So what's going to happen to the firewood market?

[openspaceman]

10 minutes ago, Conor Wright said:

Growing under any form of protection has its environmental impact, but one polytunnel cover will last up to a decade, a glasshouse indefinitely once of proper construction and well maintained.. At a pure guess, the impact of one flight of mange tout from Zimbabwe to europe is doing more damage, not just to the global environment but also to the local ones, both where it takes off and lands, than the whole life cycle of a tunnel. How little are the subsistence farmers (many whom are mere tennants on massive commercial enterprises) getting for their work if its 79cent for 150g of their product 3000km away from home, also, how is the local grower who has to pay staff, taxes etc. and keep up to stringent standards of h and s bureaucracy, none of which are adhered to or can be adhered to by aforementioned overseas growers supposed to compete?

 

I totally agree and this of course is the tragedy of other nations not being able to afford or manage their affairs as we do and it's not as if we couldn't do much better.

 

One of my worries about cash crops from third world economy is the gradual removal of minerals necessary for good husbandry  over time as I get the impression artificial fertilisers are not affordable. It;s yet another reason I support the application of biochar paid for by carbon credits from the wealthy nations, It means the cash crop stays on site yet the farmer still gets a cash income.

10 minutes ago, Conor Wright said:

If we spent less time over here farming subsidies and destroying arable land with over stocking dairy and beef cattle maybe we could utilise the same land to successfully grow a complete range of vegetables and fruits while still maintaining a sufficient number of animals to keep some high quality exports (not exporting live animals) and dairy products to neighbouring countries.. Who really and genuinely thinks that Ireland exporting dairy products to China is actually the basis of a succesful business model? Really? 

I eat a reduced meat diet and even that aggressive kernowman seems to agree farming would be a bit better if  food that people could eat would best not be fed to animals and that animals were best foraging for their food on land that is not accessible for cultivation.

10 minutes ago, Conor Wright said:

Reduce animal numbers, thereby

Increasing diversification of produce.

Apply real world pricing to air freighted fresh goods.

Increase both the quality of farm incomes and work practises through higher value produce

Increase the numbers of people willing to work the land, because now it makes sense.

Reduce monocultures, plant more trees, save seeds, create bee habitats, run mixed livestock enterprises in conjunction with environmentally sound land husbandry techniques. minimise harmful chemical inputs, maximise production on small acreages, involve people, utilise social media etc to build proper awareness of what we are actually eating and the processes involved.

Maybe then we could go about achieving some level of actual economic security

I like it but am not knowledgeable enough to comment on the practicability

 

[openspaceman]

13 minutes ago, Conor Wright said:

Derailed things a bit there..

naughty ?

[Squaredy]

29 minutes ago, Conor Wright said:

Growing under any form of protection has its environmental impact, but one polytunnel cover will last up to a decade, a glasshouse indefinitely once of proper construction and well maintained.. At a pure guess, the impact of one flight of mange tout from Zimbabwe to europe is doing more damage, not just to the global environment but also to the local ones, both where it takes off and lands, than the whole life cycle of a tunnel. How little are the subsistence farmers (many whom are mere tennants on massive commercial enterprises) getting for their work if its 79cent for 150g of their product 3000km away from home, also, how is the local grower who has to pay staff, taxes etc. and keep up to stringent standards of h and s bureaucracy, none of which are adhered to or can be adhered to by aforementioned overseas growers supposed to compete?

If we spent less time over here farming subsidies and destroying arable land with over stocking dairy and beef cattle maybe we could utilise the same land to successfully grow a complete range of vegetables and fruits while still maintaining a sufficient number of animals to keep some high quality exports (not exporting live animals) and dairy products to neighbouring countries.. Who really and genuinely thinks that Ireland exporting dairy products to China is actually the basis of a succesful business model? Really? 

Reduce animal numbers, thereby

Increasing diversification of produce.

Apply real world pricing to air freighted fresh goods.

Increase both the quality of farm incomes and work practises through higher value produce

Increase the numbers of people willing to work the land, because now it makes sense.

Reduce monocultures, plant more trees, save seeds, create bee habitats, run mixed livestock enterprises in conjunction with environmentally sound land husbandry techniques. minimise harmful chemical inputs, maximise production on small acreages, involve people, utilise social media etc to build proper awareness of what we are actually eating and the processes involved.

Maybe then we could go about achieving some level of actual economic security

Very insightful and sensible words indeed.  Sadly it isn’t the way the world works.  Can I live on your planet please?

[Conor Wright]

3 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

 

 

I like it but am not knowledgeable enough to comment on the practicability

 

To be honest I am not claiming any level of in depth knowledge here, it just makes sense to me on a basic level, obviously far more would have to be done alongside and I cannot claim to be, in any way, qualified to instruct anybody on this, but we are all entitled to our opinions and if those of us with workable ideas were to combine those ideas we may be able to create changes for the benefit of our kind..

[Conor Wright]

5 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Can I live on your planet please?

You already do! make the best of it.

[Gary Prentice]

8 minutes ago, Conor Wright said:

Not claiming any level of in depth knowledge here, it just makes sense to me on a basic level, obviously far more would have to be done alongside and I cannot claim to be, in any way, qualified to instruct anybody on this, but we are all entitled to our opinions 

Don’t worry about it, it’s  t’inernet. Knowledge or expertise has never been a prerequisite for posting. 

 

You’re right though, so much just doesn’t make sense.

[difflock]

Sommat recently, a food related story, caused me to comment to the wife; "Bread and Circus" will continue to keep the masses happy,

i.e. mass-produced, heavily advertised, read-to-eat, proper-shite food and celebrity related news.

Nowt has changed from the time of the Romans, incl that unfortunately emphirically true statement attributed to JC(no, the other one, the origional JC) "The poor will always be with us".

or

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

 

[openspaceman]

4 hours ago, difflock said:

"The poor will always be with us".

Yes but no reason the rest of society shouldn't provide a safety net to avoid too much suffering unless you are suggesting there is a discernible different  genetic make up between the poor and the rest of us.

[Conor Wright]

40 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

 unless you are suggesting there is a discernible different  genetic make up between the poor and the rest of us.

Are we not the poor? genetics aside.. think about it... there is abject poverty, yes.. there is always the super rich too.. on the scale we are far closer to the poverty end than the wealthy end.. unless you won the lotto and never told us, then you may be slightly up on the scale! 

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Conor Wright said:

Are we not the poor?

Not in the context of needing  financial support from the rest of society, though I guess it's your contributions that pay my pension.

 

The growing disparity between the working classes and the super rich is a different matter and in the long term probably  damaging.