BBC Radio 4 Farming Today, Wednesday 8th February, 2017
British Farmers are suffering because they are finding that they can’t get enough migrant workers to pick their crops Post Brexit.
Why don’t people in the UK want to take employment harvesting crops in this country – because farmers are not paying a living wage for its own people to do this. That’s why they employ migrant workers.
If a country can’t work out how to pay its own people a living wage to grow food for their own nation then this aspect of the culture -the farming culture – is falling to pieces.
This will only result in higher and higher food prices. This is a result of decade after decade of false food prices due to 1) subsidies to farmers to keep food prices low and 2) The lack of interest for the nation to be in any way self-sufficient.
Profit is more important than self-sufficiency therefore the reaction is suffering.
Again the concept is wrong – that farming is like any other business – who said that? It’s about maintaining the land in such a way as to support the animals and man who live upon it. Any excess can then be sold.
Scenario. Nature will force the reality of real food economy upon it’s people.