So, are we all enemies of the state now?

GrannyGravy13

I am not a fan of this current Government, and I admit that my knowledge of farming is lacking.

I interpreted this and some other earlier Government discussions as aiming for a higher percentage of food (both crops and animals) to be home grown.

If she wants more homegrown food what is she going to do about the fact that it will be unaffordable for a significant number of the population?

Ooops! I meant "leafy lanes" in my previous post.

GrannyGravy13

I am not a fan of this current Government, and I admit that my knowledge of farming is lacking.

I interpreted this and some other earlier Government discussions as aiming for a higher percentage of food (both crops and animals) to be home grown.

3b land isn't suitable for high value crops. The biggest problem with growing fodder this summer wasn't solar panels but drought, so I would have thought anything to address/mitigate climate change should be encouraged.

MaizieD

GrannyGravy13

I am not a fan of this current Government, and I admit that my knowledge of farming is lacking.

I interpreted this and some other earlier Government discussions as aiming for a higher percentage of food (both crops and animals) to be home grown.

If she wants more homegrown food what is she going to do about the fact that it will be unaffordable for a significant number of the population?

Maybe the idea is that the plebs will have to eat grass because they can't afford anything else.

PS. I'm sure somebody has a tasty wartime recipe for grass soup.

No recipe for grass soup here I’m afraid.

I did post that I was not an expert in farming.

I do know that anything home grown reduces the carbon foot print of imported food products and therefore helps the planet.

I'm not a farming expert either. However, home grown food doesn't always reduce carbon footprint, if it can't be grown efficiently. For example, it's more efficient to import some crops in winter from the Canaries (or elsewhere), where they can be grown with less energy.

Grade 3b land was traditionally grassland, it was ploughed up in WW2 for wheat production, its either very sandy and dry or wet and heavy, much of it remains in cultivation. Most years the UK can produce 80% plus of the wheat needed for bread, for every acre taken out of production we have to import 3 tons of bread wheat.

Todays cost is close to £400 a ton for bread wheat imported, escalation in Ukraine will send that higher so acres taken out of production costs us £1200 plus the environmental payment to farmers.

We are a rich country we an afford to import, it’s not our problem if others are hungry, it does give our government a problem borrowing to import food we can produce ourselves.

Katie59 so at this present time it makes sense to grow more wheat.

What category of land are proposed fracking sites situated on?

The trouble is the messages are getting beyond utterly muddled.

Truss

“I believe businesses know their own best interests and should be allowed to follow them without interference from big government”

“We will tell the farmers what they can and can’t do with their land”

It makes for very little trust in this hopeless government. Truss does not seem to know what she does want except chaos.

GrannyGravy13

Katie59 so at this present time it makes sense to grow more wheat.

No, not really. The UK already produces almost all the wheat it needs.

A government (Defra) report repeatedly says that the biggest threat to UK food production is climate change.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021-theme-2-uk-food-supply-sources

The cost of climate change is astronomic which is largely the reason that the UK has not prospered in the last 20 yrs or so.
We closed our coal mines and used much of our gas reserves for energy, our competitors China, Korea, Germany, USA and others continued to burn coal.
Of course we feel good that we took the lead on climate change, now the real cost is hitting home. It did nothing to reduce global pollution either, we just exported it to other countries.

growstuff

What category of land are proposed fracking sites situated on?

Fracking goes on under ground it does not affect farming

Blimey growstuff you are a fan if a long link.

Haven’t got the time to read it in depth, sorry.

Yes we do grow and raise over 71% of our food, I can see nothing wrong with growing more grain where possible and exporting it to countries who are unable to grow their own or afford the vast increases of prices since Russia decided to vase Ukraine,

We do need more renewables, but they will not as I understand it bring down the price to the end user as energy has a global price The exception being those of us who thought ahead and had the finances to install solar panels years ago, who have free electricity during daylight hours as long as the cloud cover is not heavy along with a cheque from an energy company every quarter for providing energy into the grid.

As like most things there is not a simple solution, it is not just crops versus renewables. I believe in Japan they have miles of solar panels down the central reservations of motorways which also provide cover for cyclists in extreme heat or rain.

Katie59

The cost of climate change is astronomic which is largely the reason that the UK has not prospered in the last 20 yrs or so.
We closed our coal mines and used much of our gas reserves for energy, our competitors China, Korea, Germany, USA and others continued to burn coal.
Of course we feel good that we took the lead on climate change, now the real cost is hitting home. It did nothing to reduce global pollution either, we just exported it to other countries.

Totally agree with your last paragraph.

The cost of climate change is astronomic which is largely the reason that the UK has not prospered in the last 20 yrs or so.

Run that by me again????

We do need more renewables, but they will not as I understand it bring down the price to the end user as energy has a global price. Renewables on average cost 1/9 of other sources for the same amount of energy generated. We sell off our generated energy to the highest bidder to make profits for some, then buy it back at exorbitant prices. A switch to renewables with the energy not being sold off, would make the cost of energy tumble.

Climate change will affect farming in the UK, if the average temperature is higher we will be able to produce grain maize, soya beans, sunflowers and a whole range of warm climate crops. The threat to Southern Europe is far higher, rainfall is the key to UK production, too little or too much will change production, we just don’t know which it will be.

volver

^The cost of climate change is astronomic which is largely the reason that the UK has not prospered in the last 20 yrs or so.^

Run that by me again????

We do need more renewables, but they will not as I understand it bring down the price to the end user as energy has a global price. Renewables on average cost 1/9 of other sources for the same amount of energy generated. We sell off our generated energy to the highest bidder to make profits for some, then buy it back at exorbitant prices. A switch to renewables with the energy not being sold off, would make the cost of energy tumble.

I agree with you regarding the price of renewables once the initial building costs have been taken into consideration.

I heard someone speaking on the radio the other day, regarding electricity storage and apparently the U.K. hasn’t got enough storage and therefore sells on the open market, particularly in warmer months.

Investment in more power banks (big batteries in essence) is needed, like the one I think in Norway where they are using silos of sand to store energy.

I know you are far more knowledgeable than myself on this subject, but if we cannot store enough we have to sell and in turn buy back at the market price.

Governments whatever colour need to put some £’s into our energy infrastructure for homegrown energy security before selling off surely?

(I hope my post makes sense as I am on the move)

volver

^The cost of climate change is astronomic which is largely the reason that the UK has not prospered in the last 20 yrs or so.^

Run that by me again????

We do need more renewables, but they will not as I understand it bring down the price to the end user as energy has a global price. Renewables on average cost 1/9 of other sources for the same amount of energy generated. We sell off our generated energy to the highest bidder to make profits for some, then buy it back at exorbitant prices. A switch to renewables with the energy not being sold off, would make the cost of energy tumble.

Not just renewables we’ve been doing it on Gas and Oil too for decades, while not exploiting coal which was a controlled cost.
Year by year our borrowings have increased and the value of sterling has fallen.

Disclaimer, part of our business is power tools of all descriptions many now moving to cordless i.e. battery powered and the problems with the batteries are endless along with the availability.

Lithium is at a premium, those who own the mines have the world over a proverbial barrel.

Katie59

Climate change will affect farming in the UK, if the average temperature is higher we will be able to produce grain maize, soya beans, sunflowers and a whole range of warm climate crops. The threat to Southern Europe is far higher, rainfall is the key to UK production, too little or too much will change production, we just don’t know which it will be.

if the average temperature is higher we will be able to produce grain maize, soya beans, sunflowers and a whole range of warm climate crops.

If the average temperature is higher we'll be under water.

The threat to Southern Europe is far higher Nope.

I suppose what amazes me most is the people just see what we have right now and think how can we tweak this and how will this imposed nonsense affect how we run our farms and businesses?

There's a storm coming.

volver

I suppose what amazes me most is the people just see what we have right now and think how can we tweak this and how will this imposed nonsense affect how we run our farms and businesses?

There's a storm coming.

Yes volver but and it’s an enormous but the entire world and it’s leaders need to work together.

Until the likes of China, Russia, India, USA and even Germany put their money and actions into stopping the continual harvesting and burning of fossil fuels the planet will continue to warm and the consequences will become unbearable for so many Countries, migration will continue to grow along with all the unrest that it causes in some places.

I recycle, reuse, have energy efficient appliances and car. How much difference will my contribution make?

Until the likes of China, Russia, India, USA and even Germany put their money and actions into stopping the continual harvesting and burning of fossil fuels...

Sorry GG13, I'm rushing off in a minute, but I'll come back later.

In some posts, Germany is held up as an example because they use coal.

In others Germany is demonised because they use coal.

Which is it folks?

Lithium is at a premium, those who own the mines have the world over a proverbial barrel.

I read the other day that Ukraine has as yet unexploited lithium deposits. It was suggested that this might be a factor in Putin's invasion...