To tell you how fucked UK agriculture is?

[eatsleepfarmrepeat]

God I just feel beaten this evening, I’m a farmers wife, I work in a professional role which pays well (thank god) we have two young children and I’m just DONE.

My husband is on his arse. This years harvest is so relentless, wet weather means it’s a real smash and grab operation, the heavy machines are running on wet ground and we’re just burning diesel trying to dry wet crops.

I’ve just escorted the combine from the field up to the yard (because it’s raining, again) and for about the fifth time this harvest I’ve been flashed at and given the wanker sign. I mean, I get it, it’s a big bit of kit, it takes up the whole road but honestly escorting is the only way to get them home safely and how the fuck do you get it from A to B without it going on the road? We’re not waggoning class As or having some recreational rave, we’re just making food.

We grow cereals which are either milling wheat for bread (which will be problematic this year due to the drop in proteins and the unfavourable harvest because of the weather) feed wheat for animal feed, oil seed rape for biodiesel and barley, for beer. The new green agenda means our subsidies are being replaced by taking good arable land (which makes up 24% of the country) out of production. This is why there is a shortage of eggs, the commodity price is being pushed and egg producers are not being paid the cost of production by supermarkets so they are importing, from countries which are not held to the same (necessary) animal welfare standards which the UK industry operate under.
we produce high welfare free range chickens. They retail for £10+ but our contract with supermarkets has them in at £3.24 per bird - imagine trying to operate on those margins with food and energy bills being what they are. In addition the UK market is absolutely flooded with Thai imports of cheap shit mean which again falls far below our own mandatory animal welfare standards - we just cannot compete.

ironically a lot of our feed wheat will probs go to vivirgo/e sos for energy crops. Literally thousands of litres of diesel burned producing something to go into a power plant and be sold as green energy for the lithium heavy teslas of Britain.

in the last decade we have planted 100acres of woodland, created four new wildlife ponds on the farm and drilled artichoke and wildflower shelter belts to enhance wildlife and pollinators on the farm.

I keep thinking we would be a million times happier (and better off) if we just sold out of the partnership and started again, get out of this shit, spiralling industry where the general public seem to think we’re trying to kill them and simultaneously fuck the countryside at the same time, go have a nice life where my husband isn’t hampered by stress and the never ending pressure of his arsehole father who got fat in the 70s where they used shit hot chemicals and decimated any balance of wildlife. This year is hard but with the commodity prices falling again against an increasing fuel and labour and fertiliser bill I just wonder what the fuck we are doing it for. Any trade off with the lovely holistic life the kids have is countered by stressed out parents.

we’re an island. We need food security, and we’re being paid to fallow productive acres which is already having a knock on effect to other food markets. Why are we so short sighted? We can afford to be virtuous with our farmland as a nation by offsetting but the outcome is that we’re outsourcing our footprint to these poorer nations like Thailand who are picking up our production slack and selling their chicken into our country at a criminally low value. It’s batshit.

I absolutely agree that the Tories have had their turn and screwed up spectacularly. Looking at the world stage though, who is there amongst them, left or right, who will lead us to a better future? I’ve always been apolitical and gone with the flow, but we can’t continue like this can we?

My views aren’t entirely parochial because I’ve lived and worked in two other European cities in two different countries and my DH is from yet another European country and currently works in a fourth. We see things from multiple viewpoints and neither of us can figure out who is fit to govern us. Left or Right, no-one seems to have the answer presently. We’re both very concerned for the generations that are coming along after us ☹️

MoneyBox on Radio 4 is covering this topic right now.

Does it sound like the researcher has been reading along? I have been deadheading the lavender....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001pm37

'Rising costs are having an impact on almost everyone, but that impact is very different for different sections of the economy. Rising food production costs are pushing up everyone’s grocery bills, and squeezing farmers’ profit margins. How are farms adapting to survive difficult times? Are any of them finding new ways to thrive? Felicity Hannah travels to South Wales to meet two farmers, both running family businesses. Kevin and Sian, who, since covid, have diversified their 200 acre mixed farm into a profit making business. And Abi who works alongside her parents and uncle on a 700 acres mixed farm of dairy, sheep, arable, and beef has seen costs spiral but has long term financial solutions for her family business to thrive again. The programme also talks to Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union which represents 47,000 farming businesses across England and Wales, to ask what does the future look like for farmers.

I hear you and applaud you for your attitude to sustainability, animal welfare and for bringing your children up with respect for our land and it’s other animal inhabitants.
A huge thank you.
The reason why we import farm produce from abroad is because your average Britisher cares not a fig about animal suffering or wrecking the natural environment and its effect on biodiversity.
… so long as they and theirs have their latest phones, cheap clothing, ready meals, benefits and drugs to counter effect of health damaging lifestyles all is well in their world.
Britain has become a nation of majority couldn’t care less citizens of very low ethical or moral standing.
I speak as an animal and environmental campaigner of 30 years standing.
Its terrifying.
I send warmest wishes: be proud !

I don’t think that’s fair, I can’t think anyone has ever been happy to sit back and watch another industry go to the wall, what exactly were farmers (and every single other industry) meant to do?

Everyone with a modicum of common sense knows Jeremy needs an income from his farm, that is not the point of the show. It highlights how little profit is available, even with adequate resource and on an economy of scale (Jeremy’s farm is much larger than your average farm in terms of acreage and so, should be able to wash its face). It has shown the red tape and batshit bureaucracy that we all have to jump through, just to produce food and in his case, diversify. So many farmers are trying to diversify and are met with the same issues, it’s positive PR in that respect.

The point of my post wasn’t for sympathy, it’s fucking hard at the moment but lots of industries are. It’s the fact that we produce food, which people need to eat, and through disconnection and policy, it seems to be overlooked that once our country is covered in wildflowers and solar, there will be significantly less land to produce food with, and don’t think any single imported commodity will not rocket in price.

Thanks OP for this thread. I'm a very unusual farmer. I inherited a small sheep farm in my fifties. I don't make a profit but I'm damned if I will surrender to the developers who would pay me a fortune for my lovely acres right next to a desirable small town.
I place no faith in any political party because there is a tiny rural vote. Boris Johnson was deeply influenced by Zac/Ben Goldsmith and Carrie towards Net Zero policy. Keir Starmer stood in a field once. Ed Davey thinks men can become women.
I think a lot of people hate and despise farmers. We're thick and reactionary.
I'm reminded of the Jack Nicholson speech
You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall -- you need me on that wall. In other words I don't want to think of you slogging all the hours god sends in horrible conditions. If I do talk about you I will demonise you. (Not that I'm condoning murder of innocent men )

Interesting thread @eatsleepfarmrepeat !

We grow wheat, sugar beet and potatoes as well as keep 40000 odd free range egg laying hens.

Egg production was grim during covid up until this year, as was potato production during covid when the chip shops were all shut.

The retailers were absolutely determined to keep the price paid for eggs below the cost of production, until they ran out last autumn, and then they finally realised they might need to pay a decent price and now we’re getting a proper price, long may it last. Now if we could just find a way to avoid bird flu…..

Hopefully the chicken meat market will turn a corner soon, keep your chin up.

If you want to see my grumpy rant, the product of a teacher being married to a farmer, it’s over here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/education/4867825-primary-school-admissions-14-miles-apart?reply=128272756

I wouldn’t plough through all of it, it’s long, gets very repetitive and apparently everything’s our fault.

Sorry - that should read “Jeremy *doesn’t need an income from his farm”

but he saw an injustice in working long hours for no money whilst trying to produce something which literally sustains life.

@eatsleepfarmrepeat
In terms of land there is also

"Vertical farming allows us to produce crops with 70-95% less water in comparison to conventional farming methods. This farming method uses hydroponic systems to grow produce, and most of these recycle the water used within a recirculating system."

From google

Thank you for what you do.

Thanks for the “google”. I’m very aware of vertical farming as a concept, but the people who are developing vertical farms are incredibly wealthy companies mostly using brownfield sites and… scientists.

I have done a lot of work with researchers who have been involved in the Scunthorpe site, a very insightful link below with lots of nice diagrams but as headlines:

Upto 750% more expensive than glasshouses (which are, FWIW, absolutely not cheap in themselves to built, service, heat and irrigate)

They demand significantly more energy as they are LED powered

They are restricted to a certain high value crop due to the cost of running them - anything from medicinal cannabis to saffron.

In summary, a £10mil vertical farm is way beyond the confines of our farms overdraft but additionally, we can’t put 1200acres of wheat up in the sky, unless people fancy paying £100+ for their loaf of warburtons.

https://www.savills.co.uk/research_articles/229130/343469-0

Very much appreciate for your analysis

That's the flip side with using google unless I've researched in detail then it does not give the complete perspective.

Will farming eventually go the way of basically just big business.

Eg Tesco's, Walmart, sainsburys but of the farm industies ?

I imagine so, there are several entities in this county farming upwards of 10,000 acres- a mixture of owned, rented and contract farming agreements with smaller farms who can’t keep up. I imagine that will be the option for us at some point if things keep on the way they are - either sell up or contract farm it out.

The issue with renting/contracting it out is that you lose control. If you don’t have decent soil indices you don’t have a future cropping. Our soil indices and crop rotations all hinge around having a good healthy fertile farm. When you’re renting land on short term agreements and farming thousands of acres in big block rotations on controlled traffic, you just don’t have the fucks to give about how many earthworms there are per square metre. This, again, is bad for everyone because soil health is a key requirement for continued humanity, on a global scale.

Fair points, until eg companies like these develop better growth methods etc

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto

To counteract the wanker sign (ughhh), please take a big high five from my 3.5 year old who was SO disappointed this morning that the combine that was out in the field behind our house at bedtime wasn't there when he woke up in the morning - then dragged me today round the entire field at the local country show TWICE with an ear of wheat in his hand searching for a combine to "feed" his wheat into... Ignore the ignorant and rude people. You are heroes for the vast majority of us.

Ditto. Same position. General public have no idea just how tough it is.

@RosaGallica
In your list of industries that have suffered and disappeared you didn't mention shipyards. That's the industry I was employed in during the 90's (the same yard as my father, grandfathers and great-grandfathers). When I started there, there were 2 yearly shutdowns, the first Christmas to New Year and then the traditional 2 week summer shutdown. I was rarely expected to work overtime, but if I did I was paid for it, I also received sickpay. Then I married a farmer. We don't get holidays or sick pay, if we go out for a day (agricultural show) the work still has to be done, so a long day becomes longer.

Unlike Jeremy Clarkson, who is a loaded, privileged individual not due to farming, we are tenant farmers so do understand what it is like to work for decades and own nothing. My DH works 16 hour days 7 days a week. We live in a house which most people would think twice about stepping into, our children can't have friends around unless they're from a similar background. I'm one of those parents who allow their DC on playdates but can't return the favour and I feel terrible about it.

About 2 months ago there was a program on BBC (forgotten the name and can't find it on iPlayer) which revisited people 20 years on. It revisited a Cornish dairy farmer, it was heart breaking. He and is wife appeared far older than they were. Their tenancy was ending in 5 years and then they would have nowhere to live and could not afford to buy anything, the only thing they owned was the cows and some knackered machinery. This is the reality for a lot of farmers we know, even the ones that own their farms are struggling.

I feel for you, and I thank you for your hard work. We purposely only buy UK produced meat and where possible all food or fruit and veg.

like him or not, Clarkson is highlighting the perils of being a farmer.

without giving too much away, I was part involved with the foreign meat coming into the country, all I will say is I now never eat unless is UK (often eat veggie only out and about).

Interestingly I am just back from a visit to my farm wring brother (generational business) and he is adamant he is retiring and selling up in 9 years when he turns 60. But his friend and neighbour has just put his farm up for sale and said if he gets a good price he might just follow suit.

YABU. The farmers voted for Brexit. Well here you are with the economy in the shape every intelligent person who voted remain predicted. And having done accounting and auditing of farm books, I never yet met a poor farmer but plenty who claim it whilst taking subsidies.

I think that dismissive comment about farmers universally voting for Brexit was roundly trounced several pages ago @MMCQ. Your clients might have, so clearly your advice didn't swing the argument.

The land market is much stronger than the resi market because it’s a tax break for investors, that’s another reason it’s so hard for farming families to expand because they’re competing against investment buyers.

We’ve got 20 acres of cutting left so hopefully we will be done in an hour or so, here endeth the most difficult harvest I can remember. Quick blow down and clean and then we’re turning around for starting cultivations next week.

Hopefully the weather isn’t too shit this weekend, we might get a last min couple of days somewhere with the children before next week starts!

Im sure I read something recently about vertical farms failing - because of the old problem of energy costs at a time of escalating costs.

@Narcnarc you’ve made some ‘interesting’ posts. I’m not quite sure what you’re aiming for with them, but if you are thinking we need real change outside our current political 2-party system and outside a country entirely focused solely on the finance sector you are correct. It is the finance sector that makes the rules, not the urban areas as a whole, urban areas outside London’s finance areas are quite famously powerless right now. Change is not going to come from the current Tories. I do not trust Starmer as a re-run of New Labour either, but in a 2-party system that’s all we have.

Vertical farming - yup. Thanks google. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66173872