UK Farm Support......THE POLL!!

Should the UK general public support farmers OR pay actual true cost of food production?

  • Yes they should continue to support their own farmers

  • No we should import food from other countries who support their farmers


Results are only viewable after voting.

thesilentone

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cumbria
Whether farm support is a good compromise for both the farmer and public comes down to what alternative is there for producing good quality traceable food and maintaining a sensible level of domestic production which does not expose the UK to exploitation by other countries in times of shortage/trade wars/disease out breaks/war?? would the public be better just paying the true cost of production?? (including all currently unpaid family labour hours on many uk farms at correct pay plus overtime) This would inevitably lead to cheaper imports from other countries who support their own farmers and have poorer welfare/big scale

given that the sub comes from the general publics tax and that the richest and huge companies pay almost all of the tax in the UK are poorer people actually benefitting the most from a vast supply of cheap locally produced food and a much reduced weekly shopping bill?

Well you have excelled yourself this time.

Since when did the price of food have anything to do with production costs ?

When you eventually wake up and smell the coffee, you will realise Supermarkets factored in support payments years ago.

How can production costs have any influence in a market where almost 50% of production is either left on-farm or thrown away ?

Break out of the bubble, the air out here is fine.............
 

Nithsdale

Member
Livestock Farmer
Would I :whistle:

This thread is about other countries getting free support that allows them to undercut the UK market, and what I am trying to show simply - is within our own little island, there are perks for some vs the others (y)


The problem isn't other countries. The problem is our own... EVERY nations government has some mechanism in place to promote and protect food production - it isn't always as blatant as farm payments/subsidies, sometimes it is putting their own countries produce first or government effectively buying all stock to them turn over in trade...

What hope do we have when Boris is quoted as saying "f**k industry" when talking about UK Brexit?!?! It beggars belief.
 

Ukjay

Member
Location
Wales!
The problem isn't other countries. The problem is our own... EVERY nations government has some mechanism in place to promote and protect food production - it isn't always as blatant as farm payments/subsidies, sometimes it is putting their own countries produce first or government effectively buying all stock to them turn over in trade...

What hope do we have when Boris is quoted as saying "f**k industry" when talking about UK Brexit?!?! It beggars belief.

I agree, but Boss doesnt understand this basic model - even with his alledged substantial research!!
 

stewart

Member
Horticulture
Location
Bay of Plenty NZ
It should be trade both ways, you can't export, go on about free world trade and then shield your own country from them, wtf? They should open their borders right now or fkuk off
Our borders are open. We would welcome a free trade deal with any country particularly the UK you have a large population that wants a source of high quality food and you have fkuc all we want to buy.
 

spin cycle

Member
Location
north norfolk
poll misses the point a bit IMO

the real issue is food security......in the coming weeks we might see shortages of lettuces,carrots and other veg because of the drought....now that doesn't really matter cos there's other stuff to eat

however imagine a scenario where low prices, no sub exist and planting/rearing are discontinued by many in a spring.....followed by a drought or other event and there's 50% less (for eg) wheat for bread... wheat for pork/chicken... malted barley.... beef or lamb.....milk ect and i'd suggest the country has a problem.....it's no good the govt going to farmers in july and asking for more food cos it'll take at least a yr if not longer in some cases

the mistake they make is that farmers will suddenly up their game become mega efficient and so productive that they'll make money even with cheap prices......yet i havn't seen any 'magic wand' to do this as yet:scratchhead:

10 yrs ago i promised myself i'd quit farming when i was 55.....now that birthday is only a yr away....do i really quit:scratchhead:....i could let my arable out and play with some sheep on the pp....get another bigger stewardship deal:scratchhead:.....carry on as i am:scratchhead:
if i was to carry on (and subs dissapeared) i think i'd go 'dog and stick'....keeping relatively low sheep numbers building them up and selling virtually out if/when price was right then start again....there'd be no annual production cycle

so i would suggest many will extensify ......perhaps arable farmers only planting when favourable contracts exist ,beef producers emphasing storing animals outdoors on grass ect.....production will drop and food security compromised?

IMO what they out to do is pay £50/ac for land in food production.....the rest diverted into stewardship

sorry for long post...not normally my style:)
 

stewart

Member
Horticulture
Location
Bay of Plenty NZ
so your jealo

so at last we learn your motivation for these posts, jealousy/no safety blanket to fall back on.....tell me why wold UK farmers wish to see a support against such conditions removed?
Cornish Tone lives in the lucky country, what would he have to be jealous about?
He also lives there by choice not because he has to.
 

spin cycle

Member
Location
north norfolk

in fact i'd suggest that while nz production methods are constantly held up to us as 'how to farm without subsidies' the reality is quite different

nz rural debt at $60 billion dollars .....thats £30 billion...compared to uk £18 billion......banks wanting farmers to pay back debt and build reserves for next cyclic price fall......finally winston peters nz mp finally manages to get progress made on 'farm debt mediation bill'....something various nz mps having been trying to get for 20 yrs...the bill,i believe, is to give farmers breathing space in the event of a bank wanting to foreclose .....that i'd suggest is not a healthy state of affairs

apologies to our kiwi members if you're making it work....good for you:)
 

stewart

Member
Horticulture
Location
Bay of Plenty NZ
poll misses the point a bit IMO

the real issue is food security......in the coming weeks we might see shortages of lettuces,carrots and other veg because of the drought....now that doesn't really matter cos there's other stuff to eat

however imagine a scenario where low prices, no sub exist and planting/rearing are discontinued by many in a spring.....followed by a drought or other event and there's 50% less (for eg) wheat for bread... wheat for pork/chicken... malted barley.... beef or lamb.....milk ect and i'd suggest the country has a problem.....it's no good the govt going to farmers in july and asking for more food cos it'll take at least a yr if not longer in some cases

the mistake they make is that farmers will suddenly up their game become mega efficient and so productive that they'll make money even with cheap prices......yet i havn't seen any 'magic wand' to do this as yet:scratchhead:

10 yrs ago i promised myself i'd quit farming when i was 55.....now that birthday is only a yr away....do i really quit:scratchhead:....i could let my arable out and play with some sheep on the pp....get another bigger stewardship deal:scratchhead:.....carry on as i am:scratchhead:
if i was to carry on (and subs dissapeared) i think i'd go 'dog and stick'....keeping relatively low sheep numbers building them up and selling virtually out if/when price was right then start again....there'd be no annual production cycle

so i would suggest many will extensify ......perhaps arable farmers only planting when favourable contracts exist ,beef producers emphasing storing animals outdoors on grass ect.....production will drop and food security compromised?

IMO what they out to do is pay £50/ac for land in food production.....the rest diverted into stewardship

sorry for long post...not normally my style:)
If the intention is food security it would be preferable to rely on more inports from a wider range of countries, in the event of one of the importers being unable to supply the others can take up the slack. Relying on home production could potentially lead to a shortage in the event of a disease outbreak or a prolonged drought
 

spin cycle

Member
Location
north norfolk
If the intention is food security it would be preferable to rely on more inports from a wider range of countries, in the event of one of the importers being unable to supply the others can take up the slack. Relying on home production could potentially lead to a shortage in the event of a disease outbreak or a prolonged drought

got any lettuces....cos apparently europe hasn't
 

Ukjay

Member
Location
Wales!
I am going to start a new poll. Should I claim job-seekers allowance merely with the intention of using the money to buy a train-set, something I have always wanted and which will appreciate in value over the years?

So there you have it, Ollie is a non farming train spotter - its out now :LOL:
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

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

    Votes: 5 2.7%

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

  • 1,286
  • 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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