Will UK Ag up it’s production

Kevtherev

Member
Location
Welshpool Powys
56F08660-A820-4D44-8C50-240096240F0E.png
 

teslacoils

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
At forward prices for grain and fert, I'm more likely to cut production. This "don't worry, our plucky farmers will save the day" is rubbish. I'd send a ton of wheat to folk getting blown to bits, but UK consumers can pay for it.

Govt quickly found £2bn to bail out a failed electric company due to gas prices, and the rumours are it will end up being £5bn. So let's see them send us all £200/AC and then I'll consider it.

We are not valued and won't be until Mrs Shopper can't get a loaf of bread.
 

Hilly

Member
Why? Will only bring price down and pander to the masses. Make them hungry I recon. Then they'll realise how important we are. As a quote goes "My grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher, but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer".
Well said !!! All these people wanting ag up production etc just desperate dreamers , donyour own thing feed your own family end of story and if you people watch most of them
Need a bit hungering anyway .
 

Kevtherev

Member
Location
Welshpool Powys
while the Welsh Assembly Government is paying large companies to plant trees on agricultural land for green washing, why should those farming the remaining land increase production to make up for the losses due to conifers?
They may soon realise their error though
Maybe in a few months after cereal harvest and the shortages become evident?
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
In the short term being this Spring, it isn’t just the sums that don’t look encouraging unless you farm good land, but the availability of seed, fertilisers and sprays, never mind their cost.

We can only deal with known, knowns.
Risking trying to make a ‘greedy’ Buck this Spring isn’t a good idea. Especially if you already have Winter crops in the ground, Spring crop seeds and fertiliser in stock.

Why take that risk if your your original plans are going to be more profitable than we thought anyway?

Things may look different at harvest time as to the planning of what and how many acres to grow for 2023. Only then would it seem sensible to consider upping production.
 

melted welly

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
DD9.
With the price of inputs, does scaling up make any sense????

Grain futures nothing special, so why gamble?

Potato prices crap, veg prices crap.

If Ukraine/Russia’s 30% of global sunflower oil isn’t there for the friers and processors, how does that change market dynamics?

Agriculture has been vilified by urban softies and their benevolent causes my whole farming career. I’m not gonna rush to cut my margins further on a gamble where the upside may be nothing more than to get a nice fuzzy feeling inside for being a good boy. Then forgotten about the next month when the panics over.
 

Goweresque

Member
Location
North Wilts
They may soon realise their error though
Maybe in a few months after cereal harvest and the shortages become evident?

We'll have to wait until bread disappears from the shelves for something to be done. Politics works on ludicrously short forward looking timescales, not necessarily because they can't see that far ahead, more because politicians don't get any credit from the voters if they head a crisis off at the pass. Then all they get is abuse - 'Why did you introduce this unpopular regulation/tax me more/change a policy I agreed with, there was no crisis!' Voters don't see the crisis that doesn't happen.

Whereas once the crisis appears and affects the voters then the politicians can spring into action and hopefully solve it, thus gaining their gratitude. So its no use them trying to solve now the obvious problem of high fertiliser prices resulting in less fert use, lower yields and a reduced harvest in 6 months time, because whatever policy they enacted would be unpopular (rationing/more subsidies for farmers/change of green policies) and if the policy worked the voters would just ask 'What crisis?' and blame politicians for unpopular changes. If you need to enact unpopular policies you need a good crisis to justify them.

The same will go for energy policy - we will have to wait until energy bills are double or triple what they are now (which they will be) for policies to be enacted that might help - starting fracking, green lighting new N Sea oil and gas field, abolition of Net Zero etc. The public only live in the here and now, living from month to month pay cheques, and thus thats about the same political event horizon as well.
 

Chris F

Staff Member
Media
Location
Hammerwich
With the price of inputs, does scaling up make any sense????

Grain futures nothing special, so why gamble?

Potato prices crap, veg prices crap.

If Ukraine/Russia’s 30% of global sunflower oil isn’t there for the friers and processors, how does that change market dynamics?

Agriculture has been vilified by urban softies and their benevolent causes my whole farming career. I’m not gonna rush to cut my margins further on a gamble where the upside may be nothing more than to get a nice fuzzy feeling inside for being a good boy. Then forgotten about the next month when the panics over.
And that is the problem.

A lot of ifs and maybes in that. Why take the risk. Stick to a solid business plan that makes sense for you and your family.
 

Huno

Member
Arable Farmer
Wouldn't it be great listening to Janet Hughes. Prentis and Useless MP's explain themselves to a Committee as to why their policies emptied the shelves of food... During the Cold War in the late 80's the price of wheat was similar to todays price allowing for inflation but input prices certainly were not!! Make the Policy makers squeal like Pigs for a bit??
 

Chris F

Staff Member
Media
Location
Hammerwich
Wouldn't it be great listening to Janet Hughes. Prentis and Useless MP's explain themselves to a Committee as to why their policies emptied the shelves of food... During the Cold War in the late 80's the price of wheat was similar to todays price allowing for inflation but input prices certainly were not!! Make the Policy makers squeal like Pigs for a bit??

but on the flip side if they had made farmers rich based on income forgone at £400 a tonne the same would happen in opposite direction.

they are trying to tread a very fine line and the world has changed under their feet.
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
ISN'T it GOING TO be great listening to Janet Hughes. Prentis and Useless MP's explain themselves to a Committee as to why their policies emptied the shelves of food... During the Cold War in the late 80's the price of wheat was similar to todays price allowing for inflation but input prices certainly were not!! Make the Policy makers squeal like Pigs for a bit??
Corrected that for you
 

Chris F

Staff Member
Media
Location
Hammerwich
We will never be rich from food production but a fair return for our risks probably does justify £400 a tonne for the next 12 months maybe
Agreed. But they are trying to design a 10 year scheme. That’s the problem.

I think the income forgone is also a kind of risk insurance for farmers to change as well. As things won’t go to plan. But I agree £400 a ton is where it should be to deliver massive environmental gain.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

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

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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

  • 1,291
  • 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/
Top