August 09, 2017

10/08/2017: The importance of networking and co-operation amongst farmers

by Chris Jackson, Export Manager, UK TAG

During the last month I have been travelling again, taking UK companies with the support of our Government to exhibitions in China, Indonesia and the Philippines


 
Chris Jackson
In these countries agriculture and food production is a major sector, employing by far the largest proportion of their population. Whereas their Governments are actively encouraging the industry, low rural incomes still remains a real problem with the small-scale farmers unable to access the funding that is available to them.

Where real efforts are being made to improve infrastructure so that produce can reach markets timely and in good condition, the benefits are easily seen along with the establishment of effective co-operatives both for production and marketing.

The latter two are in the farmers’ hands, and where education shows the benefits of these developments their incomes will undoubtedly rise. For livestock farming in China and the Philippines, pigs with their higher and quicker production are liked.
 


Hence a quicker increase in incomes is easy to achieve. Indonesia with its reliance on cattle, sheep and goats the problems are not as quickly resolved, but with better feed and genetics real improvements are beginning to be seen.

Good quality feeds for livestock rely on our colleagues in the milling industry to deliver products of high quality, with the correct balance of carbohydrates, protein, minerals along with amino acids that are readily available for the animals digestion.

To improve farm production large-scale investment is needed, which means in turn that returns on capital have to be both achievable and sustainable. To achieve this the farm support schemes as practiced in the EU need to be phased out and the market needs to find its own level as in the Australian model.

Here in the UK we are now approaching another harvest time for cereals, with second cut silage and hay making well in hand. It is also the time of year that our local agricultural shows are in full swing, giving farmers the opportunity to show their excellent breeding stock in the judging rings.

This to modern geneticists may seem old fashioned and quaint but to my mind it has definite benefits for our livestock industries.


Read the full article, HERE.
 

The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.


For additional daily news from milling around the world: global-milling.com

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