Feb 2020
2:12pm, 25 Feb 2020
2,469 posts
|
Fellrunning
I don't think comparing two such diverse production models helps. NZ favours quantity over quality. They have a better climate and basically breed their sheep to death. Three sets of lambs a year isn't unusual. They have huge amounts of land available and can produce on a large scale. They also have very strict biosecurity. Just try getting of a flight in Auckland with a muddy pair of trainers on. UK hill production is historically inefficient, and has always relied on subsidy. If and when those subsidies go then livestock farming in general and sheep farming in particular will be in for a rough ride. I have to confess to having chuckled many a time into my beer when one of my farming friends held forth about Brussels imposed regulation. The idea that it was Brussels that was keeping them afloat never occurred until now, as the branch they've been busily sawing through starts to creak beneath them. I'm similarly unsympathetic to the "It's our way of life" argument. I'm sure you'd have heard the same in many a pit village. Or on the Austin Allegro production line. Times change and farmers need to stop relying on unlimited subsidy, cheap labour, and chucking poison over everything. And consumers need to prepare to pay more for their food. |
Feb 2020
2:32pm, 25 Feb 2020
6,452 posts
|
jda
You only have to read as far as my previous post JB, though to be precise it isn't the carbon emitted from soil, but the nitrous oxide, which also causes global warming in a similar manner. It was just one figure from one farm and these things are notoriously hard to estimate. FR, local farmer told me they voted for brexit specifically because the cruel EU made them put two tags in their little lambs' ears. They thought one was acceptable, but not 2. |
Feb 2020
10:59pm, 25 Feb 2020
2,026 posts
|
Canute
Trying to get a reliable picture of the true costs of food production is extremely challenging, if one includes a realistic estimate of cost to the environment, including degradation of soil; flood damage; pollution by fertilizers etc. Different grazing practices might have substantially different effects on soil degradation. It is nonetheless abundantly clear that the actual cost of food to society is a lot more than the cost that the consumer currently pays. Food costs have to go up. However even now poor people eat more cheap junk food, suffering and increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and overall mortality. If food costs go up without addressing inequality in society, these adverse effects on the poor will lead to even greater costs of ill health associated with food consumption. A sustainable farming policy will also have to address the potential problem of greater pressure on poor people to eat junk food leading to greater costs to the NHS and also a less productive work force. |
Feb 2020
10:32am, 26 Feb 2020
9,587 posts
|
rf_fozzy
So... will the Tories raise taxes? bbc.co.uk IFS says they'll have to if they want to stick to their manifesto promises. |
Feb 2020
3:06pm, 26 Feb 2020
10,746 posts
|
Markymarkmark
So, back to Tea... (we are British, after all!) I've just had a chat with one of my colleagues who is responsible for "Choosing And Ordering The Office Tea" (I never knew it was a thing!). He is fielding complaints because it's not Taylor's/Yorkshire Tea in the cupboard. But he has been boycotting them for the last few years because he has never seen tea growing in Yorkshire, and "it's overpriced". He refuses to go as low as buying Tetley's. Apparently PG Tips hits the sweet spot between eco-friendliness and cost for him. I asked whether there was plastic in the tea-bags, and then left the conversation quickly. |
Feb 2020
3:15pm, 26 Feb 2020
4,405 posts
|
Raemond
Yorkshire tea is roasted, blended, and bagged in Yorkshire, I believe (a colleague is very quick to defend it when anyone mentions the lack of cameliensis plantations in the region).
|
Feb 2020
3:28pm, 26 Feb 2020
23,067 posts
|
Johnny Blaze
I'm afraid that I think that anyone who boycotts YT because Sunak used it in an "informal social media post" is a bit of a dolt.
|
Feb 2020
3:33pm, 26 Feb 2020
911 posts
|
Ally-C
It seems an incredible reaction to it JB.
|
Feb 2020
3:33pm, 26 Feb 2020
33,560 posts
|
LindsD
Especially as YT were quick to say it was nothing to do with them and not with their permission.
|
Feb 2020
3:41pm, 26 Feb 2020
19,196 posts
|
DeeGee
Don't forget, the man's who made the tweet in the first place is an MP in a Yorkshire constituency, at a time when the north is still being overlooked despite lending their vote to Prime Minister Johnson. It was Sunak saying "Yarkshire!" rather than Taylors of Harrogate saying "Tory!" |
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