The U.K. Is unprepared to feed its own people

[OfficiallyUnofficial]

AIBU to highlight this statement?*

Something the industry have known for while but the public just don't seem to get. We are at below 60% food security in the UK.

The U.K. Is unprepared to feed its own people

What a bloody scary statement, this isn't a BREXIT thread it's a "think local" thread. We have become so reliant on cheap imports, on retailers choosing what's best for us, never shouting British on products, so forgetful that our grumpy farmers are the only ones standing between us and starvation that this has quietly happened.

We are an island, the world is uncertain, God forbid there were war and blockades now. EU or non EU when will we start paying for food security?

*Sarah Boumphrey, global lead for economies & consumers at Euromonitor?

i know what im talking about

You really don't and you are just embarrassing yourself now.

Here's the thing - agriculture relies very heavily on grants and support from both our own government and the EU - this is a FACT.

What is also a fact is that to get those grants farmers are heavily audited - which included going through all finances, employment etc. FACT.

Once upon a time it was possible to hire a load of cash in hand aides, but not now. In fact, higher salary cost is a major cost to UK farmers who are trying to balance cost with profit.

So if the immigrant workers get NMW then how are they cheap labour ? Your blind to the truth and out of touch with whats happening on the ground

Lilysnape that is utter baloney these days.

I voted remain purely because I've been advertising for an apprentice to work on my farm for two years. Above the apprentice rate, accom included kid needed. It involves working unsociable hours and being outside. It's not a glamorous job. However, you don't have to be academic and it would suit people who want to work with their hands. There's career progression both within my own farm and within the industry. There are so many opportunities for a young person in our industry. Within a few years, someone with v little waylaid ovations could be earning 20-25k plus a house (which often includes bills being paid)

However, I've had at least 4 young men say "I don't want to give up my Saturday football." I've had people say they can't come to the interview because they're hungover. I've had people say oh, I couldn't actually touch muck.

Our youngsters so not want to get their hands dirty literally.

I also employ a number of other staff on over the nmw. We made a particular choice to design roles that would suit local people. We find it so hard to fill the vacancies,
Again people don't want to work the occasionally weekend and react in horror when told they'd have to work Xmas day.

I'm on the ground!

They're not cheap labour,
They're the ones prepared to do the job. Milk cows day on day out at 4 am. Collect
Eggs on Christmas Day. Pick mushrooms in the dark for hours on end. Sit on a tractor for 14-16 hours a day in August when the rest of the country is on holiday. Come in when an alarm goes off that puts chickens at risk even though it's their day off.

2 things I should add. There were other reasons I voted remain!

I also haven't been advertising for 2 years solid, we take it on and off again.

There's a racist extremist on every thread....

It seems likely that we may have to pay more for our food at least in the short to medium term. We will still be able to import food whatever political decisions are made but it may well cost more.

A long distance lorry driver may be interested in the tractor job.

*Silvertap exactly! I did it myself in my younger days and know plenty of people who do it now - it's not an easy job. It's long hours of physical labour, antisocial too - a cow doesn't care if it's Christmas, it still needs milked.

It also annoys me when people write it off as an unskilled job - it take a a lot of knowledge to know when sheep is about to lamb, or to tell when there is an issue with hens just by looking at their eggs, not to mention having to be a meteorologist and geologist when it comes to crops. I have total respect for those who work in agriculture.

YourPerception Thu 30-Jun-16 06:31:57
A long distance lorry driver may be interested in the tractor job.

My dad works in long distance haulage - he wouldn;t touch a tractor with a barge pole. His words ' fuckers tip over on a 20 turn'

I assume that's haulage speak for something but I don't know.

This is a useful article
www.fginsight.com/vip/brexit-vote---what-are-the-implications-for-uk-farming-13146
I'm on the app and can't do links, I'm afraid.

The comments from the apples and pears commission right at the bottom show how they have tried to recruit British people to do these jobs but they don't want the work. That is why they rely on migrant workers.

From my personal experience as a dairy farmer's wife, my DH works seven days a week for a vanishingly small profit. Gone are the days when dairy farms had lots of employees; smaller returns drive increased mechanisation because employment is expensive. Farmers themselves are often working well below NMW just to stay in business. An 80-90 hour week is about normal and 100 hours not unusual.

So if the immigrant workers get NMW then how are they cheap labour?

Because a lot of people won't do hard labour for NMW. Fact.

I am a farmer. The idea that you can just 'get a load of illegal immigrants in and pay them a tenner for 15 hour days' is laughable.

Do you read the Daily Mail?

I work in agriculture. Most of the smaller farmers I deal with fear they will go under without the support/grants from the EU. the "big business" farmers hope this does happen as they can then buy the land cheaply and increase their hectares/profit. Prices will definitely increase.

...out of touch with whats happening on the ground

Is this Brexit slogan going to be used to stifle debate indefinitely? Because it's already getting tiresome.

Fact: this island is not self-sufficient. OP would like to discuss this. Within first couple of posts we have the 'sour grapes' accusations from Brexit Leavers.

Also a point to note - there has been a great push in the last 20 years with regards to agricultural education and increasingly agricultural employers are looking for staff who are educated and skilled and will stay long term

Windsofwinter Thu 30-Jun-16 06:40:07
I work in agriculture. Most of the smaller farmers I deal with fear they will go under without the support/grants from the EU. the "big business" farmers hope this does happen as they can then buy the land cheaply and increase their hectares/profit. Prices will definitely increase.
Boo

I worked for a while with the ERDF and saw first hand the impact that money had on farmers (and the arts too) and I'm actually really worried about how the loss of those grants will impact businesses right now.

I doubt it long distance lorry driver get very good money. Well in this county anyway.

Dairy farmers are selling up. We have one farm here now whereas we had five years ago. One has given up farming and rents his land, one leases his farm and has gone into chickens. One drives a van.
The farm down the road is beef and sheep. He and his brother are still working one is 79 and the other 76! Moving sheep, planting trees and hedging, feeding animals I don't mean just pottering down to check stock.
I buy an organic box which is mostly grown locally apart from oranges and bananas. I buy local meat from the butchers. I occasionally buy from the supermarket if I want mangoes or more exotic fruit and veg.
If more people bought local produce more people would grow it. Simple.
And I don't earn a huge wage before someone says ...

Ah yes trying to call leave voters racist despite no mention of race or skin colour in this thread remainers really need to come up with some new insults this tantrum is getting rather tiresome now

Do we think that british people will ever want to work on the land again?

is it because the work is seasonal and weather dependent and it is simply not worth signing off for, simply to sign on again?

distsy4

I'm totally with you on this. Price wise there is little difference between our butcher / greengrocer and tesco - I think a large part of it is convenience.

We started to try and 'buy British' in the supermarket whenever possible and fair trade otherwise.

Makes environmental and ethical sense.

As is the pathetic use of the word "tantrum" to describe people who are genuinely angry that this will go through when a majority of the full electorate did not vote for it. Perhaps the Leavers need to come up with something new.

Although surely this is all irrelevant regarding workers, since they will not be sent home

Ok, Snape and Lily, we all get that you have totally different veiwpoints, so maybe just agree to disagree and stop gatecrashing the OP's thread?