Meat plant- value for money?

[Banker]

Another of Baker’s success stories, personally I don’t think £2m + subsidy is good value. Probably cheaper to ship the livestock to UK & reimport the dead carcasses.

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/article.cfm?id=61791&headline=Meat Plant won't exist without subsidy&sectionIs=NEWS&searchyear=2021

[Albert Tatlock]

5 minutes ago, Banker said:

Probably cheaper to ship the livestock to UK & reimport the dead carcasses.

 

Or just vote them out in September.

[TheTeapot]

It's hardly Bakers fault, its been going on for years.

We should not be shipping live animals away for slaughter.

[Banker]

21 minutes ago, TheTeapot said:

It's hardly Bakers fault, its been going on for years.

We should not be shipping live animals away for slaughter.

It’s got worse than under him & no accounts published for 2 years to hide issues!

Well we can’t continue subsidies at these levels when IOM meat is very expensive compared to UK imports, so what’s your solution?

[Max Power]

At one time there was a ban on the importation of uncooked meat, except for the odd exception like New Zealand lamb. All fresh meat was supplied by the abattoir, and we had a busy tourism industry supplied by a myriad of local butchers. The importation of meat by supermarkets did for them both. There probably isn't enough business to support a large meat plant any more? We should be probably trying to expand our export market but meat in the UK is so much cheaper than local stuff.

[The Dog's Dangly Bits]

16 minutes ago, Banker said:

It’s got worse than under him & no accounts published for 2 years to hide issues!

Well we can’t continue subsidies at these levels when IOM meat is very expensive compared to UK imports, so what’s your solution?

He's already told you. Stop allowing already subsidised farmers to move stock off island to slaughter 

[maynragh]

The red meat derogation was scrapped on the basis of being incompatible with EU requirements, so I wonder if that has / will change with Brexit.

Cost of agricultural production is higher on the IOM, in line with generally higher cost of living on a rock - which is worth it. All modern agri subsidies have their roots in the world wars when food was seen as an essential service, an idea that had all but died with globalisation (the subsidies remained for all the wrong reasons, though places like New Zealand have been smart enough to break the addiction) and then Covid came along. Still a strong possibility of global food crises linked to covid & climate. 

Do you want to control your own means of production and how much is that worth?    

Edited May 10, 2021 by maynragh

[Banker]

27 minutes ago, The Dog's Dangly Bits said:

He's already told you. Stop allowing already subsidised farmers to move stock off island to slaughter 

Will that prevent £2m subsidy?

We should ban red meat imports again if possible, think it was EU regulations that stopped ban originally so now UK out of EU can we reimpose?

Edited May 10, 2021 by Banker

[SleepyJoe]

Can't help but think IOMG should heavily subsidise farming community to undertake important rewilding & conservation work in our vital countryside instead of cattle ranching

[Pipsqueak]

33 minutes ago, SleepyJoe said:

Can't help but think IOMG should heavily subsidise farming community to undertake important rewilding & conservation work in our vital countryside instead of cattle ranching

they've been doing it for years under the guise of the countryside care scheme , farmers produce less now than they did 25years ago ( hence the under utilized abattoir )  but can now afford new farm cottages for their kids  along  with new vehicles all round on a regular basis.  they don't have to produce much to make a living anymore thanks to hand outs.

[SleepyJoe]

What's the plan for them in the implementation of the recommendations of the Curran Report?

[Ham_N_Eggs]

This is going to be an interesting debate from the bumper July Tynwald Order Paper:

"Meat Plant tender process

The Hon. Member for Douglas East (Mrs Barber) to move –

That Tynwald notes that, in the course of the inquiry by the Environment and Infrastructure Policy Review Committee into the Meat Plant, the Department admitted that it had lost papers relating to a tender; and Tynwald requests an explanation from the Minister for Environment, Food and Agriculture as to the circumstances of the failure."

More details are about this can be found in this snip from the report. Everything is perfectly above board...

[Gladys]

The Gef report is worth a read. 

It is incomprehensible to me how Manx meat is so expensive here, and that is after a £2m subvention from the taxpayer. 

The Creamery has good quality produce that costs just a little more than the competing products, yet Manx meat is very much a luxury.   I was pleased to see Manx meat back in Tescos a couple of years ago, but it is way out of price range.  Something very wrong there, the primary objective should be to feed the local population, the add on of exports should be a secondary objective which eventually subsidises the first. 

[pongo]

17 minutes ago, Gladys said:

It is incomprehensible to me how Manx meat is so expensive here, and that is after a £2m subvention from the taxpayer. 

Economies of scale?

I am not a farmer and might be wrong. But I am fairly certain that small scale farming (the IOM) should only be competing in the premium markets. It's pointless trying to be cheaper on such small volume.

Edited July 9, 2021 by pongo

[Gladys]

Just now, pongo said:

Economies of scale?

I am not a farmer and might be wrong. But I am fairly certain that small scale farming (the IOM) should only be competing in the premium markets. It's pointless try to be cheap.

The same could be said of dairy, but the Creamery seems to have hit it right.  

Why can't you buy the less expensive home produced cuts or offal?  For example, I like home cooked and pressed tongue on occasion, but it is a special order even if you can find a butcher who will order it for you.  Yet, my basic biology tells me every cow has a tongue.