Latest Moan From You and Me 2024

The EU came up with some new rules, which sound really good on paper, but are completely impractical. It's not so much that the new rules would always be impractical, given enough time to adapt, perhaps the farmers could make it work. But as far as I can tell, they haven't been given time.

From what I can gather, it's something like a requirement to cut co2 emissions by about 80%, but without anyone considering how on earth you run a farm without using huge diesel fueled tractors and such.

 

The woman on the Tv at midday, who was a spokes person for the UK farmers was saying it because of brexit and all the new deals we have done with the likes of Australia and NZ, and she even said USA, no deals been done there, but honestly when did you last see any farm products from Australia, NZ lamb has always been imported even when we were in the EU.
I can remember Argentine beef and NZ butter but farmers in the UK managed.

As to green agendas its all getting silly and I can see where farmers are coming from in that direction, you cant change things over night.

 

I like your style!

 

Partly that, yes, but also as mentioned before, the greed of the supermarkets who pay well below the cost price of food. Escalating energy, animal feed and fuel costs.....it's all pushing smaller farmers to the brink and beyond. There's also ill-feeling that the Government is penalising it's own country's farmers in favour of Ukraine. It's a future crisis building up here in France as very few younger people want to pursue agriculture, even those whose forebears have owned land for many generations.

 

I am a helpless old woman, so I put on my "stand aside, capable person coming through" act.

 

I've seen similar with very expensive cows having their tail caught on barbwire, but is it not just a small example of the poor general attitude we have today?

 

With some farmers about to loose the fuel subsidy. Germany cut the fuel subsidy to 40% for 2024, it will be 30% in 2025 and scrapped altogether from 2026. The UK rebate on red diesel for farmers, fisheries and the horticultural sector that grow edible crops is 80%, so the duty they pay is 11p per litre.

 

Further to my gripe about B&Q cancelling today's delivery of compost which was ordered and paid for on the 20th March, and rescheduled for delivery 2nd April, I've just received an email from B&Q asking me 'how did they do'.

Well I told them alright, my laptop is steaming!

 

You sound like me @ViewAhead. Luckily the other day when I bought 10 sacks of 40L compost OH was with me so I just stood and watched

 

That reminds me of a story. I had a beautiful Pinto and I got broadsided one day by a pickup truck strangely my boss's neighbour's son (my boss being a criminal/personal injury lawyer. The damage took weeks to repair. I got it back one lunchtime and parked it behind our office building. An hour later someone came in and asked who owned the green/white Pinto. They had left their car in the wrong gear and it had rolled down the sloped driveway ... directly into my car. The Mechanic did not believe it till he arrived! I am not sure who had the most tears!

 

Re: farmers.. I can't remember where else but there are a few countries, I don't know how many, but India is one - the governments paid farmers to burn their crops, so they have no viable seed and have to buy it each year. The seeds produced are sterile.
Farmers can't win, their land is being stripped from them too, I think it was that the Dutch ones were raging about it a couple of years ago?

 

Most European countries' farmers are protesting in one form or another. Sadly, the main farmers unions are in the pocket of the Government, at least they are here in France. The only people making a good living out of agriculture are the chemical Companies and the middlemen The ordinary farmers don't want a complicated system of subsidies, they just want to be able to sell what they produce for a fair price, and, like the rest of us, to not be hammered by incessant, hidden taxes.

 

When you actually think about it, where did it all go wrong that farmers actually need subsidies.
The farmers should be able to get a decent living just by selling what they produce and not have to rely on subsidies.