Handed down on a plate.

[18 stoner]

Not really, if farming was the booming business it's made our to be, there would be no need for subsidies. The problem lies in the supermarkets, as has been said, and the competition on pricing against imported food. Do you buy british or the cheapest when you go shopping?

 

Competition exists in all business.

[Czlowiek Drzewo]

That is the root of the problem, food should be at least twice the price at retail, and farmers should get a much bigger proportion of the retail price. That way we wouldnt need a farming subsidy system.

 

How does anyone look at tesco selling 3 chickens for £5 and not smell a rat? In real terms food has never been cheaper, in the 1950s familys spent about 40% of household income on food, today the figure is nearer 10%. IMO the primary reason for this is supermarkets driving down prices from producers. (not just farmers btw)

 

10% of income on food? average low earnings between 2 a couple is 2k a month. at 10% thats £200 a month to feed lets say 2 kids and 2 adults...i doubt that is correct... try 40% today also.

 

I eat about £600 of food a month myself

[WoodED]

i sort of won most of my kit haha apart from my saws.

[benedmonds]

Not really, if farming was the booming business it's made our to be, there would be no need for subsidies. The problem lies in the supermarkets, as has been said, and the competition on pricing against imported food. Do you buy british or the cheapest when you go shopping?

 

I don't think subsidies are good. Withdrawing them would cause a lot of pain to be sure, but in the long run things would balance out.

 

It happened in New Zealand- from a farmers weekly article:

 

Farming in New Zealand changed irrevocably in November 1984. That was the month the country's new government, faced with a financial crisis, decided to end all direct support payments to its farmers with virtually immediate effect.

Twenty-five years later there is no question, New Zealand agriculture is better for it. Its farmers have a much greater understanding of their market opportunities, and have developed farming systems to exploit them effectively.

 

Ending subsidies meant farmers produced for the market and, as a result, sheep numbers have fallen dramatically - but prices have gone up. And while head numbers have reduced, improved per-head performance has offset the loss in total meat production to an extent.

[Rob D]

Does it really matter that much how you started out, whether you were given a helping hand, given yardage in your daddys farm, or a hand out from Great Grand mama?

 

 

Ditto - it doesn't matter how you started out....

 

 

 

[tree monkey]

10% of income on food? average low earnings between 2 a couple is 2k a month. at 10% thats £200 a month to feed lets say 2 kids and 2 adults...i doubt that is correct... try 40% today also.

 

I eat about £600 of food a month myself

 

err after said family has paid the utility bills and the running costs of a household there wouldnt be 40% left to spend on food:confused1:

[Rob D]

10% of income on food? average low earnings between 2 a couple is 2k a month. at 10% thats £200 a month to feed lets say 2 kids and 2 adults...i doubt that is correct... try 40% today also.

 

I eat about £600 of food a month myself

 

 

I doubt that is correct either! 40% of income on food??

 

 

And you're spending £600-00 a week? - what are you eating

 

 

Food has never been cheaper in that if you go into a supermarket and buy the lowest price brands you could spend a tenner and come out with 2 shopping bags full.

[Czlowiek Drzewo]

err after said family has paid the utility bills and the running costs of a household there wouldnt be 40% left to spend on food:confused1:

 

don't know. don't have kids. Just guessing from how much i spend on food monthly.

 

save on food and pay at the doctors.

[Tom D]

We need to subsidise our farmers as they compete in a world market, as tree surgeons we don't. The huge wheat farms of the ukraine, usa, canada, and australia will always be able to produce grain for less than we can in europe. Even though their yields per acre are much lower than ours the economies of scale realy add up. They don't have to conform to all the environmental rules that our farmers do and their labour costs are less.

 

If indian companies started doing tree work paying their staff a pound a day and putting us all out of business then we would be asking for handouts too.

 

What is interesting is that we are approaching the time when our subsidies are no longer required, the huge expanding world population and the higher net cost of fuel world wide has pushed up the price of food to the extent that with the right management our farmers could probably live without subsidies.. Problem is; try telling that to the French!

[tree monkey]

don't know. don't have kids. Just guessing from how much i spend on food monthly.

 

save on food and pay at the doctors.

 

its not a matter of saving its a fact that there isnt the finances to buy more food.we are in that category but i go shooting and have a few animals so i never buy meat produced and killed myself.

also you say save on food pay at doctors.

binge on food you will pay at doctors