A public "good" must be paid for from the public purse

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Apparently.....

 

According to Shaun Ricard (economic wizard) on Countryfile.

 

Apparently, he thinks "public good" must be paid for from public purse - as applied to farming as a business.

 

I wonder if he extends his logic to the public amenity provided by trees where the burden of maintenance and replanting falls to the private owner?

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Well, I was going to have a look at his background (http://www.seanrickard.co.uk) but as soon as I read "Chief economist for the NFU" it became blindingly obvious why he was advocating that "the custodians of the countryside" should be paid if they are to undertake any action that detracts from industrial exploitation of the natural environment.

 

C him the day after tomorrow!

 

The opening page of his website, if ever anyone needed evidence of the pernicious, self interested, money grabbing nature of NFU lobbying at national and EU government levels.

Edited March 26, 2017 by kevinjohnsonmbe

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Well, I was going to have a look at his background (http://www.seanrickard.co.uk) but as soon as I read "Chief economist for the NFU" it became blindingly obvious why he was advocating that "the custodians of the countryside" should be paid if they are to undertake any action that detracts from industrial exploitation of the natural environment.

 

C him the day after tomorrow!

 

The opening page of his website, if ever anyone needed evidence of the pernicious, self interested, money grabbing nature of NFU lobbying at national and EU government levels.

 

 

I may have to do a U-turn on him after I've had a chance to read and consider this: https://iea.org.uk/publications/research/liberating-farming-from-the-cap

 

U-turns, all the rage at the moment apparently! 😳

[Duncansimpson]

All the payments are passed on to you in the way of cheap food. It's true that the system is wrong as even racehorse farms get payments, but the bottom line is that a lot of farmers need it just to survive and to be able to continue to produce high quality cheap food for your family. Remove these payments and many will go bust especially those in the poor upland areas (most of out national parks) and the land will become untenable. Also they will be unable to compete with European farmers who will continue to get the payments and this country would be flooded with cheap imports.

The first things to suffer under a poor farmer are the environment and animal welfare so we need to be careful. It's not that simple.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

As well as all the grants given to farmers there are grants for forestry operations (1) e.g. forest road building, planting and establishemnet etc. as well as small woodlands on farms, individual tree planting on farms, tree pruning on farms etc. All set to go after we leave the EU, albeit the Government in their generosity have promised to maintain the grants till 2020. So at best you may expect a years worth of grants after Brexit funded out of the (2) or whatever it was. And then... That is why the farming community, who voted Brexit, are now lobbying via whatever means comes to hand for the continuation of the grants.

 

(1) I don't have the figures to hand but, from memory, I recall the level of grant support available to farming as compared to forestry, as each sector is measured by contribution to UK GDP is grossly disproportionate in favour of ag. I guess I could, if pressed, look the figures up again..... But not tonight!

(2) £350 squillion/second to be saved! Or at least that's what I voted for.... Must have been true, it was in a UKIP leaflet!

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

All the payments are passed on to you in the way of cheap food. It's true that the system is wrong as even racehorse farms get payments, but the bottom line is that a lot of farmers need it just to survive and to be able to continue to produce high quality cheap food for your family. Remove these payments and many will go bust especially those in the poor upland areas (most of out national parks) and the land will become untenable. Also they will be unable to compete with European farmers who will continue to get the payments and this country would be flooded with cheap imports.

The first things to suffer under a poor farmer are the environment and animal welfare so we need to be careful. It's not that simple.

 

I've only very briefly skim read it, but you may be in direct contradiction of the theories proposed by the NFU's former chief economist that I linked above....

 

Just saying.... You may be right and he may be wrong.... I'll read it in full and at leisure tomorrow

[MooresFT]

i thought he came across pretty well..

Farms need to be efficient businesses, not an environmental project.

He said the farms should stand on their own two feet and the only subsidies paid are for parcels of land being farmed inefficiently for environmental reasons.

[flatyre]

Can anyone explain the whole subsidised farming thing? Not being a farmer or from farming stock I don't know much about it. Is it a case of getting financial help if your farm is in trouble? What are the conditions of that help?

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

i thought he came across pretty well..

Farms need to be efficient businesses, not an environmental project.

He said the farms should stand on their own two feet and the only subsidies paid are for parcels of land being farmed inefficiently for environmental reasons.

 

I'd be less grumpy about the skewed propaganda disseminated by the NFU if one or the other were true.

 

You can't have Farmer Giles, 1930's style, bumbling around all hours achieving not much and claiming to be a custodian of the countryside whilst simultaneously advancing GM, badger culling, intensive farming, neonic's, etc, etc, etc...

 

The 2 just don't belong together but both are actively propagated by the NFU. (IMHO)

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Can anyone explain the whole subsidised farming thing? Not being a farmer or from farming stock I don't know much about it. Is it a case of getting financial help if your farm is in trouble? What are the conditions of that help?

 

Try this:

 

https://iea.org.uk/publications/research/liberating-farming-from-the-cap