I suspect, in broader terms, the writing is on the wall for beef industry.
..but it does seem odd that the most expensive item, generally, on a restaurant menu is steak, but that farmers are seeing their cut (no pun intended) diminishing.
Of course it's possible. The problem is that many farms are too small to be viable. Those farms need to be sold or move to a different product.It's almost impossible for a farmer to reduce the cost of production, you can't make a cow eat grass quicker for example, and suppliers such as Vets will have a monopoly in the area.
I think whatever sympathy people in Dublin have for them will not last long if they keep this up.
Yes, they did not get much sympathy, but is there a bit of hypocrisy to the vitriol directed at the farmer protesters especially by the media, a few weeks ago the extinction rebellion protest also brought the city to a standstill and for a lot longer. They were actually more menacing with people chaining themselves to the gates of government buildings. Amazingly the corporation also allowed them to camp in Merion square park for a week and this when the weather was very wet , I can just imagine the muck and dirt. The media then fawned all over these protesters
Of course it's possible. The problem is that many farms are too small to be viable. Those farms need to be sold or move to a different product.
Introduce secondary processing (make cheese etc.) plant trees and move to organic production (lower heard density but low/no winter feed costs and a higher price for a premium product). Ultimately many small farms are just not economically viable. As a small beef farmer should your fellow citizen subsidise what is, in effect, your lifestyle choice? We live in a global economy so you are competing with farmers all over the world.How. ?
Many small farmers are part time farmers (I grew up on one) where the farming suppliments an outside income and vice versa.
Introduce secondary processing (make cheese etc.) plant trees and move to organic production (lower heard density but low/no winter feed costs and a higher price for a premium product). Ultimately many small farms are just not economically viable. As a small beef farmer should your fellow citizen subsidise what is, in effect, your lifestyle choice? We live in a global economy so you are competing with farmers all over the world.
What Irish farmers should be doing is pointing out that their beef has a fraction of the carbon footprint of beef from Latin America and, to protect the global climate, we should be lowering our environmental standards, producing far more beef and slapping massive environmental tariffs on beef from Brazil etc. The problem is that there is such a culture of dependence and they are so used to suckling on the EU teeth that the notion that they should actually stand on their own two feet just doesn't occur to them.
It takes 2-3 years minimum for land to be certified organic so potentially the farmer has no income during that time. Secondly, the idea that organic farmers have no winter feed costs is bizarre, what is the bullock supposed to live on when they can't be out in the fields? Hay and silage exist on organic farms too with all the associated costs. Also, bullocks don't produce milk so the cheese arguement also makes no sense. As for high price for premium product, fine in theory but can and will consumers be able to afford it?. Farmers are subsidised for their "lifestyle choice" so townies get cheaper food. Subsidies would not be needed if farmers were allowed to charge their production costs and a margin but food would be a lot dearer.
Farmers are subsidised for their "lifestyle choice" so townies get cheaper food. Subsidies would not be needed if farmers were allowed to charge their production costs and a margin but food would be a lot dearer.
Wow, imagine if you said that about any other business, that Ryanair were not allowed charge the cost of running a flight, that Toyota were not allowed charge the price of making a car, that Guinness were not allowed charge the cost of brewing a pint.Of course farmers are allowed to charge their cost of production, its just that they cannot find anyone willing to pay that much. What they really want is not that they be allowed charge their cost of production, but the customers be forced to pay it.
Farmers are allowed to charge whatever they want. The problem is that their costs are higher than the market will stand.Wow, imagine if you said that about any other business, that Ryanair were not allowed charge the cost of running a flight, that Toyota were not allowed charge the price of making a car, that Guinness were not allowed charge the cost of brewing a pint.
Or they'll end up with fewer, larger and more efficient farms.One of the joys of Brexit is the clearer understanding of what farm subsidies and their loss to UK farmers will actually mean for UK retailers and customers. For example, UK farmers get £50 per tonne of wheat they produce from the EU. In a post Brexit world this will stop meaning either the UK govt will have to step in an pay it or farmers will have to raise their prices to bakeries etc (who will then try and pass it on to retailers and ultimately consumers) or wheat will be imported from abroad and UK farmers will go bust.
Is the cost for every farmer the same? No?I've no argument farming could be more efficient but the logic that a wheat farmer can cut his costs by £50 per tonne (about a 33% reduction) and still produce a quality product is ludicrous.
No they aren't. They are there to keep small farmers on their farms. If we wanted cheap food for the masses we'd lower our trade barriers.Subsidies exist to provide cheap food for the masses.
I am sorry I have no idea what this means.Wow, imagine if you said that about any other business, that Ryanair were not allowed charge the cost of running a flight, that Toyota were not allowed charge the price of making a car, that Guinness were not allowed charge the cost of brewing a pint.
G
While neither you nor I know what will happen after Brexit here is my prediction.One of the joys of Brexit is the clearer understanding of what farm subsidies and their loss to UK farmers will actually mean for UK retailers and customers. For example, UK farmers get £50 per tonne of wheat they produce from the EU. In a post Brexit world this will stop meaning either the UK govt will have to step in an pay it or farmers will have to raise their prices to bakeries etc (who will then try and pass it on to retailers and ultimately consumers) or wheat will be imported from abroad and UK farmers will go bust.
I've no argument farming could be more efficient but the logic that a wheat farmer can cut his costs by £50 per tonne (about a 33% reduction) and still produce a quality product is ludicrous. Subsidies exist to provide cheap food for the masses.
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