Looming food crisis,what can uk ag industry do?

[Ffermer Bach]

The general population think there is a world of infinite resources out there just for the taking.
Well there isn’t.
They are running out fast.
It’s not even really a case of money.
Its a case of population exceeding the resources available to sustain it.
People take it for granted they can have anything they want.
Nobody really talks about limiting the number of kids they have without getting accused of infringing human rights and nobody tells people straight that we need to reduce waste and over consumption.
So I’m really not that interested in boosting production to maintain the illusion that we can have more and more and more with no consideration whatsoever for the consequences.
If food gets expensive then it’s a good thing in my view. Maybe it will be appreciated and valued more and wasted less. A lot of people in the West are killings themselves by over eating anyway. I welcome high food prices. I am not concerned about them. I’m unlikely to boost production just to devalue what I do produce. I can’t really boost production anyway. If anything I will probably produce less as weather extremes become more common. It’s not like I have production system running at idle just waiting to go throttle is it?

Just as George Eustice seems to think you may have a big pile of FYM too, waiting for you to spread as well, to replace bagged Nitrogen!

 

[DrWazzock]

Just as George Eustice seems to think you may have a big pile of FYM too, waiting for you to spread as well, to replace bagged Nitrogen!

In reality, water shortage and input supply difficulties are already constraining my output but nobody wants to know.
There is absolutely no point in ploughing up more land and spreading expensive inputs more thinly.
The political idea that we can just open up the production throttle sums up the naivety of those who rule us.
The resources just aren’t available. The funding isn’t available. Costs and regulatory obstacles are too great. What don’t they understand about that?

 

[Wolds Beef]

In the last couple of days I have seen a warning about eggs and about tomatoes!! Well the supermarket giants had better dig into there piggy bank because it won't get produced unless there is a margin!! I have 4 pullets laying well and a lot of young tomatoe plants in the greenhouse plus salad leaves, cucumber plants, courgette plants and loads of old mineral(80kg) Tubs, So I will grow a bit of my own!!
WB

 

[DrWazzock]

When I go into the supermarket it’s noticeable that 95% of it is over processed over packaged stuff that nobody really needs. A vast amount of wasted packaging and cost could be eliminated if we really had to do it. Back to veg sold loose., seasonal veg, meat rolled up in paper.
What we have at the moment is an extremely costly luxurious food supply system. Folks don’t know they are born really. We are a million miles away from real food poverty if only they could learn to use a bag of spuds rather than buying everything on plastic trays for 20x the price. I can live quite well on spuds, cabbage, ham and porridge. Don’t even need tea and coffee. Water will do. Can live for very little on all British home produced food.

 

[DrWazzock]

It’s a strange thing. People sneer at things like cabbage and want peppers, aubergines and all that clat. But that exotic stuff needs heat whereas cabbages grow at ambient temperature so are a greener option in my view. Yet all the trendies want exotic food roasted to death with yet more exoensive energy. People really do not think. Go back to what your average Lincolnshire farm worker ate in 1900 and you could feed the nation sustainably for very little. But no, they want peppers and aubergines in December.

 

[Timbo]

Just as George Eustice seems to think you may have a big pile of FYM too, waiting for you to spread as well, to replace bagged Nitrogen!

He needs to watch Harry's latest video for info on how many tonnes of FYM we need if he is not quite sure ...!!!!!!!

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

We will eventually be a society dedicated to pure hedonism as everything will be done for us. Just a shame I will probably be dead or too old to really enjoy it before humanity completely destroys itself in an orgy of excess.

I think we may have passed peak luxury in the last 2 or 3 decades.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Ag inflation according to Anglia Farmers spokesman on radio this morning stated ag input inflation was 26% not the 7% the Gov loves to bandy about

2 different things

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Just as George Eustice seems to think you may have a big pile of FYM too, waiting for you to spread as well, to replace bagged Nitrogen!

It's a question of human belief. Some farmers seem to think that food can only be grown in a limited number of ways and won't entertain the possibility of an alternative.

We're great customers. Everything they want to sell, we buy. How about cutting fertiliser use (no alternative really), producing less and earning a similar amount of money? Bugger the fertiliser sales.

Getting back to the belief thing, we are all conditioned to thinking we can't farm without all these inputs - that's just complete bollards. Nature grows stuff. Of course we do have a rather nasty habit of removing nutrients and not replacing them.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Out of interest, when did the government in World War 2 increase production?
I would assume 1939 they had their mind on other things and would have been to late for that years crop, so probably why we was depending on convoys crossing the Atlantic.
So does anybody have the increase in production figures for 1940 - 1950?

War Agricultural Executive Committee - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[DrWazzock]

It's a question of human belief. Some farmers seem to think that food can only be grown in a limited number of ways and won't entertain the possibility of an alternative.

We're great customers. Everything they want to sell, we buy. How about cutting fertiliser use (no alternative really), producing less and earning a similar amount of money? Bugger the fertiliser sales.

Getting back to the belief thing, we are all conditioned to thinking we can't farm without all these inputs - that's just complete bollards. Nature grows stuff. Of course we do have a rather nasty habit of removing nutrients and not replacing them.

What concerns me about reducing inputs across the whole presently cropped area is wasted potential and overhead per ton grown. It takes as much effort and fuel to grow a ton to the acre without nitrogen as it does to grow 3 ton per acre with nitrogen. Cutting nitrogen rates will increase the carbon foot print and cost of each ton grown as most of the inputs will be unchanged. I suppose reducing cropped area to maintain nitrogen rates would be more operationally efficient but then overheads would be spread across less acres.
The works faced mass starvation around the early 1900’s. The Haber Bosch process saved us. I really can’t see anything replacing it at the moment that will sustain current population levels. By all means we could organic but I reckon we’d need to reduce the population by about 75% first.

 

[DrWazzock]

Like it or not, as farmers we are presently underpinned by manufactured nitrogen fertilisers. Take that away and we are screwed big time, as is the country’s food supply.
Not a lot of people in government seem to appreciate that.

 

[som farmer]

What should we do?

Not a damn thing.

disagree, produce less, prices will rise.
we have been treated like pieces of #####, for years, we have been forced to accept the policy of cheap food, basically at our expense.
So why should we be 'heroes', and 'save' the country, l most certainly don't feel the need.
Might feel different, if food convoys were getting torpedoed, but pretty certain that won't happen.
Even if we stepped up, and produced more food, as soon, or if, the present crisis was solved, it would be a quick return to , pieces of #####.

 

[JP1]

2 different things

Maybe but the 7% is rubbish

My energy bills, a recent timber purchase, even my shopping basket , nothing is 7% up

 

[ste stuart]

disagree, produce less, prices will rise.
we have been treated like pieces of #####, for years, we have been forced to accept the policy of cheap food, basically at our expense.
So why should we be 'heroes', and 'save' the country, l most certainly don't feel the need.
Might feel different, if food convoys were getting torpedoed, but pretty certain that won't happen.
Even if we stepped up, and produced more food, as soon, or if, the present crisis was solved, it would be a quick return to , pieces of #####.

There’s a few saying produce less, and in some ways I agree in principle, but would producing less not just give the powers that be more excuse to import stuff?

 

[DaveGrohl]

Aldi in hot water with mums over £8.49 baby milk formula

"So wrong."

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

What? They’re complaining about a 6.2% increase in price? How is this a news story?

 

[thorpe]

we have washed stockfeed spuds tipped in the yard next to the lane, you would be amazed at the number of people helpin them selves.

 

[JP1]

What? They’re complaining about a 6.2% increase in price? How is this a news story?

Some of the comments are unreal

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

What concerns me about reducing inputs across the whole presently cropped area is wasted potential and overhead per ton grown. It takes as much effort and fuel to grow a ton to the acre without nitrogen as it does to grow 3 ton per acre with nitrogen. Cutting nitrogen rates will increase the carbon foot print and cost of each ton grown as most of the inputs will be unchanged. I suppose reducing cropped area to maintain nitrogen rates would be more operationally efficient but then overheads would be spread across less acres.
The works faced mass starvation around the early 1900’s. The Haber Bosch process saved us. I really can’t see anything replacing it at the moment that will sustain current population levels. By all means we could organic but I reckon we’d need to reduce the population by about 75% first.

Only the haberbosch process is where most of farming's carbon footprint lies.

Agree with the rest, except that soils and biology will fix their own nitrogen if you give them a chance.

 

[DaveGrohl]

disagree, produce less, prices will rise.
we have been treated like pieces of #####, for years, we have been forced to accept the policy of cheap food, basically at our expense.
So why should we be 'heroes', and 'save' the country, l most certainly don't feel the need.
Might feel different, if food convoys were getting torpedoed, but pretty certain that won't happen.
Even if we stepped up, and produced more food, as soon, or if, the present crisis was solved, it would be a quick return to , pieces of #####.

Having read your reply it’s clear that you actually agree with me. So I’m puzzled why you typed disagree.