Brendan Burgess
Founder
- Messages
- 52,192
there is a local perception that a farmer who gives up a life of hardship with little economic return and plants trees on his land is in some way considered a failure,
Forestry is a very emotive subject in Leitrim despite the clear evidence that it brings huge benefits to the individual farmers and the community at large
Farming is not an economic activity. It is a mechanism to harvest grants from the EU
Is forestry any different in this regard?
I would subsidise environmentally friendly farming. I would definitely penalise the environmentally unfriendly farming.
That's exactly what the current system does.
I don't see why we subsidise general farmers. But then I have not lived through food scarcity.
We need more forests
I would suggest that the current system very much does NOT penalise damaging farming practices. And the lobbyists/industry want that to continue. Remember when the Citizens Assembly recommended that there be a carbon tax on environmentally damaging farm practices last year (which would stay within farming and go to those that do the opposite)? The IFA were against that without exploring the issue. Industry groups and their political bedfellows consistently come out against any real reform or change in farming.That's exactly what the current system does.
Grants don't just subsidise farmers, it subsidises the food that you buy in the supermarkets. The prices that farmers now get for animals/milk is not sustainable. a litre of milk in a supermarket is not much more than it was 20 years ago. Farmers would gladly forgo their grants if they could get a sustainable price for their goods, but the big meat companies and supermarkets are keeping this artificially low. Someone close to me is a large and efficient farmer. He would not even break even if he did not have grants.I don't see why we subsidise general farmers. But then I have not lived through food scarcity. I might think differently if I had done.
Brendan
We are a net calorie importer. That's because we don't product our own sugar and we import animal feed. That's not really the same as being a net food importer.Ireland is actually a net food importer
That's incorrect. The current system is built on grants and protectionism. If we traded openly with the rest of the world our food prices would be close to what they are now, hundred of millions of people would be lifted out of poverty and starvation and there would be no need for the massive grants and subsidies. Our current system is utterly unethical and unjust.Grants don't just subsidise farmers, it subsidises the food that you buy in the supermarkets. The prices that farmers now get for animals/milk is not sustainable. a litre of milk in a supermarket is not much more than it was 20 years ago. Farmers would gladly forgo their grants if they could get a sustainable price for their goods, but the big meat companies and supermarkets are keeping this artificially low. Someone close to me is a large and efficient farmer. He would not even break even if he did not have grants.
Grants don't just subsidise farmers, it subsidises the food that you buy in the supermarkets.
If we stopped the really environmentally damaging farming practices such as beer production we'd just end up importing the beef we consume
Freudian slip; should have been beef. Edited now.Why? Is it that after a night in the pub drinking beer we buy a lot of beef burgers?
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