[BBC News] Farmers thank island for support

[WTF]

Did they get planning permision?? there was a bit of a moan a few months back and the trailer sign has now been removed from the field at the blackboards because of advertising on agricultural land without the planning permission!

[triskelion]

All imported foodstuffs are likely to be subsidised unless imported from outside the EU due the CAP. Still, milk prices in the UK are so low that hundreds of dairy farmers go to the wall every year. Since farmers do not own the retailers they do not operate in a competitive environment. Prices are essentially set by the super markets, who sell milk as a loss leader to encourage foot-falls. At least the Isle of Man farmers are treated with something approaching dignity, and the dairy, which is owned by the farmers is probably one of the most pro-active of truly Manx business in terms of trying selling its products abroad. You can buy Manx cheese across Britain.

 

This is a harmless bit of fun.

[ai_Droid]

Tesco sell milk at about 40p a litre, it travels hundreds of miles from farms in a different country, across a sea and into the store and still sells for that price, ours travels about 10 miles to a packaging plant then 10 miles to a store, costs 3 times as much. Please explain why.

 

1) Tesco often sells items you need to buy frequently at a loss to get you in the store to buy other more expensive items

2) The cheap stuff is often shit and inferior

3) It's mass produced offshore in less regulated employment markets or in emerging economies, so cheaper

 

We pay a lower percentage for food now than we ever have in history. Intensive farming and food that's shipped globally requires a huge amount of fossil fuels, this isn't sustainable. Locally grown food is our future, and if we don't support our farmers vs unsustainable cheap imports, we won't have one.

[Grianane]

So they're the bright fuckers that came up with this safety hazard, not renowned for their intellect then?

I did read the story, I was trying to save some blushes.

Not as if we have much choice is there, milk at inflated prices to save the farmers, importation of meat banned to protect the farmers, bread at high prices to protect the farmers.

Why do they need protecting, let them survive in a competitive environment, allow all imports and see who wins the battle of the tills. If their produce is that good they will survive in the face of competition.

Why is bread so dear when the wheat travels about 10 miles? Someone is living off the fat of the land alright.

As you can probably surmise I am not a farmer, nor related to one so I do expect some criticism of my views on the subject of farming. Yes I know sod all about farming and have never dated a farmer of his daughter/son so my views are rooted in ignorance and jealousy. Please educate me otherwise by answering this posting with insightful suggestions as to what I should do with my spare time.

 

Many pay nearly £1 for a bottle of water yet call 53p for a pint of milk 'inflated'!!! Work out what the farmer actually receives from that? Try harvesting for profit when a tractor can go through more than £150 per day on fuel. Imports are great until external factors affect price or availability. Your ignorance of the Islands farming community is nauseating - next time you visit the areas with livestock and crops contained in green fenced areas known as fields why not pop along to the place known as a farm and actually bother to ask what goes on before plying us all with your ignorance.

 

The sign, I have to say, doesn't strike me as the best use of time and resources though! Why not spend the cash resurrecting the 3 legs in the hillside at Knockaloe which was always a nice feature and much more lasting no doubt.

 

the 3 legs is still there, you've just got to stop and look - which at least means you won't get distracted from driving - the sign opposite the mountain road is just inviting an accident IMO

[mollag]

So they're the bright fuckers that came up with this safety hazard, not renowned for their intellect then?

I did read the story, I was trying to save some blushes.

Not as if we have much choice is there, milk at inflated prices to save the farmers, importation of meat banned to protect the farmers, bread at high prices to protect the farmers.

Why do they need protecting, let them survive in a competitive environment, allow all imports and see who wins the battle of the tills. If their produce is that good they will survive in the face of competition.

Why is bread so dear when the wheat travels about 10 miles? Someone is living off the fat of the land alright.

As you can probably surmise I am not a farmer, nor related to one so I do expect some criticism of my views on the subject of farming. Yes I know sod all about farming and have never dated a farmer of his daughter/son so my views are rooted in ignorance and jealousy. Please educate me otherwise by answering this posting with insightful suggestions as to what I should do with my spare time.

 

I'm with skrappey on the subsidy point. If they can't make money from their job, they need to do what everyone else does, and get a job where they can

 

I just don't get the blind stupidity of some people. It does not matter if they (the farmers) become millionaires from there jobs or fail on their arses, they are totaly required by all of us. Without them the countryside will be left to fend by itself and we will become 100% relient on the outside world. Tesco rules. this theory is fine untill SPCo has a failed boat for a couple of days, or god forbid a strike. Its quite simple, no farms no food. I am NOT a farmer, nor would I want to be one. But I totaly respect them, a very good friend of mine is one and the hours he does per week would give an average person on an average hourly rate a bloody good wage.

You would have a helluva job surviving on manx produce, given we have fuel to run the dairy and pick up the produce you would be living on dairy and bread---all the lamb/pork/beef is in liverpool for the export subsidy. While we are reliant on the outside world for fuel then we will always be 100% reliant--wtf is wrong with that---we have been for years.

[Pat Ayres]

Thank you all for the sensible answers.

[Tugger]

I don't see why locally grown food has to be our future at all. As mollaq says, if the "lifeline" goes, we're fucked anyway

[ai_Droid]

You would have a helluva job surviving on manx produce, given we have fuel to run the dairy and pick up the produce you would be living on dairy and bread---all the lamb/pork/beef is in liverpool for the export subsidy. While we are reliant on the outside world for fuel then we will always be 100% reliant--wtf is wrong with that---we have been for years.

 

That's simply not true, we aren't 100% reliant. It's simply better for our society, and better for the environment to produce goods locally than ship it thousands of miles. What's up with that?

[mollag]

While we depend on external sources for fuel then we will always be dependant---no petrol then no milk gets to the dairy, no electricity--well you know, we would be finished.

Self sufficiency has been a ramp used by the farming industry for decades to put a veneer of respectability on the amount they bleed the common purse for.

All they want to grow is what collects the most grants and subsidies, if this means overproducing, like lamb and milk, then great, they dump it for buttons in england and collect a big export subsidy.

Am i the only person who feels conned when manx lamb is cheaper in England than on the Island.?

[ai_Droid]

While we depend on external sources for fuel then we will always be dependant---no petrol then no milk gets to the dairy, no electricity--well you know, we would be finished.

 

So that's it? We know we're reliant on oil, and we know oil is finite and will run out. So there's no alternative, we just die?

 

Self sufficiency has been a ramp used by the farming industry for decades to put a veneer of respectability on the amount they bleed the common purse for.

All they want to grow is what collects the most grants and subsidies, if this means overproducing, like lamb and milk, then great, they dump it for buttons in england and collect a big export subsidy.

Am i the only person who feels conned when manx lamb is cheaper in England than on the Island.?

 

Not me, I'd far rather pay a premium for well produced local meat and veg rather than have stuff carried half way round the world only to end up in tesco's wheely bins.

 

Take a look at this:

[%age]

"A Manx hillside is daubed with letters 44m (144ft) high"

 

I think using the word "daub" is unfortunate as it has set the tone for this thread.

 

daub n. a crude unskillful painting, a blemish made by dirt

daub v. to smear, soil, or defile, to paint unskillfully

 

A lot of time and effort has gone into this and I'm sure they had a lot of fun. What a nice achievement.

_____________________________

 

I can't see the Knockaloe 3 legs but the Meary Veg has come out quite well

 

[Tugger]

Am i the only person who feels conned when manx lamb is cheaper in England than on the Island.?

 

No, you are not. If they can't make money doing what they do then they should do something else. That's what EVERYONE ELSE has to do

[triskelion]

Moron. They could make money doing what they are doing but then everyone would start bitching that food was too expensive, and those on low incomes would barely be able to afford to eat.

 

You don't seem to understand for the agricultural sector works.

[Tugger]

No, they couldn't make money doing what they are, with everyone bitching about how expensive food was, because people who found Manx farmers' food too expensive would simply buy from other farmers, whose food isn't.

 

Moron

[gazza]

No, they couldn't make money doing what they are, with everyone bitching about how expensive food was, because people who found Manx farmers' food too expensive would simply buy from other farmers, whose food isn't.

 

Moron

 

i say ban the subs let it be an open market, then watch as all the ones who said farmers bleed the land dry, come round complaining that thay cant affored to eat,

 

bet u complain about the price of a pint of milk, well u prob be looking at double nearly triple the price if it went the way u wanted,

it all would,

 

And i want to know what farmer u would buy your stuff from, cause the ones that be selling it cheap woulden be long till thay go bust, and the ones that do still carry on, well u have to wonder how thay can produce food cheap at a loss next to the farmer down the road, animal welfar would go out the window from day one,

 

O im not a farmer by the way,