Farmers - Have you considered what would happen to mankind without them to supply our food ?
The Farmers are guilty of:
Trying to make a reasonable living.
Trying to work less than 18 hours each day, seven days a week.
Of using their own capital (or borrowed from the bank) to finance a crop, or livestock with no guarantee of ever recouping the outlay.
Of their final product being at the mercy of weather, disease, poachers, vandals and the vagaries of the food market and whim of the buying public.
Of being at the mercy of a Government who cares little and understands even less about the problems of agriculture and livestock farming.
Of being at the mercy of our possibly corrupt masters in Europe who have their own agenda regarding farming and all industry in the UK.
Of being subject to vilification, lies, innuendo, fabrication and down right childish name calling from both individuals and politicians who, quite frankly, don’t know their a*se from their elbow.
Forget the subsidies, they don’t want them. What they want is the freedom to grow or rear what the market demands, not what the politicians decide. This freedom will allow them to provide the right product at a price the public can afford. Currently the EU props up the uneconomic EU farmer, using your tax money, by restricting the efficient producer and applying draconian tariffs to products from outside the EU. You could buy oilseed rape at 60% of EU price directly from Africa, but the import tariff (CAP) pushes the final price to well over the EU price. There is hardly a product you can name that, without the EU import tariffs, you couldn’t buy significantly cheaper from elsewhere. Selling prices, to industry, for oilseed rape, are fixed by the barons in Rotterdam. I can assure you this is nothing like the price the farmer gets. The price of meat is dictated by the accountants, it is no longer a food, it is a commodity to be written up and down in value to suit the needs of the City Fat Cats.
Apparently our critics feel that they can do without farmers. OK let all British farmers band together and withhold their products from the market, for a period of say 6 months. Let the public suddenly realise how much of their daily food becomes short or unobtainable. Watch the wholesale racketeers force prices sky high for inferior imported products. Wait for the screams from the Government when they realise the millions in export sales that have suddenly ceased. How long before we have a state of emergency declared – 1 week, 2 weeks ? I don’t give it much longer.
Now tell me if there would be the same effect if Ford stopped producing cars, Sony – televisions, etc, etc.
In this life we have 3 staple requirements: food, shelter and clothing. The last two items in a civilised world do not normally disappear overnight, but this country normally carries food stocks of little more than 4/5 days, after which you are on your own chum ! Threaten to remove food and watch civilisation disappear faster than your tax money into the EU drain.
It is often said that society is 3 meals from total anarchy - I would go a little further and fear that even the suggestion of food shortages are enough to turn the population into ravening hordes. What other industry is this true of yet we treat farmers casually and with almost contempt.
Conclusion
It is a failing of us all that we give little thought as to just where our food comes from. I'm sure many of us consider the supply chain to be no further than the supermarket and fail to think about where our meat and vegetables originate. Supermarkets rely on "just in time" deliveries to reduce costs and storage room and are usually just hours from running out. Can you imagine the chaos if this happened over a wide area.
Growing Crambe - oilseed crop
- Crambe - An ancient vegetable crop for use in plastics or fuel.
Crambe is a crop that can replace petroleum products or the production of plastics. The crop would benefit farmers and the environment as it would replace petroleum products and have zero toxic waste. It has a great immunity to insects and disease
Forestry - crop for power and chemical use
- Renewable forestry - Valuable natural resource and supplying clean renewable power.
Timber provides unlimited energy and chemical products when using a managed forestry system. In addition the forests act as lungs for mankind. Only unmanaged systems are bad for world ecology by destruction without replacement.
Using new or used vegetable oils as fuel
- Biofuels - We can turn our waste cooking oils into usable fuel.
Biofuels are a useful addition to existing fuel stocks but have some drawbacks Bioethanol is ok but can cause corrosion in alloy engine parts. Biodiesel uses just about any source or grade of prime or used veg or animal fat/oil.
What do you understand about farming and how it affects you personally ?
© 2012 Peter Geekie