Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
So American abattoirs are dirty is what some are trying to say ?
UK FOOD PRODUCTION?
- Thread starter bluebell
- Start date
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
I don’t think it’s so much that the abattoirs are dirty, as that elements all along the production process are different from in Europe, and that these differences add up to a need to wash the finished product. The differences might be stocking density, abattoir cleanliness, bird health, etc.
- Location
- Limousin/Charentes toad land
- Location
- Carmarthenshire, West Wales
isn't mixed salad from the supermarket washed in chlorine? And isn't food poisoning often from salads?
if you look at the history of UKs agriculture from 1900 to the present day we have allways imported food, even earlier the first frozen lamb imports and beef were i think in victorian times ? the first world war was the first big wakeup call for food production from our own land, then in the 1920s-30s uk food production slumped, many many thousands of acres of land whent direlict ? then with the approach of ww2 the government looked at the lessons learnt in ww1 of homegrown food and geared up to maximise food production? many books written at the time make interesting reading i know that just before the war a land survey was done to work out the total amount of acres available and the country was divided in to areas to be administrated to maximise output? has anyone seen the EAST ANGLIAN FILM ARCHIVE there are short films showing all this, i started this thread to debate the currant situation, a growing population, with less and less produtive land and what land that is available, thousands of acres is being used , much good quality land flooded rewilded ?
- Location
- Cumbria
Remember, nearly half of what is produced/ sold is wasted by either not getting to the Supermarket (out of spec) or ends up in the bin (sell by dates etc).
The future is higher prices and a value put back into food. More fresh produce, less packaging and less waste. increasing prices will not cost the housewife one penny more, it will mean better buying, and less likely to throw in the bin.
This thread subject is, will their be enough to go around ? without doubt, unless mother nature thinks differently. However we must stop wasting food and generating so much waste.
The serious offenders who habitually throw good food away, should be penalised and taxed for generating unnecessary waste.
Our population will continue to grow due to migration, our Country will change, but, everyone needs to eat.
The future is higher prices and a value put back into food. More fresh produce, less packaging and less waste. increasing prices will not cost the housewife one penny more, it will mean better buying, and less likely to throw in the bin.
This thread subject is, will their be enough to go around ? without doubt, unless mother nature thinks differently. However we must stop wasting food and generating so much waste.
The serious offenders who habitually throw good food away, should be penalised and taxed for generating unnecessary waste.
Our population will continue to grow due to migration, our Country will change, but, everyone needs to eat.
- Location
- Romney Marsh
Because Natural England insist this part of Romney Marsh is important for over wintering birds, so our grade 1 and 2 prime soil HAS to be grazed with livestock !!
Criminal waste of good dirt while people starve.
good point about waste, , of the amount of food that is grown in the UK that gets wasted, wasted in the field no one can be bothered to go round and physically glean a field ? if it cant be done from the seat of a tractor ? wasted in the packhouse ? then wasted in the store not surprising with the beweildering range of breads, cakes, etc etc etc, choice choice feeds waste? then the amount we all waste at home ? not like the war i wonder ? ripe fruit falls of trees and rots see that alot ?
- Location
- LINCOLNSHIRE/KENYA
if it’s not your choice then surely compensation should cover the opportunity cost of lost production .
If you believe Tesco labels most fresh chicken is home grown, I belive that if we do get American chicken, it will be frozen out of Necessity, of transport times,
What most people buy in super markets as fresh whole chickens is likely British, but that not always true for packaged meals, Cuts etc.
The main way American chicken will get into the UK food chain is via packaged food or restaurants, where price is key and the consumer often has no clue of its ingredients origin.
The ones who will buy frozen chicken from supermarkets because it’s cheaper, will also likely end up buying American chicken because in the end they only buy on price.
Frozen in the end is normaly fine as it’s usually frozen at its freshest, the difference after American chicken was allowed in would be how it’s treated before being frozen.
Again clear packaging and public demands should make chlorinated chicken a choice the public makes, but if the Americans get there way packaging and point of origin packaging is to be suppressed, so much for consumer choice. . .
in the end for me clear packaging, consumer education, place of origin, should always be on food same for all ready meals etc if it was then, consumer choice, will naturally sort this mess out regardless of trade deals.
If the public want cheap then who is to stop them as long as they are aware of where it’s from and how it’s treated.
Unclear Labelling for me is as dishonest to the consumer as was putting horse meat in ready meals etc.
so my vote is a trade deal where the consumer can still chose where they buy food from.
That includes Restaurants and ready meals, the meats origin should always Be clear, so consumers can always vote with there money if they so wish.
Buy british food, so farmers can drive their German made tractors and combines, use their chinese made phones and watch chinese telly. Why should uk consumers buy uk food to support us when too many farmers didnt support uk manufacturers. Do YOU seek out british made products of any type?
thats true, i think that like a americia, local government, police, firebrigade, army and NHS should have to buy british built, british made products goods vehicles etc etc , why did NHS have to source any chinease made simple made products? makes know sense to me even if it costs slightly more, look at the bigger picture?
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
I get soldiers here occasionally I let them use my farm yard to camp in and hide train etc Pisa but they always great bunch young lads n lasses , anyway one day whole load o massive man trucks pull up , what you up to today ? Oh nothing just take these man s for a drive as if they sit too long they need software update from Germany ! Me ; so if we fall out with Jerry again what happens ? We won’t have any wagons !
It's what happens when accountants run things, same as the likes of Woolworths, debenhams etc, their accountants thought it was clever to sell real estate they owned and rent it back, they dont look so clever now, these days very few seem to look beyond next month
- Location
- Essex
The real issue is that food is too cheap for uk farmers to produce economically. Instead we grow what is easy to do with machines and chemical inputs. That is why we export so much barley for Arabs to feed their camels on. It's not about food production, it's about staying in business and reducing risk.
We could easily grow more food in this country, especially fruit and veg, but it would require time, investment and increased risk. With prices as they are, the camels get the benefit and we import fruit and veg from places where they do want to grow it and the cost of production is lower.
We could easily grow more food in this country, especially fruit and veg, but it would require time, investment and increased risk. With prices as they are, the camels get the benefit and we import fruit and veg from places where they do want to grow it and the cost of production is lower.
Well...... it doesn't really matter how much land we've got in production 'cos if we can't get the crop off the field or get something drilled!!!!
World population has roughly doubled since 1950 and climate is erratic now, so those two combined leaves us all in a fairly unstable situation!! Global warming isn't just about another couple of degrees making life a little warmer it's about the huge input of energy into the atmosphere that drives global weather patterns, resulting in massive swings in localised weather. Just wait until the polar ice shelves go, the Essex coast may well be a different shape and there will be a bit less land too. This isn't going to happen overnight but it is happening now.
Stop trying to produce food ever cheaper because that just makes the general population think that life is easy and we can all consume/waste as much as we like and keep expanding our population size.
Where is the limiting factor in human populations?
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
Any tips on how to stop producing it any cheaper ? I work the least proffitable enterprise in farming margins are tight as a nuns chuff how do I survive if my cop goes over income ? I can’t stop producing it cheaper no more than anyone can .
does anyone on here grow say some market garden crops or pot flowers and send them to a wholesale market ? i remember a small grower local to me in essex in the early 1980s man and his wife worked hard for six months of the year could make a living sending to wholesale market ? all gone long time ago, now you not only have to grow it but also have to somehow sell it yourself?