Great article- to the point. I'm somewhat surprised that the percentage comes out that high. I remember seeing figures for stuff like pork where we exported about the same amount we imported- bizarre. Although I don't eat it, I can understand the UK taste for imported lamb, even amongst the Cymru. Up until about the 1980's, lamb from Cymric upland farms used to taste amazing, because the sheep had little or no additional food, other than maybe a scrap of hay when snow was lying. Then grants were offered to farmers to put tracks up hills and mountains so they could get up there in landrovers and put concentrate feed out. Result was some appallingly designed tracks that led to considerable erosion and the taste of the lamb went downhill fast but the sheep got fatter so bigger carcass at slaughter...
I agree with the need to eat what is locally grown! Not sure it is only consumers demands that mean food is imported though! If the supermarkets didn't offer imported veg people wouldn't eat it!!
Mass tourism introduced people to different cultures and their foods, celebrity chefs tend to promote it too. Supermarkets are always trying to get one over on the rival chains with the 'next big thing'. Consumers get easily swayed and don't tend to value locally produced food as much as they should. Thanks for your comment Su.
I live in an area with one of the highest levels of food poverty, and a local bioethanol plant. Apparently 90+% locally grown wheat feeds the plant, and not the people that live fewer than 5 miles away and are literally starving. The plant guarantees a market for wheat that doesn't reach the unnecessarily high levels of protein required for the Chorleywood bread process (but which is perfectly OK for bread making outside of this process) - I don't blame struggling farmers one bit for taking advantage of this; I know that many find the disconnection from their customers challenges their own mental wellbeing and making farming viable is difficult at best. So we take perfectly good food and burn it in plain site of people who are hungry and feed them instead nasty, vacuous white cr*p from miles away that does nothing to nourish them whatsoever. It's so very, very broken 😔
But solutions? We can, where we can, choose good flour from local mills, bake our own bread, share it and shout about it. One product, one step, inching along to something better 🤞
I too dispute those figures. A trip round a supermarket reading labels for countries of origin is both enlightening and terrifying.
Community intergrated agriculture! Edible stuff growing all over the 'hood and mutual aid links to local farmers. One loaf at a time! As I mention we must switch to 'the number of people feed per hectare' as a metric. Thanks for your comment.
Great article- to the point. I'm somewhat surprised that the percentage comes out that high. I remember seeing figures for stuff like pork where we exported about the same amount we imported- bizarre. Although I don't eat it, I can understand the UK taste for imported lamb, even amongst the Cymru. Up until about the 1980's, lamb from Cymric upland farms used to taste amazing, because the sheep had little or no additional food, other than maybe a scrap of hay when snow was lying. Then grants were offered to farmers to put tracks up hills and mountains so they could get up there in landrovers and put concentrate feed out. Result was some appallingly designed tracks that led to considerable erosion and the taste of the lamb went downhill fast but the sheep got fatter so bigger carcass at slaughter...
I agree with the need to eat what is locally grown! Not sure it is only consumers demands that mean food is imported though! If the supermarkets didn't offer imported veg people wouldn't eat it!!
Mass tourism introduced people to different cultures and their foods, celebrity chefs tend to promote it too. Supermarkets are always trying to get one over on the rival chains with the 'next big thing'. Consumers get easily swayed and don't tend to value locally produced food as much as they should. Thanks for your comment Su.
I live in an area with one of the highest levels of food poverty, and a local bioethanol plant. Apparently 90+% locally grown wheat feeds the plant, and not the people that live fewer than 5 miles away and are literally starving. The plant guarantees a market for wheat that doesn't reach the unnecessarily high levels of protein required for the Chorleywood bread process (but which is perfectly OK for bread making outside of this process) - I don't blame struggling farmers one bit for taking advantage of this; I know that many find the disconnection from their customers challenges their own mental wellbeing and making farming viable is difficult at best. So we take perfectly good food and burn it in plain site of people who are hungry and feed them instead nasty, vacuous white cr*p from miles away that does nothing to nourish them whatsoever. It's so very, very broken 😔
But solutions? We can, where we can, choose good flour from local mills, bake our own bread, share it and shout about it. One product, one step, inching along to something better 🤞
I too dispute those figures. A trip round a supermarket reading labels for countries of origin is both enlightening and terrifying.
Community intergrated agriculture! Edible stuff growing all over the 'hood and mutual aid links to local farmers. One loaf at a time! As I mention we must switch to 'the number of people feed per hectare' as a metric. Thanks for your comment.