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Brexit and the UK food industry.
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Howburn Digger
Howburn Digger
986 posts

Edited Jul 28, 2017, 14:42
Re: Brexit and the UK food industry.
Jul 28, 2017, 14:41
thesweetcheat wrote:
But again you're being selective. We produce the vast majority of the milk we consume, and enough on top to export far more than we import. Butter and cheese imports are at least partly accounted for by taste, as presumably our consumers prefer imported varieties over UK ones.


I am not being selective. The Single Farm Payment which makes up the majority of the "subsidy" the EU pays to farmers and it does not benefit small independent farmers beyond a sub-minimum wage income. It only benefits the mega-rich and it benefits them whether they grow food or not. So the SFP does not really contribute to the UK food industry.
The UK food industry is predominately run by massive businesses whose corporate goals are not necessarily those of food consumers.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/9859915/Horse-meat-scandal-How-horses-slaughtered-in-Romania-end-up-on-British-plates.html

As for UK milk... only a 6% drop in actual milk production in the last 20 years but a 61% drop in the number of dairy farmers. That is achieved by creating massive dairy factory farms and bizarre genetic manipulation of dairy cattle... most milk cows seldom see fresh air now, the milk yields are pushed to ridiculous limits per animal and the squeeze on gate prices by supermarkets has caused untold pressure and misery for small independent farmers who are simply kicked out of the industry. The Single Farm Payment actually does nothing to help them in these matters at all. Massive business interests have seen to that. There has been a reduction of 61% in Dairy Farmers (that is a SIXTY ONE percent reduction).

Dairy Producers across the UK fell from 35,741 to 13,815 between 1995 and 2015. That is a 61% reduction.
Milk/ Cream Imports 2005 = 158,000 tonnes
Milk/ Cream Imports 2014 = 221,000 tonnes

Dairy Producers (Scotland) 1995 - 2015 = 2,239 down to 886
Dairy Producers (England) 1995 - 2015 = 28,093 down to 10,274

Diversification into petting farms, livery for rich people's horses and being countryside guardians is not a contribution to the food industry. Unless the rich are sending their old nags to Romania for the knackers lasagne yard.
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