the golden age of farming ?

[Jim Roper]

My uncle earned enough keeping a few pigs, milking 10 cows on 10 acres and delivering it in a pony and trap, to have himself a bungalow built.

Not much chance of that nowadays.

We're just about to sell the 10 acres, well most of it, for development.

The bungalow has been bought by the council and demolished for a road scheme.

 

My uncle's name was Earnie, by the way!!

 

The chap who farmed just below us used to take his few churns to the dairy in the sidecar of a Norton single. About 600cc I think.

 

A question: How much did farmland values, per acre, increase during the 60 years from 1890 to 1950?

 

Another interesting fact: The highest suicide rate, a few years back, was amongst farmers that employed people. The lowest suicide rate was amongst farmers that didn't employ anybody.

 

[ 20. September 2003, 12:05 PM: Message edited by: Jim Roper ]

[davidP]

When it's cheaper to bring lamb from New Zealand than from the local farm I think that says it all. Supermarkets have a lot to answer for though. Think back before them (I can just about) and the majority of what you bought was local produced. You bought meat from the local butcher who would have bought it from the local slaughterhouse or even direct from a local farmer. The fruit and vegetables would have come from the local wholesaler who would have been in the nearest large town or city and would have supplied largely local produce when in season. Milk and cheese came from the local dairy. Supermarkets however want to buy from one source in bulk as cheaply as possible. That kills any thoughts of local supply stone dead overnight and reduces the prices paid to the lowest levels. Any farmer who then can't operate at the minimum cost starts losing and will never come back. A crazy state of affairs.

[jeepster]

i only visit the supermarket for stuff like loo roll, cleaning products etc. all my meat comes from the local butcher, fruit and veg from a local farm shop. i have no idea whether its more expensive than in a supermarket because i never look. i want to buy a quality product from a local producer, and if you've got the time to look around it is possible, even if you live in a city.

so before you start bemoaning the loss of the golden days of farming, take a look in your shopping basket and work how far the food has travelled before it ends up on your plate, my dinner tonight had travelled a total of about 3 miles.

support your local producers and dont line the pockets of the supermarkets anymore than you have to

[Vagabond]

Jim Roper:

 

The chap who farmed just below us used to take his few churns to the dairy in the sidecar of a Norton single. About 600cc I think.

For a few weeks I owned an ex-army Norton side valve 700cc single - it had a kick like a mule. Bought it for a fiver, cleaned and tuned it and sold it for a tenner.

[wunnus]

The really golden age was when we paid them to grow stuff we did not want to eat.

 

Now those that cannot change will go from farming but they will be replaced by those who want to use the land to make money. It will be an unplanned patchwork of semi industrial crops (green diesel), leisure use ("extreme paintball??") and the reat will have too much money to change (just count the rusting cars in the yard!)

Oh yeah and a whole lot more will cover their land in the most lucrative crop ever... bricks and mortar.

[Excalibur]

Sorry, Wunnus the golden age was when when small farms could make a living selling free market produce without subsidies. Happy days