Interesting article about wheat prices.

Food prices are low compared to when I grew up.

The difference today is the vast amount of money required to buy or rent a home.

Food is going to rise because fertiliser is far too expensive and most countries are reducing production because of "Green Policy" - Sri Lanka went 100% Organic and has gone totally tits up. It will be interesting to see IF the truth is reported - I doubt it.
I can't see house prices coming down when brick layers, plasterers, tilers, roofers, carpet fitters etc are acheiving £25 per hour plus.

Sri Lanka was not organic because they enjoyed watching the "Good life", they simply could not afford any fertiliser.
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
I can't see house prices coming down when brick layers, plasterers, tilers, roofers, carpet fitters etc are acheiving £25 per hour plus.

Sri Lanka was not organic because they enjoyed watching the "Good life", they simply could not afford any fertiliser.
Rubbish
The sri lankan govt imposed organic farming two yrs ago and banned fert and chem
Now they are fudged
 

Pan mixer

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Near Colchester
Rubbish
The sri lankan govt imposed organic farming two yrs ago and banned fert and chem
Now they are fudged
The Government there had won power by pledging that they would go organic by 2028.

They used to subsidise the fertiliser for their farmers but, with the cost of the pandemic, decided that they could cut down on borrowing by ending the fert subsidy and going organic earlier.

Shot theirselves in the foot big-style though, rioting, having to buy in staple food which they used to produce themselves and that at inflated prices. Also having to subsidise fertiliser even more to get the country back on it's feet.

Couldn't happen here though could it?
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
his article could be 100% correct, but its totally irrelevant, the price is controlled by those traders, sat behind desks in Chicago, USA. And it would take a nuclear explosion to stop them 'trading' commodities, but they sell, and others buy, so demand is there.
Global food stocks, are low, so unless guvs restrict exports, India etc, product will go, to the highest bidder, that is economics, supply v demand, the richer buyers get it, the poorer ones starve, as unfortunately, has always been the case.

Ukraine, and Russia, supply huge amounts of product, to the world, Russian product will go to the few countries that remain 'friendly' with them. Ukraine is different, that is taking a big chunk, off the market, this year, and probably next, or more. That product has to be replaced, to prevent starvation, in poorer countries. From where ? there are no global stock piles, to cope with that, let alone a weather disaster somewhere, as well.

So, to return to his 'logic', farmers are facing rapidly rising input costs, you can argue the reasons, for that, mainly fuel/fert related, again its irrelevant, its the current mkt price, even if it is manipulated by b#######d commodity traders, to produce, we have to buy, we cannot produce at a loss, though many expect us to, so production goes down, and price goes up. Its not fair, neither is life, the divide between rich and poor, is increasing, how to stop that, is communism in its primary form, and still doesn't make all equal.

Even if you got rid of those parasitic traders, who would set a price ? Because some one would have to, swapping goods with your neighbour, doesn't set a global trading price.

Economics are so simple, its supply versus demand, until politicians #### it up, by interfering, and it looks increasingly like they are going to interfere, which will be popular, and probably needed. The question is, how do they get out, of their 'interfering'. For certain, they haven't got a clue. So perhaps those parasites perform the function, better than politicians.
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
This is why we had the CAP with intervention storage until 1990 to even out price spikes and keeep farmers growing
political interference, set a side, quotas etc, did they work, long term ? Not really, created a false market, and produced a nightmare of paperwork. Classic case of politicians, trying to be helpful, and failing.
And look at what happens, when they try to unravel the false market, they created, another good mess.
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
political interference, set a side, quotas etc, did they work, long term ? Not really, created a false market, and produced a nightmare of paperwork. Classic case of politicians, trying to be helpful, and failing.
And look at what happens, when they try to unravel the false market, they created, another good mess.
Intervention storage certainly worked, i bet the eu wish we still had it.
Its far cheaper than repelling waves of starving migrants from africa
 

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
Rubbish
The sri lankan govt imposed organic farming two yrs ago and banned fert and chem
Now they are fudged
Article in this week's Money Week. Lot more to their crisis than just fert.
 

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som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Intervention storage certainly worked, i bet the eu wish we still had it.
Its far cheaper than repelling waves of starving migrants from africa
it stopped the bottom falling out of the mkt, but stopped the price rising, when released.
success, doubt it, it created an artificial mkt. Where did the surpluses go ? foreign aid, export, fraud etc. If the mkt had been left, to find its own level, as NZ, we would have a leaner, meaner industry now. The SFP, is absorbed by processors, and retailers, they simply include it, in the price they pay, to us.
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
it stopped the bottom falling out of the mkt, but stopped the price rising, when released.
success, doubt it, it created an artificial mkt. Where did the surpluses go ? foreign aid, export, fraud etc. If the mkt had been left, to find its own level, as NZ, we would have a leaner, meaner industry now. The SFP, is absorbed by processors, and retailers, they simply include it, in the price they pay, to us.
If the market had been left to find its own level nz style, there would be no grain grown in the uk, and starvation would now be looming
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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