Where do we see farming in 50 years?

[Fred]

in 10-25 years Bigger units , less active farmers , all livestock produced in feed lots , 2000 acres per man on arable units , mostly spring cropping with inter row hoeing ,
poorer land left idle, include vast areas of the uplands .

In 50 years

because there will be change , when we return to mixed cropping with cattle/pigs fed in sustainable feed lots that collect slurry which we turn into liquid fertilizer , heat and energy , to put back to the land to grow the crops to feed the livestock in the lots , etc and we only export the meat and energy and some cereals for milling ,

Subsidies will be a thing of the past , as will environmental schemes , very few chemicals will be used due to legislation and water protection

The vast majority of people will be still be obsese eating far too many carbs and sugar and programmable intravenous insulin will be common , but there will be reports of babies being born with large bile ducts.

Vast areas of China, India , South America, and the US will be desertifying and the UN will still be arguing about man made global warming. Eventually they will realise that soil can be become a carbon sink and legislation will follow , it will as normal be ill conceived , ill thought out , over regulated and undeliverable, but tradeable carbon credits will push rents up as landlords tie them to land , we will still scratch a living , dream of selling some land for development so we can buy a bigger farm .

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

in 10-25 years Bigger units , less active farmers , all livestock produced in feed lots , 2000 acres per man on arable units , mostly spring cropping with inter row hoeing ,
poorer land left idle, include vast areas of the uplands .

In 50 years

because there will be change , when we return to mixed cropping with cattle/pigs fed in sustainable feed lots that collect slurry which we turn into liquid fertilizer , heat and energy , to put back to the land to grow the crops to feed the livestock in the lots , etc and we only export the meat and energy and some cereals for milling ,

Subsidies will be a thing of the past , as will environmental schemes , very few chemicals will be used due to legislation and water protection

The vast majority of people will be still be obsese eating far too many carbs and sugar and programmable intravenous insulin will be common , but there will be reports of babies being born with large bile ducts.

Vast areas of China, India , South America, and the US will be desertifying and the UN will still be arguing about man made global warming. Eventually they will realise that soil can be become a carbon sink and legislation will follow , it will as normal be ill conceived , ill thought out , over regulated and undeliverable, but tradeable carbon credits will push rents up as landlords tie them to land , we will still scratch a living , dream of selling some land for development so we can buy a bigger farm .

 

[mikep]

in 10-25 years Bigger units , less active farmers , all livestock produced in feed lots , 2000 acres per man on arable units , mostly spring cropping with inter row hoeing ,
poorer land left idle, include vast areas of the uplands .

In 50 years

because there will be change , when we return to mixed cropping with cattle/pigs fed in sustainable feed lots that collect slurry which we turn into liquid fertilizer , heat and energy , to put back to the land to grow the crops to feed the livestock in the lots , etc and we only export the meat and energy and some cereals for milling ,

Subsidies will be a thing of the past , as will environmental schemes , very few chemicals will be used due to legislation and water protection

The vast majority of people will be still be obsese eating far too many carbs and sugar and programmable intravenous insulin will be common , but there will be reports of babies being born with large bile ducts.

Vast areas of China, India , South America, and the US will be desertifying and the UN will still be arguing about man made global warming. Eventually they will realise that soil can be become a carbon sink and legislation will follow , it will as normal be ill conceived , ill thought out , over regulated and undeliverable, but tradeable carbon credits will push rents up as landlords tie them to land , we will still scratch a living , dream of selling some land for development so we can buy a bigger farm .

f**k me I thought I was gloomy

 

[David_A]

Surely to god we can sort ourselves out in a better fashion in 50 years than Freds suggestion.

 

[KMA]

Doubt it because those that make the decisions will have even less of a scooby than they do now

Not that I'll care because by then my ashes will be 'improving' a tiny bit of hill ground outside chance I might see 25yrs though.

 

[David_A]

I would suggest that we need to change and/or become those making the decisions.

 

[mikep]

I would suggest that we need to change and/or become those making the decisions.

It's not all the politicians fault. I firmly believe that a country gets the government it deserves, if the public are too stupid to see the two basic facts firstly there is no such thing as a free meal and secondly growth must end somewhere then games up.
Maybe the politicians can be blamed for milking this stupidity by promising something for nothing or jam tomorrow but it's like the old joke
Q. What's the definition of a straight lie?
A. The shortest distance between two politicians.

 

[David_A]

I am not blaming the politicians. They are simply the sector of society that chooses to stand for office. The fact that they barely understand agriculture is academic really. Perhaps we would be more honest of we blamed ourselves as an industry for not being proactive enough and generally expecting 'someone else' to solve our problems.
I am not realy interested in the blame game. We are where we are. If only we could unite as an industry rather than see our neighbours as our competitors, then we may be able to avoid the predictions above becoming the reality 50 years from now... time for me to be quiet now I think.

 

[mikep]

I am not blaming the politicians. They are simply the sector of society that chooses to stand for office. The fact that they barely understand agriculture is academic really. Perhaps we would be more honest of we blamed ourselves as an industry for not being proactive enough and generally expecting 'someone else' to solve our problems.
I am not realy interested in the blame game. We are where we are. If only we could unite as an industry rather than see our neighbours as our competitors, then we may be able to avoid the predictions above becoming the reality 50 years from now... time for me to be quiet now I think.

Doesn't matter who you blame it boils down to one thing.
The public want good quality well produced food often with added bunny hugging. The public also want a 90inch plasma TV. If they can only afford one which one are they prepared to pay for?
Most the TV and eat sh!t that's the problem they wouldn't pay even if we had brilliant PR given those choices.

 

[Old McDonald]

If only we could unite as an industry rather than see our neighbours as our competitors, then we may be able to avoid the predictions above becoming the reality 50 years from now... time for me to be quiet now I think.

Our neighbours are our competitors. Like it or not, whenever you sell something it has to be equally as good as, and preferably better than, your neighbours' product otherwise, in a perfect market of course, you will receive less than they do.

A simple example in my present situation. I grow olives. I hand pick and deliver to the buyer a clean sample that does not need to be put over a cleaning machine to remove leaves and twigs. This is the second buyer I have used in 14 harvests because the first one retired. I am always moved up to the front of the inevitable queue of people delivering because of my presentation of fruit. Saves me anything up to two hours on each delivery. Four or five deliveries a year adds up.

Your posts are interesting, even if I do not always agree with them, so keep posting.

 

[12 bore]

im reading an interesting book by farmer and writer John Lewis stempell called the running hate, he basically takes an an arable field and farms for a year with little or no inputs for the benefit of wildlife and also to improve soil structure etc. really good book and there is a lot in it which makes perfect sense. perhaps quality over quantity is the way forward.

 

[martian]

im reading an interesting book by farmer and writer John Lewis stempell called the running hate, he basically takes an an arable field and farms for a year with little or no inputs for the benefit of wildlife and also to improve soil structure etc. really good book and there is a lot in it which makes perfect sense. perhaps quality over quantity is the way forward.

Sounds good...I looked it up as the title sounded surprising, should be The Running Hare...

 

[12 bore]

Ha ha that's predictive text for you it should be the running hare, it is good, worth a read definitely

 

[The Ruminant]

Ha ha that's predictive text for you it should be the running hare, it is good, worth a read definitely

It was serialised on R4 a few months ago. May still be on Listen Again if anyone's interested