The offensive and disgraceful PATRONISING by Michael Gove!!!!

[Bossfarmer]

Im getting a bit sick and tired of hearing politicians and the media repeating the same drivel like parrots its even spread to people on here but is nothing but crap and has been used so many times in my opinion no longer has any weight behind it......these ideas below should already have been done to death by any farmer who wants to make money

farmers will need to be more SUSTAINABLE
farmers will need to be more EFFICIENT in the future
farmers need to be more MARKET DRIVEN
farmers will need to DIVERSIFY
farmers will need to "get their business in order" ahead of brexit"
farmers will have time to "adjust to lower income" in the future

this is complete crap, anyone farming at the moment should be as efficient as they can be and growing what he market wants, problem is the market is limited in terms of options you need an end market and guaranteed point of sale this is why many farmers stick with the traditional options many have tried others i know one genius who thought he'd grow onions as there was demand at the time now a big polish farm has undercut him/hes spent a fortune on infrastructure/kit and has a shed full of onions which he cant shift

coming up with clever sounding words and talking about the environments and "public goods" seems to be the governments way of handling the future of uk agriculture but it WILL NOT cut it, look through the smoke screen and you will realise the EU is putting food production and direct payments to farmers at the heart of its policy, where does that leave us???

 

[unlacedgecko]

, where does that leave us???

At the mercy of global markets.

Meet the challenge or exit the industry.

PS, how's the development of the lamb marketing group coming?

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

this should be good for about 12 pages of ballocks,

 

[Bossfarmer]

At the mercy of global markets.

Meet the challenge or exit the industry.

more drivel uve been sucked in by it all too, im already meeting the challenge in one of the lowest paid industries in the UK and will continue to do so after brexit i could do without the cheek and patrionising though all it means is the industry will become cash starved and bleak
while we are UNDERPAID for food, food is far too cheap in this country and the public have more disposable income than ever before???

 

[wasted years]

more drivel uve been sucked in by it all too, im already meeting the challenge in one of the lowest paid industries in the UK and will continue to do so after brexit i could do without the cheek and patrionising though all it means is the industry will become cash starved and bleak
while we are UNDERPAID for food, food is far too cheap in this country and the public have more disposable income than ever before???

Couldn't agree more, I am diversifying at the minute and am shocked at how cheap we work.
I am dealing with electricity companies, planning, various professionals and they wouldn't look at what we do if we doubled it.
It is both a weakness and a strength though depending on your outlook.

 

[Sid]

The country has seen a massive increase in spending on festive food. You would have thought that would be good?
You would be wrong because it means people have less to spend on presents!

Food is an inconvenince to many consumers.

 

[gatepost]

I would agree with your sentiment @Bossfarmer I to find it fairly insulting, but I also shake my head at half all lambs failing to meet spec, (already well discussed) nearly half cattle under finished, and when in market too many cattle store and fat over 30 months (I know there are some legit reasons but) I am surrounded by large arable estates, most spot on. but.

 

[Steevo]

this should be good for about 12 pages of ballocks,

Only 12?! You underestimate....

 

[Henarar]

but I also shake my head at half all lambs failing to meet spec,

what do they do with them

 

[gone up the hill]

I would agree with your sentiment @Bossfarmer I to find it fairly insulting, but I also shake my head at half all lambs failing to meet spec, (already well discussed) nearly half cattle under finished, and when in market too many cattle store and fat over 30 months (I know there are some legit reasons but) I am surrounded by large arable estates, most spot on. but.

Thing is thou lambs out of spec quite often make a lot more than lambs in spec, take last year, at some points lambs in spec were £20/ head less than overweight lambs that were out of spec, no one wanted the in spec lambs at this time, market is changing!

Ref the poor cattle, yep I agree there is a lot of these about, the trouble is to farm them right then generally speaking you have to feed them well, trouble is there isn't the margins in the job for people to do that and this is the problem, if the job was much more profitable then the amount of poor cattle about would decrease ( thou there would always be some about )

Ref some cattle being under fhinshed, several reasons for that but one of the main ones is because so many of the cattle now come from extreme dairy cows and put to the wrong breed of bulls for those cows its very hard to get these cattle fhinshed correctly if at all within the weight limits.

Also 3/4 years ago the plants wanted 2L fat class cattle, now they want 3/4L cattle, very hard for farms to adapt/ change their breeding/ feeding policy's overnight.

 

[Bossfarmer]

Couldn't agree more, I am diversifying at the minute and am shocked at how cheap we work.
I am dealing with electricity companies, planning, various professionals and they wouldn't look at what we do if we doubled it.
It is both a weakness and a strength though depending on your outlook.

This is what im finding and the government expect 110% efficiency from us for even less money

 

[7610 super q]

I have to agree about the word " diversify ". Been hearing it for 30 years. Whoever invented it needs a foot up the a*se.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

What he offering for Forestry Plantings

 

[Henarar]

I have to agree about the word " diversify ". Been hearing it for 30 years. Whoever invented it needs a foot up the a*se.

in other words do something else so you can produce food for even less money

 

[Clive]

very few (if anyone ) can claim to be as efficient as they could be and even if they think they are no doubt future innovation will only increase efficiency

I like Gove - think he talks a lot of sense even if its not what everyone wants to hear !

 

[Fuzzy]

Im getting a bit sick and tired of hearing politicians and the media repeating the same drivel like parrots its even spread to people on here but is nothing but crap and has been used so many times in my opinion no longer has any weight behind it......these ideas below should already have been done to death by any farmer who wants to make money

farmers will need to be more SUSTAINABLE
farmers will need to be more EFFICIENT in the future
farmers need to be more MARKET DRIVEN
farmers will need to DIVERSIFY
farmers will need to "get their business in order" ahead of brexit"
farmers will have time to "adjust to lower income" in the future

this is complete crap, anyone farming at the moment should be as efficient as they can be and growing what he market wants, problem is the market is limited in terms of options you need an end market and guaranteed point of sale this is why many farmers stick with the traditional options many have tried others i know one genius who thought he'd grow onions as there was demand at the time now a big polish farm has undercut him/hes spent a fortune on infrastructure/kit and has a shed full of onions which he cant shift

coming up with clever sounding words and talking about the environments and "public goods" seems to be the governments way of handling the future of uk agriculture but it WILL NOT cut it, look through the smoke screen and you will realise the EU is putting food production and direct payments to farmers at the heart of its policy, where does that leave us???

I must say this is one of your best posts on here.

 

[Warnesworth]

Im getting a bit sick and tired of hearing politicians and the media repeating the same drivel like parrots its even spread to people on here but is nothing but crap and has been used so many times in my opinion no longer has any weight behind it......these ideas below should already have been done to death by any farmer who wants to make money

farmers will need to be more SUSTAINABLE
farmers will need to be more EFFICIENT in the future
farmers need to be more MARKET DRIVEN
farmers will need to DIVERSIFY
farmers will need to "get their business in order" ahead of brexit"
farmers will have time to "adjust to lower income" in the future

this is complete crap, anyone farming at the moment should be as efficient as they can be and growing what he market wants, problem is the market is limited in terms of options you need an end market and guaranteed point of sale this is why many farmers stick with the traditional options many have tried others i know one genius who thought he'd grow onions as there was demand at the time now a big polish farm has undercut him/hes spent a fortune on infrastructure/kit and has a shed full of onions which he cant shift

coming up with clever sounding words and talking about the environments and "public goods" seems to be the governments way of handling the future of uk agriculture but it WILL NOT cut it, look through the smoke screen and you will realise the EU is putting food production and direct payments to farmers at the heart of its policy, where does that leave us???

Okay, boot on the other foot, what would you like Gove to say? You have to justify your answers.
Probably going to regret posting this....

 

[Farmer Miggins]

Okay, boot on the other foot, what would you like Gove to say? You have to justify your answers.
Probably going to regret posting this....

Or what Gove could have said?
END OF GRAVY TRAIN SUBSIDIES
BAN ON ALL PESTICIDES
FULL TRACEABILITY ON ALL FARM PRODUCE
Tin hat on :-D

 

[gatepost]

Thing is thou lambs out of spec quite often make a lot more than lambs in spec, take last year, at some points lambs in spec were £20/ head less than overweight lambs that were out of spec, no one wanted the in spec lambs at this time, market is changing!

Ref the poor cattle, yep I agree there is a lot of these about, the trouble is to farm them right then generally speaking you have to feed them well, trouble is there isn't the margins in the job for people to do that and this is the problem, if the job was much more profitable then the amount of poor cattle about would decrease ( thou there would always be some about )

Ref some cattle being under fhinshed, several reasons for that but one of the main ones is because so many of the cattle now come from extreme dairy cows and put to the wrong breed of bulls for those cows its very hard to get these cattle fhinshed correctly if at all within the weight limits.

Also 3/4 years ago the plants wanted 2L fat class cattle, now they want 3/4L cattle, very hard for farms to adapt/ change their breeding/ feeding policy's overnight.

All you say is quite right, but gross price isn't profit margin, ( it takes 4x the energy to put fat on as lean) and no business I can think of has really thrived by producing what the customer doesn't really want, look at the demise of various high street retailers that stuck with stock that wasn't quite wanted. Any how the how fat is fat and what is really spec? has been done to death.

 

[thesilentone]

Times MUST change, there is no compromise.

We are what we eat, and what we are eating is killing us and the NHS.

My only concern is the lack of engagement by our Industry leaders, and the negativity over Brexit from the Westminster elite.

Global weather is a major challenge for the future, it is likely to create mass migration from the worst affected Countries.

Protection of what sustains us is paramount, therefore farming practices must change.

Less intensity, better quality, less soil erosion and contamination, less processed food, less reliance on grain, less waste.

More fresh product, more biodiversity, more diverse business shape.

Dear Mr Gove,

Supermarket specification, delivery demands and best/sell before dates are creating massive over production and waste, please point your policy in that direction for a start.

Most farmers are very good at what they do, and have for many decades responded well to market demands, however, that response has not been reciprocal, with many buyers exploiting the hard work and dedication in favour of share holder dividends. Things must change Mr Gove, you are the man at the helm, make those changes ! Farmers will help you, if you allow them to !!