December 06, 2017

07/12/2017: The importance of not taking our food for granted

by Chris Jackson, Export Manager, UK TAG

Back here in the UK our Christmas festivities are about to start and we look forward to another New Year
 
Chris Jackson

The seasons and years march on and in this ever changing and adapting world; farming and food production remain a constant necessity, something that whenever I can I remind politicians of. I think at times they lose sight of mankind’s need for food, as they mostly so very far divorced from the realities of food production.

In our modern, urban, developed world food is taken for granted, not so in much of our less developed countries where wars and natural disasters cause mass famine and starvation. This should be unacceptable in today’s world.

Natural disasters fire, flood, drought, we can do little about, but the continuing warring is totally man made and therefore avoidable.
 


Farming and food production should be a concern of all thinking political leaders. Within our global industry, we are becoming more and more efficient at producing an increasing amount of food - in very innovative ways using high technology and science to aid us.

Quantity of production is paramount, and unless you can find very lucrative high return niche markets then yield is the key driver to farmer’s profitability.

As most of the worlds consumers want food as cheaply as possible this adds even more pressure to the farmers, who now in the western world are driven to production systems that for livestock are welfare friendly, this means added cost to production and in some instances lower outputs. In addition, all farmers’ crops, vegetables and stock, have to look at production methods that do not have damaging effects on our environment.

Most small scale farmers have been doing this over decades as they know that their land is the most precious asset that they have, and they need it to be productive not only for themselves but for their families who will follow them. This is not always the case for the industrial conglomerates who see farming as a short-term income stream.


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.


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