Meat plant- value for money?

[Ham_N_Eggs]

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/meat-plant-report-sparks-heated-row-in-tynwald/?fbclid=IwAR1hKnZ0l8zouCMNKX7akH-tRJ_3nJZpTgL6XSpB03f8twjIms3SGiKKvCU

Things got interesting last night. Accusations of corruption. I can't see why because it's perfectly normal to: cancel the tender process; "lose" the individual tender matrix; set up your own company with DEFA as the shareholder to run the meat plant; appoint Tim Baker as a non-political but very much political Chairman; cram the board with DEFA officers; and don't ask Tynwald's permission to do any of this. All totally above board. 

 

[Holte End]

"Ding, Ding round two at ten tomorrow". I really thought the President was going to say, after Comin lost the vote, to carry on and finish the meat plant committee report at last night sitting.

There was more retractions than the work on the Prom in last nights debate.

 

 

 

[2112]

Tynpotwald are grilling the Minister. Moorhouse talking about steakholders. 
 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2021 by 2112

[code99]

On 7/10/2021 at 1:45 PM, pongo said:

Nobody would seriously propose today that we should go back to a system under which we would only be allowed to buy Manx sausages, Manx steak etc? Competition is key to innovation.

I still think that the best idea is to fund the meat plant from taxation at whatever it costs but provide no other farming subsidies. And ban live export. 

Assuming that we think it's worth people still farming sheep and cattle here. 

Regardless of where one stands on Brexit (dreading or rejoicing), everybody knows that there will be influx of cheep-ish meat products from those Antipodeans who can grow their livestock on vast farms. How this will affect British farmers, including the IOM’s, remains to be seen.

Another aspect to consider before committing taxpayers’ money, besides costs, is the longer-term outlook for meat consumption. There is a whole raft of reasons behind the reduction in meat consumption. Should our meat plant be more plant and less meat? The reality is that even many diehard carnivores have altered their dietary habits, mainly for health reasons. Obviously not everyone is going to become vegans/ vegetarians overnight, but the trend is quite clear, especially among people under 30 - their life style choices will determine the future of farming.

As part of our ‘green sustainability’ ambition, would it be worth/cost effective to move away from animal farming and instead invest in organic crop production? Alternatively, my understanding is that the IOM has a blanket ban on GM crops. Given the enormous technological advances that have been made in this sector over the recent years, is this ban still justified in all cases?

Needless to say, food independence is an invaluable strategic asset for any country, and this is particularly true during turbulent times. My conclusion is that in order to avoid turning this meat plant saga into a mini-sequel to MEA/MUA farce it seems to me that all relevant proposals should be evaluated in the context of a bigger picture; i.e., an overarching agricultural policy.  

[Boris Johnson]

11 minutes ago, code99 said:

Regardless of where one stands on Brexit (dreading or rejoicing), everybody knows that there will be influx of cheep-ish meat products from those Antipodeans who can grow their livestock on vast farms. How this will affect British farmers, including the IOM’s, remains to be seen.

Another aspect to consider before committing taxpayers’ money, besides costs, is the longer-term outlook for meat consumption. There is a whole raft of reasons behind the reduction in meat consumption. Should our meat plant be more plant and less meat? The reality is that even many diehard carnivores have altered their dietary habits, mainly for health reasons. Obviously not everyone is going to become vegans/ vegetarians overnight, but the trend is quite clear, especially among people under 30 - their life style choices will determine the future of farming.

As part of our ‘green sustainability’ ambition, would it be worth/cost effective to move away from animal farming and instead invest in organic crop production? Alternatively, my understanding is that the IOM has a blanket ban on GM crops. Given the enormous technological advances that have been made in this sector over the recent years, is this ban still justified in all cases?

Needless to say, food independence is an invaluable strategic asset for any country, and this is particularly true during turbulent times. My conclusion is that in order to avoid turning this meat plant saga into a mini-sequel to MEA/MUA farce it seems to me that all relevant proposals should be evaluated in the context of a bigger picture; i.e., an overarching agricultural policy.  

Very worthy goal but from what I understand the islands soil quality does not lend its self to crops.

[Non-Believer]

15 minutes ago, code99 said:

there will be influx of cheep-ish meat products from those Antipodeans

Is this referring to chicken..? 😁

If it is an operation that involves a) being run by the Government and/or

b) Involves Manx Agriculture;

it will be a huge sponge that will absorb as much taxpayer's money as can be poured onto it and still have capacity for more - infinitely. With very little to be seen in return.

[code99]

8 minutes ago, Boris Johnson said:

Very worthy goal but from what I understand the islands soil quality does not lend its self to crops.

Sure, there is some farm land here which is very boggy and would not be suitable for growing crops. But, the Island has a lot of different landscapes and different types of soils. I imagine that the vast majority of this would be suitable for growing some kind of crops. This is not something that I am greatly familiar with, but it seems to me that as consumer habits are clearly changing, it might be something the IOMG could look at more seriously.

[ts 59]

3 hours ago, Boris Johnson said:

Very worthy goal but from what I understand the islands soil quality does not lend its self to crops.

Some of the Islands soils are well suited to growing crops. We struggle for scale needed to justify kit to efficiently grow and market down to a price.

[CallMeCurious]

9 minutes ago, ts 59 said:

Some of the Islands soils are well suited to growing crops. We struggle for scale needed to justify kit to efficiently grow and market down to a price.

Why not let the market decide? If you value low priced imported meat above locally sourced then that is your choice. At the moment you have the ridiculous situation where every single taxpayer be they vegan or on the breadline is subsidising a product that they neither want or can afford. Maybe it's time we had a referendum.... oh wait we don't so good with those do we. Can't have the pesky public deciding how to spend our money now can we.

[SleepyJoe]

There surely has to be a sustainable plan for agriculture to incorporate into the next programme for government

Has DEFA written one?

[pongo]

20 hours ago, code99 said:

my understanding is that the IOM has a blanket ban on GM crops. Given the enormous technological advances that have been made in this sector over the recent years, is this ban still justified in all cases?

In reality - mostly around dodgy companies finding new ways of selling industrial scale poisons. It's no surprise that GM is so closely linked to the sale of pesticides.

[Boris Johnson]

19 hours ago, ts 59 said:

Some of the Islands soils are well suited to growing crops. We struggle for scale needed to justify kit to efficiently grow and market down to a price.

Some.

In comparison to say somewhere like the Vale of York, the islands soil is really poor for growing crops, yes it can grow vegetables but the soil is not the best suited to that type of agriculture.

Growing grass for animal feeding is what we can do but we seem to have gone off track somewhere with the quality of the animal slaughtered on the island for local consumption.

[SleepyJoe]

Southern & northern plains are pretty good for crops aren't they? 

It's the uplands which might benefit from new forms of sustainable farming or forestry if Tynwald might be persuaded to fund it & the farming community were amenable

[Boris Johnson]

5 minutes ago, SleepyJoe said:

Southern & northern plains are pretty good for crops aren't they? 

It's the uplands which might benefit from new forms of sustainable farming or forestry if Tynwald might be persuaded to fund it & the farming community were amenable

Not really, in comparison to much better soils which I have experience of in the UK.

[SleepyJoe]

Well they've long supplied veg & spuds on the island

Of course the United Kingdom will have better soils