Mono-culture and food supply

[onesiedale]

For some time now mono-culture has been looked upon as a bad agricultural practice. Whilst we all agree with the practical benefits it gives regarding production operations, I think the vast majority of us have seen unintended consequences.
To that end the industry has been actively seeking to introduce diversity both in crops and livestock - and seeing things improve.

Where then is the diversity going to come from in the food supply chain?
The supermarkets are suddenly national heroes, ensuring that the nation's nutrition is there. They are the ones 'in talks' with government to ensure the country gets fed.
It's surely this supermarket monoculture that has given us the supply chain with nearly 90% of the nations food in the hands of just 8 retailers.
How is the country going to best make the transition back to a more diverse food chain?
In rural situations this may not seem too bad, the really big challenge is to get 'local food' into the urban mass.
There is plenty of food to go round, it's just the supply chain that is f****d
Or do we just accept that the supermarket culture is the right route to continue on for the country?

 

[Tarw Coch]

@delilah

 

[averageguy54]

I think that in a few weeks or month, new supply chains will begin to emerge as the supermarkets will prove to be unable to cope.It will start with some enterprising bloke with access to a small truck or transit van ,heading out to the country and loading it up,taking it back to town and selling it. Or perhaps it will be a frustrated farmer doing the same thing to move his product for some much needed cash. Or perhaps, a roadside stand at the farm gate. there is no doubt it will happen, it's just a matter of how long before it does.

 

[delilah]

I think that in a few weeks or month, new supply chains will begin to emerge as the supermarkets will prove to be unable to cope.It will start with some enterprising bloke with access to a small truck or transit van ,heading out to the country and loading it up,taking it back to town and selling it. Or perhaps it will be a frustrated farmer doing the same thing to move his product for some much needed cash. Or perhaps, a roadside stand at the farm gate. there is no doubt it will happen, it's just a matter of how long before it does.

Yes.
Or, alternatively.
Government does as its paymasters would wish, and shuts down all food outlets other than supermarkets. Think I am joking ? Watch this space. They will take out farmers markets first.

I make no apologies for attaching these files for the second time in a day, they address the precise, crucial issues that @onesiedale has raised.

Not said this for at least a week though: UK agriculture and the environment movement are each others greatest allies. Neither can achieve its objectives without the support of the other. It was true before all this kicked off, all the more so now.

 

[Jungle Bill]

Diet, health, inequality: why Britain's food supply system doesn't work

Tim Lang, the UK’s leading expert on food policy, says we already faced a challenge unmatched since the war. And things just got worse…

www.theguardian.com

This will be published this week and I am sure will be a well argued and practical route to somewhere near where we need to be headed.

 

[delilah]

Diet, health, inequality: why Britain's food supply system doesn't work

Tim Lang, the UK’s leading expert on food policy, says we already faced a challenge unmatched since the war. And things just got worse…

www.theguardian.com

This will be published this week and I am sure will be a well argued and practical route to somewhere near where we need to be headed.

Tim Lang, Joanna Blythman, and a host of other writers.
Sustain, Tescopoly and a host of other campaign groups.
All have been highlighting these issues for decades. And you know what they all have in common ?
They are regarded as freaks and troublemakers by farmers and their representative bodies.
You - all of you on here - have bought all of this on yourselves, by for years sleeping with the enemy and taking the p!ss out of your allies.
As @dave6470 has just pointed out on another thread, corner shops are being starved of stock by the supermarkets. Hardly surprising given Tesco were allowed to by Booker.
All of you, wake up FFS.
The Governments food strategy as lead by Henry Dimbleby will set the agenda, not Tim Lang's book. Go look at who is on the food strategy panel. They are the people you need to be nobbling. Best to start with the few on it who don't have a supermarket background.

 

[onesiedale]

Tim Lang, Joanna Blythman, and a host of other writers.
Sustain, Tescopoly and a host of other campaign groups.
All have been highlighting these issues for decades. And you know what they all have in common ?
They are regarded as freaks and troublemakers by farmers and their representative bodies.
You - all of you on here - have bought all of this on yourselves, by for years sleeping with the enemy and taking the p!ss out of your allies.
As @dave6470 has just pointed out on another thread, corner shops are being starved of stock by the supermarkets. Hardly surprising given Tesco were allowed to by Booker.
All of you, wake up FFS.
The Governments food strategy as lead by Henry Dimbleby will set the agenda, not Tim Lang's book. Go look at who is on the food strategy panel. They are the people you need to be nobbling. Best to start with the few on it who don't have a supermarket background.

Don't mince your words @delilah !
We may miss the point. ?
The Revolution is coming! . . . it certainly needs to

 

[Blaithin]

Farmers Markets are already shut down here. Not that it's their busiest time of year....

Supermarkets say they're not stocked now because people are buying it faster than it comes in. Once people are hoarded up, the supplies should even out again.

But what about the people at the processing plants not working? Cracker factory closed, ports shut down, slaughter houses closed. We can't gather in groups of more than 250, 50, 10... 2... how the heck are these processing factories going to operate? And if they do, how long until someone gets sick and takes out the entire staff anyway.

It's easy for the supermarkets to say alls good. Give them a couple more weeks and their supply is going to dry right up. There's going to be no line connecting the farmer and the food to the supermarket and the shelf.

Then it's going to be those entrepreneur folks that @averageguy54 talked about. It's going to be the small town butchers and the roadside stands that can still have food.

People's entire diets are going to change. There's going to be a huge shift from processed and canned foods to fresh and whole. They're going to have to learn to process it themselves if they want to keep it on hand for long periods of time.

 

[delilah]

Don't mince your words @delilah !
We may miss the point. ?
The Revolution is coming! . . . it certainly needs to

Apologies, lambing and calving, probably shouldn't come on here when the adrenaline is running .
Revolutions need leaders. Right now farming's leaders are a million miles away from getting any of this, so it's going nowhere .

 

[onesiedale]

Don't worry, we're with you all the way..
Change will come. Trouble is though, can't quite see how. The decision makers all seem to be looking to history and technology for the answers. Somehow I fear an almighty clusterf**k coming, and it'll be money at the centre of it. Food will just be an innocent victim.

 

[delilah]

Don't worry, we're with you all the way..

Your OP talked about the need for diversity in the food supply chain. I like that use of the word diversity, it touches on the natural environment and the way in which biodiversity is the natural order of things. What I call market share being the root of all evil, but put in a more natural language.

You've lost most on here by the time they are half way down your OP. Don't think otherwise, it's a very small proportion of the TFF membership who would be prepared to give any time or effort to pushing for any of this or asking their elected representatives to do so. That's why, as I say, it's going nowhere.

Just saying it before someone else does.

 

[averageguy54]

Yes.
Or, alternatively.
Government does as its paymasters would wish, and shuts down all food outlets other than supermarkets. Think I am joking ? Watch this space. They will take out farmers markets first.

I make no apologies for attaching these files for the second time in a day, they address the precise, crucial issues that @onesiedale has raised.

Not said this for at least a week though: UK agriculture and the environment movement are each others greatest allies. Neither can achieve its objectives without the support of the other. It was true before all this kicked off, all the more so now.

Very interesting read, can't say I disagree with your articles. I do maintain that the time will come though, that irregardless of how hard the supermarkets try, they will not succeed in stopping a new supply chain from emerging. They may slow it down but a looming election can do surprising things to the backbone of an official seeking another term at the trough.

 

[delilah]

hey @onesiedale hope you and yours are safe and well. I keep thinking about your phrase 'diversity in the food chain' and how it is something that folks on here should be able to relate to.
I think you may have started the 'building a new food chain' thread. Can you tell I have put my positive hat on this morning .

How about folks put up examples of what they and others are doing to reverse the concentration of market share, for everyone to be inspired by ?
Milk vending and doorstep, veg and meat boxes, food hubs, farmers markets, micro breweries, on farm bakeries.......

Not stuff about what you are doing on your farm.
There's loads of threads on that. Rather, what is happening beyond the food gate, to re-introduce diversity in to the food chain.
Here's something just started in our neck of the woods.
https://www.kentfoodhubs.co.uk/

 

[onesiedale]

hey @onesiedale hope you and yours are safe and well. I keep thinking about your phrase 'diversity in the food chain' and how it is something that folks on here should be able to relate to.
I think you may have started the 'building a new food chain' thread. Can you tell I have put my positive hat on this morning .

How about folks put up examples of what they and others are doing to reverse the concentration of market share, for everyone to be inspired by ?
Milk vending and doorstep, veg and meat boxes, food hubs, farmers markets, micro breweries, on farm bakeries.......

Not stuff about what you are doing on your farm.
There's loads of threads on that. Rather, what is happening beyond the food gate, to re-introduce diversity in to the food chain.
Here's something just started in our neck of the woods.
https://www.kentfoodhubs.co.uk/

Here you go @delilah

Here's our simple honesty shop. No staff;
Milk, cheese, butter, eggs, ice cream and honey.
(And now a drop off hub for the village)
what was a steady £1000/ month turnover has now trebled. ?

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Here you go @delilah
View attachment 865814
Here's our simple honesty shop. No staff;
Milk, cheese, butter, eggs, ice cream and honey.
(And now a drop off hub for the village)
what was a steady £1000/ month turnover has now trebled. ?

Can you keep up with demand?

 

[onesiedale]

Won't say we're struggling, but it is moving to the next level now. It's certainly not something that you can just leave to manage itself. It is taking an amount of time up.
On the positive note it isn't just the cash that's adding up, somehow there's a build up of 'social capital' that makes us feel appreciated and trusted.
Maybe i'll include it on the balance sheet our next set of accounts, see what the bank say to that . It'll probably be worth more than all the fecking free money they're selling to us!

 

[delilah]

Here you go @delilah
View attachment 865814
Here's our simple honesty shop. No staff;
Milk, cheese, butter, eggs, ice cream and honey.
(And now a drop off hub for the village)
what was a steady £1000/ month turnover has now trebled. ?

Fab. I know they are an honest bunch in Derbyshire but how does it work, guess you daren't just have a cash box on a table ? Is it some form of secure box that folks drop cash in and can't get into ?

 

[onesiedale]

Simple box with a lock. Hole in the top for money to go in. £10 float of change underneath

 

[upnortheast]

Here you go @delilah
View attachment 865814
Here's our simple honesty shop. No staff;
Milk, cheese, butter, eggs, ice cream and honey.
(And now a drop off hub for the village)
what was a steady £1000/ month turnover has now trebled. ?

Now that looks a smart job, well done you. ( Not just the hut, the farm behind looks tidy too )

 

[upnortheast]

Maybe i'll include it on the balance sheet our next set of accounts, see what the bank say to that

Beeston mart managed to survive for quite a while with most of their assets being "Goodwill" Then the wheel fell off !