The A50

[delilah]

Cracking idea Comrade. Could the government run this organisation, maybe taking the land by compulsory purchase, and instructing the proletariat on what they should do, and how they should do it?

What has socialism got to do with it ? There is no mention of the State in the OP. It is the 'free market' at work.

"Unhindered by competition", that's called a monopoly,

Quite. It's a monopoly. Uncontrolled competition leads to a monopoly.

It is, of course, a process that is already in place. It is becoming ever more difficult to farm in the way that you wish, or in the way to which your land is best suited, if you are in the wrong postcode to interest a buyer.

The point of the OP was to suggest that the lorry driver shortage could lead to the cartel hitting the accelerator on the process. If it is going to become more difficult - in logistical terms - for the cartel to operate as now, then forced concentration of the supply chain is a logical response. Under such a process the hinterland will get progressively larger, with ever more primary producers left out in the cold. If UK ag has any concerns about this, it needs more than ever before to extract its digit.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Hmmmmm...... Last I heard that didn't work out too well in Russia, north Korea etc.....

I'd prefer stringent tax and planning controls on larger organizations and tax breaks for smaller companies to level the playing field up with extra incentives for showing local content.

E.g. £5 for Kenyan beans from a supermarket but £1 for the same weight of local runners from a neighborhood grocer. That would help spread the revenue more evenly throughout the economy, cut down on food miles and even out employment.

... although that's easy to say when you've had a bit of 6% Perry!

A carbon tax would sort some of that out

 

[organicguy]

A carbon tax would sort some of that out

I just logged in with this brilliant idea I was going to patent and someone has nicked it.
Why couldn,t it work?
Could also create an whole checking and assurance chain on the back of it to make sure there was not cheating going on in other countries. We could call it "Green tractor"!

 

[The Ruminant]

The lorry driver shortage has brought into sharp relief the inefficiencies in the food chain. Lorries belonging to different members of the cartel flying up and down the motorways in opposite directions, hauling identical loaves of bread and pints of milk. HGV’s are 2% of road traffic and emit 22% of road emissions. A radical solution is required.

I have identified a block of land just off the A50 at Uttoxeter, on which a mega distribution centre should be built. One hub from which all of England’s food can be distributed. Lorries reaching 90% of the population of England within 3 hours. No need for 8 companies retailing 90% of the food as we have now. They would just get in each others way, literally and figuratively. Just one business feeding the nation, unhindered by competition, that's what's needed.

To ensure similar efficiencies on the supply side, a series of food processing plants will be built along the length of the A50. A dairy at Stoke to process all of the milk. Cheshire to be home to the autumn calving herd, Shropshire the spring calving. Minimal milk miles; no need for any dairy cows further afield. In the early years there will be some inefficiencies due to the number of individual herds in each county, but over time a logical rationalization will ensure a small handful of mega herds.

And so on. A red meat abattoir at Knutsford. White meat at Foston. A bakery in Markfield. Fruit and veg packhouse at Kegworth. In each instance all of the nations requirements being met from one plant, thus ensuring minimal lorry movements to get the produce to Uttoxeter. As with milk, each sector will quickly rationalize to the point where only a small number of businesses are required to be the primary producers for each plant.

No need, then, for food production in the hinterland. Anything not close enough to the a50 to feed the nation, it can be rewilded.

Yes ?

What industry will you locate in Lower Tean?

 

[primmiemoo]

Something almost, but not quite, entirely unlike the OP ...

 

[delilah]

What industry will you locate in Lower Tean?

Not sure yet, open to suggestions, but I do know that in Leigh it's got to be butter (bit cryptic that one) .

 

[The Ruminant]

Not sure yet, open to suggestions, but I do know that in Leigh it's got to be butter (bit cryptic that one) .

Utterleigh….

 

[Agrispeed]

Sounds like something from a speech by Spode in Jeeves and Wooster!

 

[delilah]

Utterleigh….

nope; more cryptic.

 

[The Ruminant]

nope; more cryptic.

I'm stumped then

 

[delilah]

I'm stumped then

You must be too young to remember 80's adverts, will pm they may be on here .