Is Cowabunga right

AGN76

Member
Location
north Wales
Is @Cowabunga right, are we doomed? Should we sell everything now whilst there's still a market for stock and land?
The writing is indeed on the wall as far as certainly ruminant production on a commercial scale is concerned. I have expressed this opinion for several years now and there is more and more indication that this will come to pass.

It is going to be the next big 'agricultural' revolution, although in this case it will concern the industrialisation on a massive factory scale of animal-like protein food.

This will fundamentally change the appearance and use of massive tracts of land currently only suitable for animal production. Make no mistake, there will be massive knock-on effects on the arable sector as well where massive tonnage of particularly grain, not fit for human consumption, will have no market.

It will also mean the elimination of farming as a means of providing a living in rural areas to be replaced by, what? Basically wilderness over vast areas of currently productive land, with few viable commercial farms left.

It is, I'm afraid, almost inevitable within the next forty to fifty years. Possibly even within the next decade or two. Those of you that are here today and live that long will see immense changes that dwarf anything seen in all of history, certainly in terms of the time period for the change. How this disruption can be managed is anyone's guess, but I suspect it will be rather more serious on a large area social basis than, for instance, the collapse of Thomas Cook, albeit more of a stretched out and painful transition over a short number of years as individual small and medium size businesses, both farmers and ancillary suppliers to the industry either somehow diversify or collapse.
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Probably. UK ag has been on the decline for at least 40 years. We've lost 52% since 1972. I've never seen such a deep rut, 1970's prices, 2020 costs, supermarket monopolies, couldn't give a f**k general public.
We need a really radical change in policy to escape the rut. £50 / acre dole money ain't going to cut it.
 

kill

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South West
One of the most important things agricultural scientist need to be currently investigating is how to get a dairy cow to be able to come into milk without producing a calf in a manner similar to how a goat can milk as a maiden milker without kidding.
Working this out in my opinion will help both the dairy and beef industries thrive in the forth coming years and getting past major bad publicity from vegans.
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
We've been doomed since the mid 70s on a slow inexorable slide. For the majority of the UK the cost of production under the restrictions we operate under cannot be recovered from the UK market. It would be possible under more intensive system but the chattering classes aren't going to allow that. Public ignorance and political expediency are only going to make things worse in the UK.
 

AGN76

Member
Location
north Wales
One of the most important things agricultural scientist need to be currently investigating is how to get a dairy cow to be able to come into milk without producing a calf in a manner similar to how a goat can milk as a maiden milker without kidding.
Working this out in my opinion will help both the dairy and beef industries thrive in the forth coming years and getting past major bad publicity from vegans.
But if we can make everything in a lab, where's the need?
 
One of the most important things agricultural scientist need to be currently investigating is how to get a dairy cow to be able to come into milk without producing a calf in a manner similar to how a goat can milk as a maiden milker without kidding.
Working this out in my opinion will help both the dairy and beef industries thrive in the forth coming years and getting past major bad publicity from vegans.


That will involve the use of hormones and stories about dairy cows being “pumped full of hormones”.
That won’t sound any better to the masses of terminally gullible.
Giving birth to produce milk is the natural way.
 

Treg

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cornwall
We've been doomed since the mid 70s on a slow inexorable slide. For the majority of the UK the cost of production under the restrictions we operate under cannot be recovered from the UK market. It would be possible under more intensive system but the chattering classes aren't going to allow that. Public ignorance and political expediency are only going to make things worse in the UK.
My dad was brought up by his grand parents in the 40s & 50s & there main saying about farming was " it'll never get any better "
Personally I think our generation has lived through the golden age of Agriculture, are we having a blip in fortune's, probably, how long for? Not long , there's a change in the air. (Not Brexit ).
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.2%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.8%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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

  • 1,287
  • 1
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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