I was talking to a pig farmer yesterday.

[suffolksmallholder]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42353256
Makes an interesting comment.
I was at our Christmas dinner last night, in conversation with a pig farmer who happens to be in a selling group to the majority of these supermarket chains.
Interesting that Tesco still seem to hold their suppliers by the short-&-curlies. I'm at a loss why the farming community has allowed this to happen?
Is it the fact that the average farmer is too indebted that ANY market is a market no matter what or how they are treated?
Isn't it time that British farmers really got together & put things right. Is this a problem greater than most farmers can solve on their own hence the above? I know that @gone up the hill fights this corner.
Note that the British farmer now has the reputation of holding the highest animal welfare status (not contradicted by the BBC in any case) & that's a starting point for negotiations & a massive bonus for public opinion in his/her favour.
I'm still wondering if farmers will ever come to terms with the fact that what they over produce is undersold & they should really cut production. This will then ensure those items such as N & chemicals can be reduced in a relatively short period. The result may be more positive than considered.
Unfortunately the mind-set on this may not allow for deviation & such radical change.
More is certainly not the best way. IMO.
There are social issues which are often derided here but they will have to be addressed. The fact that eating meat is not a seven day thing. Vegetables for five out of seven days are often overlooked in household budgets.
SS

 

[rob1]

Cutting production world wide would help all farmers,not sure how it would be organised and when the MMB was destroyed by the government 30% of dairy farmers sold the long term future of the industry for a few shekels more so dont expect a similar number to cut production if the rest did, too many greedy barstewards in farming to have any hope of it working.

IMVHO there are two ways in future to make money in farming, 1 stay smallish and niche,add value and sell to the end user or 2 be huge and produce commodities at world price,the middle ground is buggered unless all ground is owned and labour is family

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

In a global market, cutting production is often cutting your own neck, unless you produce a niche product.

Any pressure up the chain to retailers and they will just import.

Retailers bank on the fact that somebody somewhere will produce the goods they want at the price they want to pay for them.

Consumers buy on price. Food has been devalued since 1945 and is now taken for granted. Once upon a time, food was the biggest spend of the week. Now sky tv, smartphones, car finance etc etc are all more important to consumers.

In a way, farmers are a victim of their own success (with the help of technology and genetics). As examples, broiler growth rates and wheat yields have poured cheap food up the chain to retailers.

On a darker level, politicians have always had a vested interest in keeping food prices down and boosting disposable incomes.

 

[suffolksmallholder]

From my perspective on imports. My £ is worth considerably less in the Brexit environment. I was always a remoaner. Never a brexiteer for so many reasons. Why do folk think imports in this instance will be cheaper with the £ being level with the euro? Right now this is our disadvantage & IMO will continue to be for quite some time...
SS

 

[Happy]

I did find it rather ironic when someone from the supermarkets was on the radio the other day explaining why the cost of this years Christmas dinner was going to be a lot higher.

All down to a shortage of butter that none of them saw coming apparently
Of course they weren't challenged that perhaps them driving milk producers prices down so far that many quit last year might have something to do with it.

The good news is they've absorbed as much of the price rise as they can themselves for the benefit of shoppers

 

[ollie989898]

Selling or producer groups would be the best thing since sliced bread.

Send a detailed contract in the post, you sign it and you can't sell a bean any longer, you waive the right entirely to market your own product, which is now done on your behalf by a third party. Cost per year is £10. When I have 150 million litres I will invite bids for your milk.

Do the same for pigs and beef.

Boot would be on the other foot then.

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

Not sure if that would be legal?

 

[ollie989898]

Not sure if that would be legal?

Which laws would be contravened?

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Not sure if that would be legal?

Probably just as legal as the supermarkets having a monopoly or industry control.

 

[colhonk]

OOHH if only we had a union for Farmers Nationaly to fight for us.

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

Which laws would be contravened?

I'm no expert, but probably both chapters of the Competition Act 1998.

(That's without considering articles 81 & 82 of the Treaty of Amsterdam)

 

[milkloss]

I first saw that article this morning and it has since changed. There was a line in there that said “food price will always win over welfare”, has anyone else noticed it's disappeared?

 

[Yale]

OOHH if only we had a union for Farmers Nationaly to fight for us.

You have,if you choose not to support and attend meetings to put your views then that’s your choice.

 

[multi power]

OOHH if only we had a union for Farmers Nationaly to fight for us.

We don't need a union, we just need to stick together

 

[JJT]

I first saw that article this morning and it has since changed. There was a line in there that said “food price will always win over welfare”, has anyone else noticed it's disappeared?

"At the end of the day, price of product will always win over welfare."

That line? Was there just now when i read the article.

 

[milkloss]

"At the end of the day, price of product will always win over welfare."

That line? Was there just now when i read the article.

Doh! Ignore me, I’ll just sit quietly in the corner!

 

[Bill the Bass]

Selling or producer groups would be the best thing since sliced bread.

Send a detailed contract in the post, you sign it and you can't sell a bean any longer, you waive the right entirely to market your own product, which is now done on your behalf by a third party. Cost per year is £10. When I have 150 million litres I will invite bids for your milk.

Do the same for pigs and beef.

Boot would be on the other foot then.

When we kept pigs the vast majority of the national kill was sold through a producer group called United Pig Marketing. Didn't make that much difference because the big processors still called the shots, at the time Malton bacon factory.

The only way I could see any power being claimed by producers was to control the processing and there was very little appetite for that from the industry leaders.

 

[franklin]

OOHH if only we had a union for Farmers Nationaly to fight for us.

Some kind of supermarket ombusdman / groceries code adjudicator would be a start...

...oh. :sigh:

 

[unlacedgecko]

The only way I could see any power being claimed by producers was to control the processing and there was very little appetite for that from the industry leaders.

Why?

 

[Jungle Bill]

Selling or producer groups would be the best thing since sliced bread.

Send a detailed contract in the post, you sign it and you can't sell a bean any longer, you waive the right entirely to market your own product, which is now done on your behalf by a third party. Cost per year is £10. When I have 150 million litres I will invite bids for your milk.

Do the same for pigs and beef.

Boot would be on the other foot then.

This is almost what the fruit and veg Producer Organisations do through the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Scheme, one of the better EU schemes. It has had its problems here as in many countries, now working reasonably well, from what I hear better for fruit than veg in the UK. The Producer Organisation model is the basis for the thinking behind much of the new CAP which looks like improving the trading situation for EU farmers in the way you suggest, but will create a difficult situation for UK farmers, their customers and consumers.