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 buy lacto free milk. It's about £1.30 per litre rather than £1 for 4 litres

WTF !

I'm looking at a minimum of €1.20 pl of supermarket brand fresh milk and the absolute cheapest UHT is 69 eurocents pl. Most of the other brands have inched towards 80cents plus.

No wonder I sit here wondering how you lot manage to feed your families on 50 quid a week or less. I knew you were getting a far better deal in LIDL that we do on a lot of products. But fuck me. 25p for a litre of milk.

I'm in Italy as well. In an agricultural dominated area. Cost of living and wages are lower here, but evidently there are factors making the cost of some (quite a lot of) foods way higher.

How much do you lot pay for a jar of Barilla basic tom pasta sauce ? Or half a kilo of Barila pasta ? If that's cheaper I'm off to start painting a brand new placard.

DH and I have had this conversation for years. We pay far too little for our food as it is - consumer driven race to the bottom. Horsemeat scandal aside, one of the areas where EU regulation has an effect is food safety.

After Brexit and the loss of farm subsidies, already struggling dairy farmers will possibly give up completely and our milk will come in powdered form from China and be rehydrated locally. China can't even make safe baby formula, so I hate to think what we will be drinking.

Our fruit and veg won't be picked (but of course the Brexit team will realise they'll have to provide dispensation to eastern European workers to come and work in the ag sector) so we'll have to import more from overseas, including outside Europe, increased air miles and increased price due to hike in fuel costs caused by beleaguered £.

IPost - our prices are ridiculously low here. In some cases, i.e. prepared meals, the quality suffers for it. I don't know the price of barilla sauces, but you can get a jar of basics sauce in the supermarkets for 40pish, and 500g of spaghetti for 20p.

Food prices are incredibly low in Britain

Food used to be the next biggest expense after rent/mortgage - now it's averagely 4th or lower

@LilySnape They dont user they pay immigrants the lowest wage possible in cash sometimes as little as £10 for 15hr shifts picking crops and weeding the fields by hand everyone knows this yet no one stops it

Have you reported these illegal activities to the authorities? I must say you sound remarkably ill-informed.

Don't know about Barolo but you can get pasta in Lidl for about 45p for 500g, sauce is about 79p.

Have you reported these illegal activities to the authorities? I must say you sound remarkably ill-informed.

Of course she hasn't. She'd rather come on here and spout vitriol about it.

lost

40p!

Forty fucking pee ?

LD, the cheapest supermarket I can go to, that looks like it wandered off from 80s Russia by accident, gives the impression that it might just source it's cheapo meat from Chernobyl ... own brand disgusting (and I am far from being a fussy bugger) basic Tom pasta sauce, 80 cents. In real terms bearing in mind the earnings disparity, that's would probably feel like 80p-a quid for somebody in Britain.

And you get unlimited electricity so you can run your dishwasher and washing machine at the same time.

Wow, LilySnape - according to recent posts, you are a farming expert and a 'nutritionalist' as well. Impressive....

You know what though? The "A bunch of illegals coming over here taking British jobs for £10 a day" rhetoric IS racism. Not to mention utter bollocks.

Well if prices increase it will be ironic as the less well off seemed to vote leave and will be most affected.

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

Says the poster claiming illegal immigrants work 15 hour days for £10. Ironic, innit.

It seems to me that this 'buy cheap as cheep s possible, to hell with the environment or cost to the farmers, producers etc." Is very damaging. How do we change the mindset?

We buy local, organic and fair trade wherever we can, but even people who CAN afford it don't effing bother.

sorry about the typos

Scotland is a net exporter of food. We produce far more food than we import. total food and drink exports are values at 5 billion pounds, far more than we import.

Just to pull the rug out here a bit, I'm a non voter but more on the "leave" side of the fence, the pre vote farmers guardian poll had a higher % of farmers voting leave than remain, so like I said Lily this ISNT a BREXIT thread, it's a "holy shit we seriously need to think about this" thread.

Farmers in general apart from one or two big boys aren't sweeping in the cash, the farm gate price of milk, cereals and meat is generally under the cost of production! Meaning they are making a loss every year, most are drowning in debt with banks holding an axe over them. We lost over 100 dairy farmers last year alone.

We need to understand the real price of our food not just allow the shops to do things like use milk as a cheap tempt into their store than rake it in on other products.

Ah yes trying to call leave voters racist despite no mention of race or skin colour

racism is about more than colour. You seriously need to educate yourself before you continue embarrassing yourself.

lilysnape I live on a farm and rent from the farmer - I can assure you he doesn't have illegal immigrants working for him paid £10 for 15hr days

OfficiallyUnofficial

EXACTLY

and bear in mind that farmers, especially dairy farmers, have a quota - they are only allowed to sell that amount, if they produce more then it goes to waste. Farmers have such a hard time already.

Pearlylum - except a large % of Scotland's exports (85% in 2014) is whisky. We can't live on whisky alone (it would be a happy life, but a short one!)

lost

I find it amazing people will go out and pay a premium for a little virtue signalling 'fair trade' sticker to prove they've paid a fair price to farmers and agricultural workers half way around the world, but they couldn't give two shits if they pay a fair price to someone around the corner.

I really like that I now have the option to pay a fair premium for milk, but I do think it should be standard. I would happily buy other produce if I could be reassured that the farmers and their workers were both getting paid properly for their work.

I have only skim read the thread but I noticed that nobody has mentioned that in the last few years a lot of farm land has been sold off for housing.....

RobinHumphries Thu 30-Jun-16 07:42:14
I have only skim read the thread but I noticed that nobody has mentioned that in the last few years a lot of farm land has been sold off for housing.....

we have a hugely growing population and endless bitching about house prices in cities - where EXACTLY do you expect your kids to live?

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

If you think this then the country would be in constant limbo, nothing would ever be passed because you will never get 100% of the electorate to vote, we live in a democracy where you have a right to vote and a right not to. Those that bothered to vote voted to leave. It's not difficult.

DurhamDurham, since we don't govern by referendum, clearly the issue of being in constant limbo doesn't arise. And this mess shows precisely why referenda are a pretty stupid idea unless they are properly thought through.