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Farming In The UK

I am watching Countryfile and glass house farmers are complaining they cant afford to grow in glass houses because of high energy costs . My question is why ? In this day and age there is no need to relly on the energy grid for their energy . Their is now solar power and all sorts of steam power etc . Yes the initial pay out may be steep but then surely in the long run it would more than pay for itself . Instead of selling land to the power companies to cover in solar panels , put their own solar panels or build other energy generators and sell the excess they dont use back to the grid . That way its a win win . They then produce their own energy and sell the excess back to the grid which in the future once the initial cost has been met would be pure profit . They say we need to move with the times so why arnt we . We have wind , solar and alsorts of other ways to create energy including power from animal dung and rubbish and food waste . Why are we as a western first world country so far behind the times at a time when the government are pushing clean energy production . Why do we no longer have Made In Britain which used to mean money well spent and reliable products . Now everything comes from a third world country in Asia . Something has gone badly wrong .
ArishMell · 70-79, M
You can't just press [Enter] and there it all is!

Glasshouse horticulture may need more heat than can be supplied by anything on the farm itself; and the capital and payback costs of the equipment may well be far higher than the already high costs of the electricity, gas or oil already being used.

Too much farm land is being used already for solar farms and their huge battery-packs, and we do need food as well as heat and light.

A godly number of farmers are already using methane from animal-waste "digesters", though I don't know if the gas is burnt for space-heating or fuelling i.c. engines coupled to alternators. Others too do use at least some "home-grown" electricity.

What's gone wrong with most mass-produced good being now imported - and this applies to many countries, even the USA, not just Britain? Many reasons but the main one in common is simple undercutting. The Asian costs were so much lower than our own and so many people use cost not quality and longevity, that they overtook domestic production. Initially Asian goods were of low quality and some still are, but less so nowadays, especially once they looked more closely at the stolen patent designs and realised buyers do want at least fair quality for the lowest cost.

Also of course many Western countries have been persuaded by the money-trade to allow selling their businesses and utilities overseas, in the guise of "inward [sic] investment"; without thinking of the obvious effects it takes a qualified economist or stock-market analyst to miss.

We are though still very good at very highly specialised engineering products. It is mainly the domestic-products trade, vehicle-building and some heavy industries like steel-making and ship-building that have gone either physically or by ownership. Oh, and railway engineering. Why the Hell is the country that invented the public passenger and goods carrying railways, now using trains built by Hitachi (Japan) and Bombardier (Canada)?

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You will recall this problem was behind President Trump's campaigning but he missed the point that once large-scale industries have gone, it is very difficult or impossible to revive them in the forms they were. The UK has the same problem but we (perhaps the USA too) made the mistake of thinking so-called "service industries" a good replacement, simply because they undeniably represent an extremely valuable "export industry". So instead we need new industries at large scales, but should also really develop new "made In Britain" trade.

Oh - and without destroying agriculture in the process, hence increasing food imports!

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I typed this on a DELL computer linked to two Hewlett-Packard printers. American companies, American designs; Chinese or Taiwanese manufacture. Ironically their printed-circuit boards, like that in my portable 'phone, may have been made on a production line that includes machinery built in Britain - and only a few miles from my computer, too.

In front of the PC is a mug of tea, made with local spring water from rain "Made in Britain".... sold to me by a Malaysian hotels-quarries-and-cement group of dubious environmental credentials in its own country.

Oooh: the mug is now empty so let's have a look. Embossed on its underside is, "Made In England" !
Rhode57 · 56-60, M
@ArishMell Thanks for that alot of good points even a bit of education . You are obviously a highly knowledgable guy . So thanks for that its nice to see I can still have sensible conversations with some people on here .
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@Rhode57 Thankyou very much!

I think there are hints about that producing more things locally (or at least nationally) will have to become more important, but whether the hints will bear fruit is another matter.

It's not so much education, though that helps, as curiosity.

I don't have a degree nor I did lead any higher than "shop floor" employment, which was always engineering and science related. Also my leisure interests mean I try to understand the problems and points of view of people like farmers.

So although not involving much deep analysis, I ask myself, Why does X happen?, What did Y mean and what is the opposite view?, What might happen if A rather than B were to happen?, etc.:
Luciebelle · F
I guess the original cost of solar panels is the problem and farmers might own lots of land but don't have the cash for it.

But everything is being managed in a sh*t way though, which don't blame farmers for but the last few governments :(
Luciebelle · F
@Rhode57 We live in a f-----d up uber-capitalist society that doesn't think much about investing for the future (banks definitely don't). Like I say I don't blame farmers
Rhode57 · 56-60, M
@Luciebelle I geuss such a shame . Hoprfully as the younger generation get to the point of taking over the reins things will change if its not to late we can only hope .
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Dolimyte · 41-45, M
Did you run the maths on that?
Rhode57 · 56-60, M
@Dolimyte Of course as I said I know the initial cost would be high but things like that are investment in the future . If a farm becomes self reliant future costs would drop and profit would go up .
Get out of there and move to the USA.
Rhode57 · 56-60, M
@Assface Sometimes I wish I could but cant . My ill health has me trapped here .

 
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