Looming food crisis,what can uk ag industry do?

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Can you quote anyone as saying those prices are acceptable? Paying an inflated price and being happy about paying it aren’t necessarily the same thing…..
I've only every seen one thread on here moaning about the high price of machinery. Most posts went along the lines of " If you can't afford it.......tough ". " If you need it. you need it ".
Hmmmm.........let's be honest, my old 7810 and Accord drill sows barley just the same as a £120k tractor + £70k drill.
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
with all the electronics in modern tractors, we tend to keep our main tractor, up to date, partly because of the fear, of huge bills, when those electronics go wrong.
There is no doubt, that we could run our farm, with older, pre electronically controlled tractors, the JD 30 range, being long, and 6 cylinder engines, were the best tractors, on our hills, we have ever had, and used a lot less fuel. But not so nice to drive.
 

thesilentone

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cumbria
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?
Right on the money.

For years we have been fighting the fight to reduce food waste and plastic packaging, one very easy solution, give it some value, and reduce volumes.

Food needs to go up by at least 30-50%, if it stopped it going in the bin, no one would be any worse off !!

We are paying the price of an over zealous Supermarket policy of having stacked shelves 24/7.

Our NHS is bursting at the seams treating diet related illnesses brought on by eating too much sxxt !

1.7 Bn of the World Population are overweight

Almost 1.0 Bn are obese

On the other side of the coin, almost 1.0 Bn are under nourished !

Over 25m new mouths to feed this year so far, and it's only April !!

 
and, it is still government policy to reduce food production in the UK. The Welsh Assembly Government are still crowing about taking farm land out of production and planting it with trees. Still top slicing farm subsidies for Glastir, and using Glastir money to subsidise multinational companies to buy farms and plant them with trees. Until the government start to prioritise food production, not our problem.
I got riled up last night when I was looking at the NFU Facebook posts, about British beef which seemed to me to be really limp wristed with banners such as "British beef is the most sustainable in the world" and British beef produces x% less CO2 than other countries." It seemed to me to be playing into the hands of the loons by going along with their agenda.
Sure enough, the vegan contingent soon arrived and plastered the postings with their "studies" and claims of murder, and I found myself in the odd position of trying to defend our corner on behalf of the NFU, when I actually gave up my membership last year. Having posted the original poster, they didn't seem to be offering any defence from the multitude of activists.
It will be interesting to see how the policy changes towards rewilding and so on. Will we be required to produce all the meat we can, or will the powers that be believe the claims of inefficient animal production and follow the vegan agenda?
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Right on the money.

For years we have been fighting the fight to reduce food waste and plastic packaging, one very easy solution, give it some value, and reduce volumes.

Food needs to go up by at least 30-50%, if it stopped it going in the bin, no one would be any worse off !!

We are paying the price of an over zealous Supermarket policy of having stacked shelves 24/7.

Our NHS is bursting at the seams treating diet related illnesses brought on by eating too much sxxt !

1.7 Bn of the World Population are overweight

Almost 1.0 Bn are obese

On the other side of the coin, almost 1.0 Bn are under nourished !

Over 25m new mouths to feed this year so far, and it's only April !!

certain l read somewhere, last yr, or the one before, was the first time deaths out numbered births, presumably in normal conditions, and not war related, or pandemic.
lts quite frightening looking at numbers, WW1 iook 16million out, spanish flu removed upwards of 200 million, Russia lost millions in the 20/30's, WW2, not to sure how many, stalin took out 35 million, with his policies, Phol pot, and a lot more.
Where would we be, if those millions, had survived, and bred, in a big mess, is the probable answer, but wars/disease are natures way, of semi controlling population ?
 

thesilentone

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cumbria
certain l read somewhere, last yr, or the one before, was the first time deaths out numbered births, presumably in normal conditions, and not war related, or pandemic.
lts quite frightening looking at numbers, WW1 iook 16million out, spanish flu removed upwards of 200 million, Russia lost millions in the 20/30's, WW2, not to sure how many, stalin took out 35 million, with his policies, Phol pot, and a lot more.
Where would we be, if those millions, had survived, and bred, in a big mess, is the probable answer, but wars/disease are natures way, of semi controlling population ?
Not according to the meter, the 25m extra this year is a nett figure after deaths are deducted.

The scariest figure is second from the bottom.
 
Not according to the meter, the 25m extra this year is a nett figure after deaths are deducted.

The scariest figure is second from the bottom.
I suddenly thought of General Turgidson in Dr Strangelove:"Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed, but I do say no more than 10 to 20 million killed, tops! Uh, depending on the breaks." :eek:
 

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
I got riled up last night when I was looking at the NFU Facebook posts, about British beef which seemed to me to be really limp wristed with banners such as "British beef is the most sustainable in the world" and British beef produces x% less CO2 than other countries." It seemed to me to be playing into the hands of the loons by going along with their agenda.
Sure enough, the vegan contingent soon arrived and plastered the postings with their "studies" and claims of murder, and I found myself in the odd position of trying to defend our corner on behalf of the NFU, when I actually gave up my membership last year. Having posted the original poster, they didn't seem to be offering any defence from the multitude of activists.
It will be interesting to see how the policy changes towards rewilding and so on. Will we be required to produce all the meat we can, or will the powers that be believe the claims of inefficient animal production and follow the vegan agenda?
Why would you even look at the NFU page? Did you want to be infuriated?
 
With the serious possibility of a world food shortage looming due to Ukraine agriculture being seriously disrupted, what can the uk agriculture industry do to help alleviate the situation in the uk?
Getting very late in the season to rip up thousands of ha’s of ag land that is just growing environmental crops or fallow and plant eg spring wheat but what do other members think.?
I believe back in WW2 farmers were ordered to plough up as much land as possible by the War Ag committee that existed then.
Should the same idea be practiced NOW in these unprecedented times????

We need a world food shortage so I’m doing nothing to help them. Won’t be planting any winter wheat either this year. Make sure you’ve got a veg patch and buy some freezers and fill them with meat. 2023 is going to be interesting to watch.
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
Yeah, I shouldn’t criticise. I do try not to engage with the numpties on there but sometimes I just can’t help myself.
here is something else to get annoyed about!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-61196529

and my comment

Pembrokeshire has about 130 000 Ha of agricultural land, of which 8 500 Ha is woodland and only just under 2 000 Ha of what is left is not grassland. Grassland that is used to produce lamb, beef and milk. Taken from a Pembrokeshire County Council report:-

Agriculture presents a notable opportunity for development of high quality produce and
brands. More could be done to promote the quality of Pembrokeshire’s agricultural
output locally, as well as nationally and internationally.

So...............bearing the above in mind, I wonder why the Council is trying to undermine the only type of farming that is done in the county (apart from a small amount of new potatoes)?
 

wrenbird

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
HR2
A bit off topic, but I have just lately been reading a book on the history of British food and it struck me that more has probably changed in the last 100 years or so, in the production, availability and commercialisation of food in this country than at any other time. This has led, whether deliberately or not, to the rest of society profiting from the disposable income available to spend on things other than food and keeping a roof over your head.
Just a few facts that illustrate what has changed. In 1900, 38% of recruits for the British army were turned away due problems caused by childhood malnutrition, such as stunted growth, heart problems, poor eyesight and hearing etc. Nowadays I imagine recruits are more likely to be obese, a different kind of malnourishment.
Prior to 1914, food expenditure was the largest item in the family budget of the urban poor. Nearly 60% of income went on food, expenditure on meat could be a quarter of weekly income (imagine anyone nowadays spending that on meat!).
Growing children in poor families were almost all malnourished. Rickets and other nutritional deficiencies were very common. In 1913, there were over 140,000 deaths of children under five, almost 28% of all deaths that year. Truly shocking statistic, illustrates how much has changed in the last hundred years or so.
 

Yale

Member
Livestock Farmer
Year's ago a neighbour was going through the ‘Rip off Britain’ costs for basic survival to actually live in a house in the UK.

Since technology and bureaucracy costs on society have increased these costs are clawed back from sectors like food.

Issue now is we have a whole raft of mandatory costs, piped gas and electric, council tax, basic employment taxes, taxes on employers, technology taxes as in you have to have a basic level to access services online, house rents etc. Even the alleged benefits of having a supermarket food delivery network.

It's like society has been invaded by ‘Red Tractor’ and cannot function otherwise because of sleep walking to this situation with a huge amount of unavoidable cost.

Certainly do not help families to put proper food on the table.

Strangely these costs are just accepted but food price increased seem to polarise emotions.
 

J 1177

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Durham, UK
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.
Mmmmm bit of boiled cabbage with melted butter, id have that anyday over a fecking aubergine
 

wrenbird

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
HR2
My Grandad was a farm worker all his life, so never had much in the way of income, but, on thinking about it, he and Gran were pretty much self sufficient and didn’t have the outgoings that are the norm now.
Due to his employers ill health, Grandad was foreman where he worked. He didn’t earn any more money than the other workman, but he had a few acres of his own around the tied cottage they lived in, so they could keep a cow, pigs, a few sheep, poultry, grow a patch of spuds and swedes, besides a big veg garden. The only food they bought was things like tea, sugar, flour etc.
Heating and cooking was provided by a solid fuel Rayburn, they didn’t have electricity until they were moved into a newer farm cottage in the fifties.
Water was a private supply, didn’t have a telephone until the late seventies.
They didn’t have a vehicle until my Dad left school, and they scrimped and saved to buy one so he could get a job in town instead of farm work.
In his later years Grandad could never understand people who said to him “what an idyllic life, growing your own food, being out in the fresh air”.
He used to say there was nothing idyllic about it, just bloody hard work and bad weather.
 

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

  • 1,289
  • 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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