what we will be doing.

All had a massive input from technology, which during the 90's and 00's went vertical in growth. All providing more and more information that allows for a more finite way of Managing. With the exception of field mapping and GPS not many have really revolutionised agriculture.

Robotic milking and, optical food sorting etc has had a huge impact, but the basics never change.

Farming works hand in hand with nature, and until they have technology that changes the weather, we still need experienced farmers. But, never say never...

 

[essexpete]

Onwards and upwards.
Horse and cart to Concorde in less than a generation.
Will there be a bigger leap in this Generation?

Into what medium I wonder?

 

[DrWazzock]

I believe we are at the beginning of another revolution. The change from field food production based on animals for protein to an overwhelming dominance of factory produced protein, certainly in the developed countries.
This will mean that farmers will have their margins squeezed as never before and an even faster migration from the land, at least as far as employment goes. It is almost inevitable. Further increases in efficiency and scale will not mitigate against this new tsunami we face, at least not on a decade time scale.

For those that were not born in or didn't experience the 1960's and 70's, you missed the peak of agricultural prosperity, increased efficiency and expansion. Note the emphasis given in the video on 'balance of payments', our contribution to the economy and for feeding the nation, which had only emerged from rationing a short period before, in the very late 1950's. Farmers were viewed as being 'important' and some older farmers think they still are today. Yet even as production doubled per acre and doubled again, productivity raced ahead from increased mechanisation despite losing around 35,000 workers per year for many decades in succession. Keeping ahead of the game was the recipe for business success rather than stagnation and failure, much as it is today.

Is it stagnation and failure to keep two families on 200 acres? I wouldn't say we have shunned technology. We make cost effective use of machinery and equipment proportionate to the scale we have here. Yes, one of us could leave the business. The remaining partner would struggle to do the work with the low cost machinery we have today. Maybe just about about possible but a lonely life, where a period off sick would just about bust you. We just can't justify or afford to scale up the machinery. We leave that to neighbour's who have bust themselves trying in the dog eat dog world of FBT bidding wars. We don't actually work that hard. We don't really need to because our needs are modest.

It comes down to what people want from life. If you want skiing holidays, Range Rovers and such like then go for "progress" and you might be lucky or you might (more likely statistically) end up as the grist in somebody else's mill.

It's easy to talk as a survivor of progress about wonderful it is, but there are many more people who have been swept away by it who are now lucky to own anything after years of hard graft. Maybe that's how people like it. They are the vast majority. The wealth is in the hands of fewer and fewer now.

I don't understand the system as it is. I am happy to let it pass me by and for others to get on with it. Maybe it's lack of religious belief. Don't know. Can't explain it. Baffles me.