[Food] UK food production.

[Leekbrookgull]

At the weekend just past a decent article on the UK,s food supply it seems 50% home grown,30% from the EU and 20% global (no idea if these figures are correct?) however come what may with or without Brexit surely shouldn't any government ensure the food supply needs to be 'home grown' as much as possible ? Let's support U/K Farmers and Grower's and there are many here on NSC who grow there own Fruit and Veg and it tastes so much better. So let,s go back to seasonal local fresh produce plus from the Carbon Footprint point stop flying out of season fruit and veg into the U/K. BTW her indoor's does the flowers i do Tomato's and Onions all home grown with no waste everything is used.

 

[Blue3]

I agree reduce the food miles the only thing is our menus will become a little bland by doing especially during the winter

 

[Coldeanseagull]

It wouldn't harm me to reduce my food intake by that 30%!
I prefer english grown stuff, it doesn't taste so, so, you know, refrigerated

 

[worthingseagull123]

No thanks. Let people have choice in what they eat.

If you want the state to decide what you have for your dinner, I would recommend migrating to North Korea.

 

[GT49er]

No thanks. Let people have choice in what they eat.

If you want the state to decide what you have for your dinner, I would recommend migrating to North Korea.

It's rather silly to think that focussing on food without air miles where possible is a North Korean dictatorship thing.

 

[Stat Brother]

At the weekend just past a decent article on the UK,s food supply it seems 50% home grown,30% from the EU and 20% global (no idea if these figures are correct?) however come what may with or without Brexit surely shouldn't any government ensure the food supply needs to be 'home grown' as much as possible ? Let's support U/K Farmers and Grower's and there are many here on NSC who grow there own Fruit and Veg and it tastes so much better. So let,s go back to seasonal local fresh produce plus from the Carbon Footprint point stop flying out of season fruit and veg into the U/K. BTW her indoor's does the flowers i do Tomato's and Onions all home grown with no waste everything is used.

It's just a shame we are so heavily reliant on a 'foreigner' workforce to make UK food production possible.
What with us voting to 'keep that lot out'.

 

[Cian]

"food miles" is a blunt and not particularly useful instrument for determining the environmental impact of food.

Fruit grown in gas-heated poly tunnels or flown in as belly cargo on a passenger plane that is already bringing tourists back from the Canaries is one where you'd the "low food miles" option is not better for the environment. Ditto leafy veg grown using mass irrigation of expensive treated (and possibly desalinated now) water versus brought in from somewhere with a more suitable climate even within the same country.

Additionally, the reality of moving away from EU supply for some things is going to mean actual massive increases in otherwise needless transport. South American beef, NZ lamb and dairy products etc. The same will apply if EU customers for UK seasonal products (lamb, veg, grains and more) move to non-UK alternates.

It would be an act of blatant greenwashing to try sell it as an environmentally beneficial change - not that I've seen that done with any seriousness anywhere. Yet!

 

[vegster]

Food production and then getting it to the shelves in supermarkets is an exacting science. If we went back to eating food " In Season " the planet would be far better off although at times our food choices might be a bit sparse. The problem is that we expect our supermarkets almost permanently stocked with whatever we want and although we pay a price for say, fresh Raspberries in December, the planet pays a higher price.

It's been known for many years that Cash Crop farming in Africa and South America often just goes to reduce the countries national debt at the expense of the local environment and food availability for the local populace. Too often countries grow crops like Mange Toute and green beans for export while reducing the acreage for local food crops, thus increasing the price for the locals

. My advice, get an allotment and grow then freeze/pickle as much of your produce as you can and learn to enjoy 6 weeks of eating Strawberries before moving on to 6 weeks of Raspberries et cetera.

 

[vegster]

It's just a shame we are so heavily reliant on a 'foreigner' workforce to make UK food production possible.
What with us voting to 'keep that lot out'.

No one else would do the backbreaking labour for the pitiful cash on offer.

 

[beorhthelm]

few issues with the original premise to be noted. is the distribution value or tonnage? how much of the home grown or imported is basic, essential foods verses luxuries. how much food would be home grown if not imported and how much could be? do we need as much tomato and peppers from Spain, sugar from Jamica as we import? what do you want to forgo?

fact is we have imported vast amounts of food for a few centuries. during both world wars, even with rationing we relied on Atlantic shipping to keep us fed. we cant produce enough food in this small isle for the size of population, we only got so large due to importing grain from americas in the first place. we used to grow more veg at home, mainly because people were so much poorer it was economical for them to do so.

 

[CheeseRolls]

few issues with the original premise to be noted. is the distribution value or tonnage? how much of the home grown or imported is basic, essential foods verses luxuries. how much food would be home grown if not imported and how much could be? do we need as much tomato and peppers from Spain, sugar from Jamica as we import? what do you want to forgo?

fact is we have imported vast amounts of food for a few centuries. during both world wars, even with rationing we relied on Atlantic shipping to keep us fed. we cant produce enough food in this small isle for the size of population, we only got so large due to importing grain from americas in the first place. we used to grow more veg at home, mainly because people were so much poorer it was economical for them to do so.

Doesn't much of our sugar come from East Anglian Beet? One of the EUs stupider policies to grow beet, rather than import cheaper cane where we could be growing worthwhile crops.

At certain times of the year (like Oct for example), we are heavily reliant on Spanish salad crops, much of which comes in by train. It does have an impact on Spanish water resources, but the UK does pretty well out of this deal currently and I would prefer eating Spanish Tomato to old pieces of British furniture.

 

[vegster]

few issues with the original premise to be noted. is the distribution value or tonnage? how much of the home grown or imported is basic, essential foods verses luxuries. how much food would be home grown if not imported and how much could be? do we need as much tomato and peppers from Spain, sugar from Jamica as we import? what do you want to forgo?

fact is we have imported vast amounts of food for a few centuries. during both world wars, even with rationing we relied on Atlantic shipping to keep us fed. we cant produce enough food in this small isle for the size of population, we only got so large due to importing grain from americas in the first place. we used to grow more veg at home, mainly because people were so much poorer it was economical for them to do so.

I read somewhere that the flour we grow here is better for Biscuits and cakes but North American flour is better for bread making.. or, it might be the other way around, either way, flour moves both ways. I think we could be self sufficient in nearly ALL our food except that we demand year round supply of some foods with a short harvest period here and have to import food that really can't be grown here such as Avacado's, Pineapples, Banana's etc.

 

[vegster]

Doesn't much of our sugar come from East Anglian Beet? One of the EUs stupider policies to grow beet, rather than import cheaper cane where we could be growing worthwhile crops.

At certain times of the year (like Oct for example), we are heavily reliant on Spanish salad crops, much of which comes in by train. It does have an impact on Spanish water resources, but the UK does pretty well out of this deal currently and I would prefer eating Spanish Tomato to old pieces of British furniture.

Herein lies the problem, in October we should be going over to a more Winter diet as daylight levels and temperature restrict the growth of salad crops in the UK..... but, we want our salads so we have to import.

 

[Hampster Gull]

Let them eat over cooked cauliflower

 

[Saunders]

It's just a shame we are so heavily reliant on a 'foreigner' workforce to make UK food production possible.
What with us voting to 'keep that lot out'.

I am sure they would prefer to pay less than minimum wage etc to "that lot" rather than a decent wage to UK workers for a decent wage that have even done this job as a summer job traditionally in places like France. But we can just label all UK as lazy and cant do a job that we have done for centuries as long as the pay is fair.

 

[Saunders]

Herein lies the problem, in October we should be going over to a more Winter diet as daylight levels and temperature restrict the growth of salad crops in the UK..... but, we want our salads so we have to import.

This is so true Japan is sticking to their seasonal foods as part of their tradition and we used to have this as well. There is no excusable reason to fly food around the world IMO.

 

[beorhthelm]

Doesn't much of our sugar come from East Anglian Beet? One of the EUs stupider policies to grow beet, rather than import cheaper cane where we could be growing worthwhile crops.

we do grow a good amount here but also import alot of cane from the old colonies, its why Tate was very pro-brexit. and yes some of the old English staples are well avoided. the Spanish will still be shipping toms and peppers here whatever, there's not another market to suddenly soak up the tonnage of their produce. apparently water is largely supplied by solar powered de-salinated sources.

I read somewhere that the flour we grow here is better for Biscuits and cakes but North American flour is better for bread making.. or, it might be the other way around, either way, flour moves both ways.

right way round, tough i've not heard biscuits bit before. our grain is low protein due to wet climate, need a drier to grow the decent wheat good for bread to rise. we grow better barley though for same climate reason. we could switch to barley and rye breads. self-sufficency couldnt be achived in war time with a leaner diet and a third less population, its not going to happen today.

 

[vegster]

we do grow a good amount here but also import alot of cane from the old colonies, its why Tate was very pro-brexit. and yes some of the old English staples are well avoided. the Spanish will still be shipping toms and peppers here whatever, there's not another market to suddenly soak up the tonnage of their produce. apparently water is largely supplied by solar powered de-salinated sources.



right way round, tough i've not heard biscuits bit before. our grain is low protein due to wet climate, need a drier to grow the decent wheat good for bread to rise. we grow better barley though for same climate reason. we could switch to barley and rye breads. self-sufficency couldnt be achived in war time with a leaner diet and a third less population, its not going to happen today.

The wartime diet, thanks to rationing , was a time when we probably ate at our healthiest. Meat, fats and Sugar were rationed but there was unlimited fresh vegetables thanks for the Dig for Victory campaign. However, nowdays our diet has changed completely and there would be riots if we went back to a 40's diet.

 

[vegster]

This is so true Japan is sticking to their seasonal foods as part of their tradition and we used to have this as well. There is no excusable reason to fly food around the world IMO.

" Whale Meat Again " …..

 

[portlock seagull]

Yields per acre are far higher in many countries for many crops, for lots of reasons. For example, Asparagus produces about 2% in the UK versus 20% in Mexico making it far cheaper to import. It’s a bit of a myth that all our home grown provenance is that. Recommend the excellent ‘Not on the label’, great reading albeit now quite an old book. Still extremely relevant mind, nothing’s really changed and if anything things are probably worse.