UK would run out of food today

If it's public land GK, don't you get stuff nicked?

Mamie that's commendable. The council was so taken with my husband's guerrilla allotment, they tried to get people interested in planting up other disused areas on the estate with vegetables (via the resident's association), but so far, no luck. There are of course other people on our estate who do have vegetable gardens, but they garden on their own properties.

Most people are very impressed with the "allotment" and husband gets many positive comments from passersby. Only one person had a go at him saying he hoped we were paying for the use of council land

Maybe we could begin to understand why it makes sense to eat fruit and veg in season. Just do not understand why people want strawberries in November- makes no sense in so so many ways. We've just lost touch with the food we eat and the implications of our actions. Strawberries are fabulous, ripe and grown not too far away- stuff yourself silly when there is a glut- then forget about them until next June- or turn them into jams and so-on.

In a very uncertain world, I think it is a good idea to try to produce as much as we can in our own country.

Of course, this has its downside; there are people who have become very upset at the countryside being 'blighted' by polytunnels which produce the strawberries and other fruits which we demand for a longer and longer season.

We should be celebrating the fact that we have got past the stage where people in Britain starved because there wasn't enough food. We have done this through global food trade. It's called civilisation and development. May it come quickly to places that still need it, I say.

Re wasted or thrown out food, some of you may be interested in this awareness raising project in Wisconsin

Before the organic label was taken up to be used for "food which has not had artificially produced chemicals used its production" the terms organic and inorganic were already in use in the field of chemistry. "Organic chemists refer to any molecule containing carbon as an organic compound and by default this means that inorganic chemistry deals with molecules lacking carbon"

Don't beat up *Grumppa" for his humorous comment on the word "organic". He wasn't saying that the "thing" was silly, just the literal meaning of the label

Meat and vegetables themselves are made up of organic compounds, whatever they have been fed on. Calling the food organic is a transferred epithet. It is the production of some foods that is without inorganic compounds.

OK, It is now so accepted as a definition that to notice the distinction is pedantic.

Yes, I think it was Intermarche (accent aigu) that I read about recently in the British press.

That sounds like a really good thing to do, Mamie, let's hope there are lots more initiatives like that.

Sell by dates are ridiculous om many products too- and tons of fruit and veg are wasted before they even get to the shops. Cucumbers because they are a bit too small, or too large, or have a little lump, or a kink- etc non-sensical.

Would love to see some supermarkets following on the Intermarché 'ugly' fruit and veg range- perfectly good and wholesome, just less than perfect in shape. Who cares!

Rosequartz, when I was working in inner city schools we did exactly that. One of our schools took over an allotment in the middle of high-rise flats and the children, their parents and their grandparents planted it and grew huge amounts of fruit and vegetables. Nobody told us to take a running jump. I don't know how many families kept it up, but a few families learnt what it meant to grow their own food. It is possible.

Thank you for your posts, nfk and aka

I did see a large wind farm overseas; apparently the local farmers were very angry when it went up as they thought it would stop the cows producing milk. However, they were (allegedly) astonished to find that milk production went up. Perhaps they were soothed by the hummm hummm hummm?

But the 40% gap could easily be filled by cutting the 50% waste- much better all round, ecologically too. Waste is just non-sensical.

Well it looks like Russia is putting an embargo on some of our food exports so there should be more home grown available now.
In reply to OP we are making ourselves vulnerable if we don't try to increase food production. But the supermarkets have to take much of the blame for driving farmers out of business by, for example, their policy on cheap milk, cheap chicken, etc...and if we buy these products then we must also share the blame.

Nowadays farmers sow, irrigate and fertilise their crops according to what soil testing shows each individual bit of the field requires. Cows are given supplements according to their milk yield / state of gestation. The same goes for free range pigs and sheep. It's very efficient.

Big business though is only in it for the dosh. The latest money making thing is solar 'farms' and they always claim the land beneath won't be wasted but will be used to graze sheep or free range chickens. I have only once seen chickens under the panels ( and very happy they looked too). Business investors have no interest in the land itself, no interest in it's future.

The biggest problem as far as I can see is population density. Of course Australia, the USA and France can be self sufficient. They have more land to farm.

Surely producing more of our own food would be better for the UK economy as well?

Reading some of the posts makes me applaud Gnetters who are producing much of their own food, buying organic where possible and not eating farmed fish etc. That is great and anyone who can produce any of their own food should be encouraged, however little.

However, for most of the public in this country this is simply not possible. Try telling a mum in a high-rise flat that she should be producing some food in her windowbox or on an allotment and she may well tell you to take a running jump (possibly through the window).

BUT should we be encouraging Britain's farmers to produce more and to start filling that 40% gap? And encouraging more young people to choose agriculture as a career? I do realise that some foods we have become used to will always be imported - coffee, tea, olive oil to name two or three - but quite honestly does anyone need to eat salad at Christmas? And how much of it is thrown away?

Yes, chemicals cost money, Gk but cheaper than labour.

Organic food production is more labour intensive because without the use of chemicals, weed and pest control has to be done by hand - hence the high labour costs.

Most vegetable crops are also harvested by hand with the exception of carrots and potatoes.

Cross posts merlot (or great minds etc)

... government initiatives that reward organic farmers ... that didn't quite make sense up there .

I understand about yields being smaller. But using chemicals on a large scale must have a cost too?

Why is organic food production more labour intensive? Isn't machinery used to harvest organic food?

There should be government initiatives to organic farmers so that organic food, which surely is a birthright, is available to everyone without having to pay a premium for it.

Same thing, Mamie or did our posts cross?

I have always assumed organic food is more expensive because there is no use of chemicals to enhance crops and pesticides to stop disease. Therefore yields are smaller.

Organic food production is more labour intensive, Grannyknot and you don't get such a high yield per acre.

I have asked myself that question many times , GRANNY

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I am afraid I don"t buy into the whole ORGANIC thing !!

Why is - or what makes - organic food more expensive?