Re: Jim Webster seems off message

Pat: He ain't gonna be the last to know when you keep telling him.

Burkie
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Pat Gardiner wrote:
Pat's Comment

Jim's Blackberry seems to be out of sync. This from Farmer's Guardian today.

A famous quote from Chesterton ..."and a new people take this land, but
still it is not we."

The people of England were speaking about a change of the ruling classes.

In short, Jimbo, you have just been stuffed and you will be the last to
know.

That is what comes from brown nosing your betters.

They actually were better at lying, cheating, misrepresenting and annoying
respectable retired shipbrokers.

Then, when caught, they will blame you.

Tally Ho!



http://www.farmersguardian.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=6573

Food from abroad not a threat, report concludes

News - FG | 29 December, 2006

By Alistair Driver

SOURCING a healthy proportion of supplies from abroad makes UK food supplies
more secure, rather than less, Defra has concluded.

Defra economists say food security is not a problem for the UK. In a report
just published, they rebutted claims made by the farming industry that the
decline of domestic farm production poses a threat to the ability of the
nation to feed itself.

On the contrary, the report implies that moves by supermarkets and the food
service sector to source more food from abroad over the past decade are good
for society.

It considered the threat to UK food supplies posed by the country's
increasing reliance on imports and global issues like climate change and
international terrorism.

It acknowledges self-sufficiency levels have declined over the past decade.
In the mid-1990s about 85 per cent of food was sourced from the UK.

The figure is now around 70 per cent.

But it argues trends in self-sufficiency are a 'misleading' indicator of
food security. Current self-sufficiency levels are, in fact, 'pretty normal'
by historical standards. Levels in the 1980s and early 1990s were
artificially high due the way the CAP encouraged over-production, the report
says.
It says self-sufficiency has fallen for 'sound economic reasons', including
a lack of export growth since 1994, growing consumer demand for exotic food,
fewer trade restrictions, cheaper transport and communications and wider
sourcing by supermarkets.

Sourcing from abroad makes food supplies more secure because it provides
alternatives in the event of harvest failure, large animal disease outbreaks
or natural disasters. "Food security involves diversifying supply options,"
the report says.

A narrow focus on agricultural self-sufficiency ignores the way the 'modern
retailer-driven food supply chain has provided consumers with sustained
physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food', the
report claims.

The report acknowledges climate change is 'likely to bring new challenges
for food security,' but not for rich countries like the UK.

Its recommendations for ensuring food security include 'promoting resilience
in the food chain, the security of industrial and trading infrastructure,
and, the security of energy supplies'.


--
Regards
Pat Gardiner
www.go-self-sufficient.com

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