Farming Matters!
Farming Our Future
Green Options
Less food miles; less packaging; less rubbish; less pressure on landfill sites.
Sustainability - what do we mean?Economic:- otherwise the farmer goes out of business; Social:- modern agriculture is breaking up rural communities; and Environmental.
Organic:-
Permanence, a technique that maintains soil fertility indefinately; utilizes renewable resources and does not grossly pollute the environment.
Conference
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Energy Use:-
Food production requires a huge amount of energy. It takes 5.75 MJ of energy to produce 1MJ of dietary energy in the UK. Air transport multiplies the energy bill x47 times.
| Embodied energy rates | |
| Food Coffee | Em energy 176 |
The Future
of Farming
- where are
we going?
Some of the problems that have been faced:-
sourcing organic feed; finding an abattoir to deal with small numbers/organic stock; direct local sales could have run into problems as costs rose.
These sort of issues keep some small farms as low output, environmentally friendly but not certified organic. There is a need for a halfway house/conversion label but that would bring its own problems in terms of peoples' understanding of standards and labelling. 'Wholesome Foods' is one example of such labelling.
Agricultural Policy
- a personal
view
Land and
community -
developing
links
>The way forward lies in:-
local trust of the producer;
through COMSAG, Devon Trust, FWAG etc.;
a group organic scheme, so that an application to all the schemes leads to certification visits all being on the same day. (At present farmers can be held back from their markets by having to be on farm on several different occasions). It was also mentioned that there is no one standard for some imports such as organic rice.
Box schemes are popular, some deliver to drop off points, others to the door.
Farmers' Marketing
- opportunities
The following questions were raised and comments made:-
Should farmers grow their own feed for cattle again (as in the past)?
Should there be a move back to mixed, rather than specialised, farming?
Regarding the ownership of environmental assets - who decides on payments? and will there then be interference with land management?
Not all farmers can go to Farmers Markets so where are we going in general terms?
There is a need for low input, and integrated management.
Labelling can be confusing (eg the little red tractor)
Each farmer could have shelfspace in the local shops 'super-farmer'!
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