 |
By *hagTonight OP Man 7 days ago
From the land of haribos. |
With the result of the iran war, the prices on most things are going up, from petrol to food, like, potatoes, milk and chicken, not just that but also toilet paper.
Starmer also said that how people may have to change their shopping habits as a result of this.
What is your view of it, would we see prices a lot higher on most of the things for a short while, would people resort to panic bying, would you stock up on anything, could this turn out to be a global food crisis?
I think that this would just be temporary, having said that I think it is a good idea to be stocking up on a few extra basics, because it never hurts for peace of mind, but hopefully things settle down before it gets that extreme. I would be stocking up on haribos too  |
Reply privately, Reply in forum +quote
or View forums list | |
I don't know if there will be food shortages. It might be difficult to get certain food but I doubt if anyone in the UK will go hungry because there's no food at all.
There will be people who experience hunger due to lack of money though but that's not new |
Reply privately, Reply in forum +quote
or View forums list | |
|
By *hagTonight OP Man 7 days ago
From the land of haribos. |
"I don't know if there will be food shortages. It might be difficult to get certain food but I doubt if anyone in the UK will go hungry because there's no food at all.
There will be people who experience hunger due to lack of money though but that's not new"
Hi nicecouple, yes, you are right there. I also think that it might be difficult to get certain food too. |
Reply privately, Reply in forum +quote
or View forums list | |
No food shortages, pressure on prices definitely
30% of all food purchased is thrown away, never cooked. Presumably not donated to food banks
Uk households throw away six million tonnes of food annually (9.5M including businesses) at a reported cost of £1000/household annually
Record 3 million+ people have received food from food banks (tussel trust)
Food waste contributes to 25 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually in the UK
Extremely wasteful society |
Reply privately, Reply in forum +quote
or View forums list | |
"No food shortages, pressure on prices definitely
30% of all food purchased is thrown away, never cooked. Presumably not donated to food banks
Uk households throw away six million tonnes of food annually (9.5M including businesses) at a reported cost of £1000/household annually
Record 3 million+ people have received food from food banks (tussel trust)
Food waste contributes to 25 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually in the UK
Extremely wasteful society "
We hardly throw anything away. We cook everything and if it’s been served onto a plate and not eaten it can go into the next day’s curry. |
Reply privately, Reply in forum +quote
or View forums list | |
"It might make us appreciate UK farmers a bit more though"
I have been lucky enough to live my 65 years in a period of relative peace, stability, and prosperity. Since 1980, that stability has been accompanied by a quasi-religious belief that the free market and global supply chains will solve all our problems, thereby relieving government of the need to have coherent, joined up, forward-thinking policies. But today, with a collapse in governance and the rules-based world order, our peace and prosperity depends on the impulses of a few rich and powerful men and our prosperity and ability to feed ourselves feels increasingly fragile.
It’s not just the 40% of food that we import that is vulnerable – what we produce in the UK is highly dependent on fertiliser from the Middle East, soya from South America, seed, machinery and agrichemicals from a handful of global companies, and even imported CO2 to stun and kill our pigs.
One of the fundamental principles of organic farming is that a farm should be a self-contained, closed loop – nutrients are retained and recycled, minimising the need for external inputs. The nutrients leaving my farm in veg are replenished by compost made largely from local domestic waste mixed with small amounts of manure bought from our neighbours, rather than urea travelling through the Strait of Hormuz. It is a lot more work and the effects are less dramatically impressive than applying immediately available, synthetically-produced ammonium nitrate but we are still enjoying the benefit of compost spread 10 years ago – as the structure, moisture-holding capacity and ability of the soil to support a healthy and flavoursome crop grows every year.
Moving, turning, and spreading compost costs us between £150 and £300 per acre, per year, which is similar to today’s war-inflated prices for artificial fertiliser but we get a lot more from the compost than just nitrogen. There is also a strong argument for taxing nitrogen fertiliser which accounts for 31% of energy used by UK agriculture and an even higher proportion of greenhouse gas emissions.
But with your support, we are building a sustainable and secure future. Most of UK farming is trapped in a cash-starved, extractive loop that destroys soil and ecosystems while leaving our country’s food supply vulnerable to an increasingly unstable world. Outsourcing the problem to the lowest global bidder is failing us all and our planet.
Guy Watson
Founder
Riverford organic farms (Devon) |
Reply privately, Reply in forum +quote
or View forums list | |
I think we should expect to see inflation increase substantially again, for the rest of the year, as Trump didn't seem to have a war resolution plan and still hasn't changed much.
Some of our food supplies from abroad have been hit before, due to climate change, etc - so we may be at the mercy of adverse weather events, fertiliser shortages and more.
Rumoured shortages don't fare well in the UK, so there will likely be some antisocial people who will take as much as they can, making it a reality 
I read fewer people may travel abroad for holidays this year, which could further load our abilities to supply everyone.
With flexibility, people could probably find enough food, if they'd perhaps consider instead more seasonal produce, rather than fixating on their rigid regular desires. Some extra cabbage, instead of Spanish whatever, etc.
It's a good time to be starting some plants now, for summer onwards harvest. |
Reply privately, Reply in forum +quote
or View forums list | |
» Add a new message to this topic
