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Just dropped in my inbox- thought it might be of interest in the light of recent

discussions on the industrialisation of agriculture...

 

Graham

 

This week's SchNEWS: http://www.schnews.org.uk/

 

wake up! wake up! It's yer heavily subsidised

 

SchNEWS

 

Published in Brighton by Justice? - Brighton's Direct Action collective

 

ISSUE 340, February 1st, 2002

 

FOOD FIGHT

 

" Everywhere on these Isles, rich and beautiful habitats have been ploughed,

bulldozed and sprayed out of existence, not as a result of need but in

response to farm subsidies " - Graham Harvey, The Killing of the Countryside

 

This week the Policy Commission on the Future of Farming published its long

awaited report on what they see as the future of agriculture in the UK.

Commissioned by the government in the wake of the foot and mouth crisis, it

recommends changes in the way we produce our food, namely that more money

be spent on organic farming methods and subsidies towards the protection of

the environment rather than for food production.

 

Foot and mouth was just the latest in a long line of disasters to

illustrate the unhealthy state of UK farming. Since the introduction of

subsidies in the last few decades, farming has largely become an

industrialised process just like any other manufacturing industry. Many

parts of Britain could be described as agricultural wastelands, devoid of

wildlife and plants. Look out across the countryside in some parts of the

UK and you'll see endless fields of chemically contaminated monocrop,

separated not by hedgerows but by roads and barbed wire. Over 10,000 miles

of hedgerows disappear each year. 97% of meadowland has been lost since

WW2, and many water courses have been heavily polluted through extensive f

chemical use. Prof. Jules Pretty of the University of Essex has calculated

that even before foot and mouth, the hidden costs of industrial agriculture

to our health and environment added up to £2.3billion a year.

 

It's estimated that in the last 2 years at least 40,000 people have lost

their jobs in agriculture. Many people have come to accept the failures of

the modern farming system as the price we have to pay for cheap food. But

with the taxpayer contributing to the £3billion in subsidies paid to

farmers each year, each family is actually paying an extra £10 a week.

 

 

Supermarket Sweep

 

On the face of it we'd have to agree with Tony Blur for once, who welcomed

the new report saying that " the current situation benefits no-one: farmers,

taxpayers, consumers or the environment. " But er, sorry Tony but we think

Tesco might disagree with you there. Supermarkets are raking it in, with

Tesco's profits rising every year in the last decade, last year amassing

over £1bn. The supermarkets' power on our food chain has become almost

complete, and the result has been that our agricultural land now looks like

the supermarkets they are servicing.

 

A fifth of farms, mostly the wealthy ones in this country received 80

percent of the annual production subsides. This mis-distribution of

subsidies has been compared to the government choosing to subside grocery

shops, and giving all the money to Tescos and Sainsbury's. And farming just

like the retail world has had it's casualties - small farms are closing all

the time while the large monoculture farms (yer Tesco equivalent) keep

growing. But even these big farms are being screwed by the supermarkets

they serve. For example a litre of milk in March last year costs 22p to

produce, farmers were being paid 17.6p for each litre, the supermarket was

selling it for 35p, that's 17.4p profit for supermarkets and a bill of 4.4p

to tax payer for subsidies, which means that we are subsidising the

supermarkets! Overall today in the UK only 9p of each pound you spend ends

up in the farmer's pocket.

 

Food Chained

 

Marion Shoard the author of " This Land is Our Land " told SchNEWS that this

idea of environmental subsidies assumes that farmers know what's best, yet

considering that they're the ones who've been busy destroying the landscape

in the first place, putting our faith in them helping to restore it is a

bit laughable. Marion believes that the best way to shake up our

agricultural system is to get rid of subsidies altogether. She believes

that land prices would then plummet and farming would become more

profitable, this would then allow land to be bought by environmental and

social groups for the public good.

 

This sounded like a good idea so we tried to track down some farmers who've

managed to survive without subsidies, but unfortunately we couldn't find

any. Not surprising really when the price farmers get for their produce is

often less than it costs them to produce it in the first place. But

regardless of whether or not redirecting subsidies are the solution to our

problems, nothing is likely to change until there is a serious shift in the

balance of power in the food chain. The biggest villains of all are the

supermarkets who've made us believe they're providing us with cheap food.

The report does nothing to challenge the powers of supermarkets, which

isn't surprising when you consider that Peter Davis from Sainsbury's was a

member of the Committee. Professor Pretty points out " The quest for even

cheaper food is at the root of all these problems. It has encouraged

farmers to cut corners, compromising food safety, animal welfare and

damaging the environment. "

 

* Further reading " The Killing of the Countryside " by Graham Harvey. For a

history of the landownership in Britain read " This Land is Our Land - The

struggle for Britain's Country " By Marion Shoard. Loads of information on

supermarkets at www.corporatewatch.org.uk

 

 

Positive SchNEWS

 

It isn't necessarily true that farming and environmental destruction need

to go hand in hand. Ragman's Lane Farm in Gloustershire is one of many

commercial farms now being run successfully using permaculture ecological

principles. When Matt Dunwell and Jan Davies took over the farm in

Gloucestershire, in 1990 the Valuer commented that its 50 acres of

grassland could only provide half of one salary, which would be true were

it only a conventional farm. But now the farm employs three full-time

people. The farm sells most of it's food locally and they run regular

courses to pass on their knowledge - the next one is 23-24 February is

'Growing and selling vegetables'. More info Mandy Pullen Ragman's Lane

Farm, Lower Lydbrook, Glos, GL17 9PA. 01594 861173 www.permaculture.co.uk

 

* And don't forget Seedy Saturday next Saturday 9th February at St.Georges

Hall, St.Georges Rd, Brighton 11am - 4pm. Find out how to bypass the

corporate seed industry and pick up some outlawed vegetable seeds.

Volunteers needed to help out call 01273 882552 email

baggage

 

 

* Only 8% of UK farmland is given over to crops

that provide for people directly. The rest goes

to feed livestock.

* We would need only a fifth of our current

cultivated area to be self sufficient in this

country if we grew food for only human

consumption.

* In 1970 the average household spent 25% of its

income on food, the equivalent figure today is

little more than 10%.

* In 1950 there were 221,662 food shops in

Britain, by 1997 this had gone down to just

36,931.

------

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