Farmers Fury

[Odds]

Britain’s farmers battered by Brexit fallout and rising costs, says union​

“Volatility, uncertainty and instability”* are endangering UK farm businesses, according to the National Farmers’ Union, which is urging the government to support British food producers so they can keep supplying squeezed UK households and a growing global population.

The NFU president, Minette Batters, will outline “three cornerstones” for ensuring that UK food production prospers, and call on the government to ensure its farming policy achieves this by “boosting productivity, protecting the environment and managing volatility”.

Much has changed for farmers since last year’s get-together, which closed just hours before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The conflict sparked an increase in energy prices, disrupted global supply chains, and led to soaring costs of energy, fuel, fertiliser and animal feed, all of which are crucial for farmers.

It comes at a time when many farmers believe they have been undercut by the trade deals negotiated by the government, and are unimpressed with ministers’ plans for its post-Brexit environmental land management schemes (Elms), subsidies designed to replace the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP).

Agricultural inputs have risen by nearly 50% since 2019, amid huge cost inflation, Batters will say, which could trigger a slump in UK food production.

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“Volatility, uncertainty and instability”* are three little words the Tories should adopt as their new slogan.

 

[gant]

Saving the planet, filling fields with solar panels whilst turning to insects for sustainability. Happening across the eu as well, the dutch farmers will tell you.

 

[Odds]

Saving the planet, filling fields with solar panels whilst turning to insects for sustainability. Happening across the eu as well, the dutch farmers will tell you.

You don't fancy candy crickets for breakfast then?
French farmers aren't happy with new directives either; but when are they ever happy about anything?

 

[andy11]

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The conflict sparked an increase in energy prices, disrupted global supply chains, and led to soaring costs of energy, fuel, fertiliser and animal feed,

No. The increase in the prices of everything was (and still is being) caused by our own Government. Everything is now more expensive because the Government inflated the money supply by printing hundreds of billion of pounds of funny money for covid. Rising prices do not cause inflation; inflation causes rising prices. Our government hates us; we do not have shortages - we have everything we need on these islands. The problem is the Government stands between us and it.

 

[Odds]

No. The increase in the prices of everything was (and still is being) caused by our own Government. Everything is now more expensive because the Government inflated the money supply by printing hundreds of billion of pounds of funny money for covid. Rising prices do not cause inflation; inflation causes rising prices. Our government hates us; we do not have shortages - we have everything we need on these islands. The problem is the Government stands between us and it.

Doesn't the rise in prices lead to inflation in the first place?
A bit like the egg before the chicken.
I'm sure JohnD can explain much better than I.

 

[denso13]

Everything is now more expensive because the Government inflated the money supply by printing hundreds of billion of pounds of funny money for covid

I think you'll find inflation existed before the pandemic. Nonsense as usual...

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Saving the planet, filling fields with solar panels whilst turning to insects for sustainability. Happening across the eu as well, the dutch farmers will tell you.

Yep. Can't feed ourselves, reliant on food imports, prices through the roof. What's the solution from our traitor politicians?? Re-wilding the countryside!!?? Well, they've run mining into the ground (see what I did there ) , sold off any industries worth having to foreigners, screwed our foreign trade with EU, tanked the economy, left us reliant on foreign energy suppliers, left our once world leading nuclear power industry to wither on the vine, etc, etc, etc. Next area to receive their 'midas' touch is farming. Politicians are traitors. Expect nothing from them. Don't be disappointed.

 

[Odds]

Yep. Can't feed ourselves, reliant on food imports, prices through the roof. What's the solution from our traitor politicians?? Re-wilding the countryside!!?? Well, they've run mining into the ground (see what I did there ) , sold off any industries worth having to foreigners, screwed our foreign trade with EU, tanked the economy, left us reliant on foreign energy suppliers, left our once world leading nuclear power industry to wither on the vine, etc, etc, etc. Next area to receive their 'midas' touch is farming. Politicians are traitors. Expect nothing from them. Don't be disappointed.

Rewilding the countryside makes all kinds of sense in local areas - the fields around us act as run-off areas for excess rainfall and the riverbank has become a wildlife haven since it was left to act as a sump when the river runs high.
Working with nature, rather than against it, will be a good thing in the long term.
Closing mines in the 80s was down to them being uneconomical to run anymore.

 

[blup]

The uncertainty existed for farmers before brexhit and the nfu sat on the fence. Clarkson has done more for farmers than the nfu. Still, the red wall stands strong…

Blup

 

[Odds]

Farmers coined it in before Bre*it pi$$ed on their chips. The rest of that sentence makes no sense.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Many farmers are facing extreme poverty. Some have seen things get so bad that they've had to downgrade from a Range Rover to a mere Land Rover Discovery. Just imagine the indignity they suffer.

 

[Odds]

Robots and cow mattresses: £168m to be invested in UK farming​

Farmers in the UK will gain access to robots that can harvest crops in the absence of migrant workers, sensors on tractors to measure the nutrient level of soils, and cow mattresses to help prevent lameness in dairy cattle, under government measures announced today.

But the government’s latest attempts to woo farmers – who are facing severe hardship owing to high inflation – looked destined to fall flat, as it emerged that the money offered for the boost was merely recycled from a previous underspend.

Martin Lines, the chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, said: “It doesn’t look like it’s new money. It’s welcome investment that can help farmers invest in better productivity but if they are using the pot as part of the BPS [basic payment scheme, the current support for farmers] pot, there will be less money to deliver for environmental outputs. What isn’t getting done because they are using this money?”

Minette Batters warned the government: “The clock is ticking … The time is nearly up for government to demonstrate its commitment to food and farming in our great country, not just by saying they support us, but by showing us they do.”

Hot off the press

 

[Justin Passing]

Farmers have always had a rough deal, particularly small farmers.
We want them to look after the countryside and their animals, and we want food security of producing our own, but we don't want to pay for it.
That needs to be paid for by tarrifs on imports from countries with lower costs.

Of course costs are lower in say Australia. There's a farm there which is bigger than the whole of Israel. 10's of thousands of head of cattle (Then they get a couple of El Nino years which bring drought or a Nina which floods them). We can't & shouldn't be depending on that.

I'd far rather see sheep herded by collie dogs than be doing it in a helicopter, even though it is fun.
You don't hear, "How many days to spray that field?" even in Norfolk!

 

[andy11]

Doesn't the rise in prices lead to inflation in the first place?
A bit like the egg before the chicken.

The word inflation (in monetary terms) originally meant increasing the whole amount of money in circulation in an economy, literally "inflating" it. When this happens, prices must be increased by sellers because an extra amount of money is seeking to purchase the same amount of available goods.

Dishonest politicians have, over the years, obscured this fact by blaming others for price increases, so that now we have been brainwashed into believing the price rises cause inflation, rather than the other way around. It's like saying that the wind is caused by trees swaying.

Inflation is deliberate government policy - they plan to take a little bit of your wealth every year, year after year. It has been this way for over a hundred years, but wasn't always thus and doesn't have to be.

I'm sure JohnD can explain much better than I.

He will happily give you the dishonest explanation, yes.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

Andy, let me give you a simple example.

The farmer grows cereal and over the years has a nice regular business, same amount of produce each year selling for the same price.

Then 1 year he (and the other farmers) suffer a bad yield and has less to sell but his costs stay the same. Does he put his price up ? If he does, everybody who buys that cereal, all the way down to the bread in the shop has to pay a bit extra.

There is the inflation. Government (for all their faults) were not involved