The on-going up hill battle that is agriculture.....

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Yes this is a huge problem/responsibility/privilege . BUT the times they are a changin' and I would sincerely hope none of our farming ancestors would want us killing ourselves or families destroyed for the sake of our increasingly tenuous control over a piece of land
thumb_tradition-n-peer-pressure-from-dead-people-hipdict-it’s-that-66237471.png
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
Any idea as percentage of gross income , just how much is spent on food now compared to say 50 years ago?🤔
Uk has one of the lowest spends on food even among developed countries.
 

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
You don't need to be a processor or retailer (not a bad idea though) but you need a market for your produce that leaves a good return. I think that's the biggest difference I've noticed since being here, farmers know the market they're producing for and either own some of it, like co op's or partnerships, have direct contracts or develop their own market.
Much of the UK stuff seems to be, produce what you want, how you want, then look round for a buyer and hope its paying ok.
The lack of interest in finding a market seems to have produced a lot more middlemen all taking a cut.
It's probably a scale thing too, hard to know how many acres TFF posters have but I'd bet a living can be made there on less acres than here?
Product of the cap
 

hoff135

Member
Location
scotland
Yes this is a huge problem/responsibility/privilege . BUT the times they are a changin' and I would sincerely hope none of our farming ancestors would want us killing ourselves or families destroyed for the sake of our increasingly tenuous control over a piece of land

I'm not sure that is the case here. Having tried to work out how to make things easier with the old man I get the "well I managed all my life so why you moaning" comment.
 

hally

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
cumbria
For us now it’s all about avoiding the financial and logistical risk of a big expensive show stopping breakdown. So a cheap trailed sprayer is better than relying on our old self propelled sprayer. We can move another tractor onto the trailer sprayer whereas if the engine or hydraulics fails on the SP we can’t even get the brakes off or the booms folded up and cost to repair can be £5k plus.
Ploughing with a 3 furrow and a 4 furrow on two 100 hp tractors is much more financially resilient than relying on one big 150 hp tractor and one big cultivator or high draft direct drill, as we found out to our cost when we were too late drilling last autumn.
3m Moore or Erth or Simtech easily driven with 100hp, capable of 6 or 7 acres an hour
 

digger64

Member
Everyone always says that they don’t want subs and just want a proper price for their produce. Is that not what we are all now getting with current commodity prices. The BPS is going but this has been more than replaced by the increase in prices. Is that enough positivity!?
I dont think people get it- no one will get this price while significant income is coming from subsidies
.
 

Andrew_Ni

Member
Location
Seaforde Co.Down
When farming paid

Looking at it now as someone born in the 90s, it seems when incentives were production based, surplus went to intervention, no supermarket monopoly, china wasnt a global player and a world population half of what it is now. What were the levels of imported food to the uk? Also diets were very different - spuds not rice.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
Looking at it now as someone born in the 90s, it seems when incentives were production based, surplus went to intervention, no supermarket monopoly, china wasnt a global player and a world population half of what it is now. What were the levels of imported food to the uk? Also diets were very different - spuds not rice.
Which just goes to show how quickly eating habits can change. Think of that in the context of animal protein substitutes potentially taking a significant share of the market.
 

bluebell

Member
but back in the good old days when you had wholesale markets for both animals and produce, most people bought from small independent butchers and greengroucers, who often were supplied by yet more wholesalers everyone made money through the supply chain, now the wholesale markets have nearly all gone, bussinesses that have still kept going have slimmed right down and almalgamated to servive ? When we started in the horticultural and pub trade back in the late 1970s sometimes the reps used to line up on the carpark waiting to see us ? In the pub, we had the choice of quite a range of large brewers to buy from along with many small independent trades that supplied sundries and crisps, wines, spirits beers, now nearly all those have disappeared ? gone out of business local brewers that traded for hundreds of years gone or amalamated ? oh for the good old days ?
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.1%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.2%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,287
  • 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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