Huge Meat Plant Loss

[Albert Tatlock]

'Local' really means expensive middleman here.

 

Government bollocks to prop up the unpropupable.

[woolley]

We do need to produce local food, though. You always need to be able to feed your population and the government has a responsibility to create the conditions where businesses will produce as much of our staple produce as possible. Anything else is dereliction of duty.

[asitis]

We do need to produce local food, though. You always need to be able to feed your population and the government has a responsibility to create the conditions where businesses will produce as much of our staple produce as possible. Anything else is dereliction of duty.

 

Agreed, which is why the so named Countryside Care Scheme needs a thorough overhaul, if landowners do not want to look after their property thats up to them, and the scheme should be targeted with your aim above underpinning it !

[Andy Onchan]

So the meat plant is fucked, it needs massive extra investment and now 1,700 civil servants and farmers obviously vote to try to stop exports to UK facilities as well.

 

http://www.energyfm.net/cms/news_story_467105.html

 

So what options are we left with if a farmer wants to take livestock to slaughter?

 

Can't do it on Island unless we invest more millions in the meat plant, can't do it off Island as those who will benefit from more millions being spent on the meat plant don't want exports to the UK.

 

Didn't our current Chief Minister lodge a planning application a while back for a slaughter house?

[Butterflies]

 

Many welcomed the deregulation of the meat market and imported meat because it was so much cheaper. It was pushed for, for many a year. Manx meat has always been inordinately more expensive for some. But sold cheap in UK.

 

I buy imported meat for no other reason than because its cheaper, a lot of the local butchers sell mostly imported meat aswell, just because your 'local' butcher is 'local' to you, doesn't mean the meat is!

 

 

Exactly the kind of selfish, inconsiderate cretin we don't need in the world, but unfortunately, it's full of them.

 

The reason meat is cheaper is largely due to poorer animal welfare, it comes from huge intensive inhumane farms. There are also more additives, less chance of the meat you're buying being the meat you intend to buy (cheaper species are mixed in) and due to the close proximity of the animals in such farms, there are more anti-biotics in your meat. In many cases the animals are kept in cramped tiny spaces with restricted movement in a deliberate attempt to keep them fat & sad so they dont fight back when lead to slaughter. Eating meat is selfish anyway of course, but at least some people try to have a heart about it.

 

Small farmers raise fewer animals, take better care of them & have to charge more for their meat.

[Tarne]

...What? Do you really think "Expensive meat is automatically better meat"?

 

Pretty much everything you've written is intentionally factually incorrect.

[Non-Believer]

"Fat and sad so they don't fight back on their way to the slaughter"

 

That explains Ramsey wimmin then....

[Douglas Prom]

 

 

 

Exactly the kind of selfish, inconsiderate cretin we don't need in the world, but unfortunately, it's full of them.

 

The reason meat is cheaper is largely due to poorer animal welfare, it comes from huge intensive inhumane farms. There are also more additives, less chance of the meat you're buying being the meat you intend to buy (cheaper species are mixed in) and due to the close proximity of the animals in such farms, there are more anti-biotics in your meat. In many cases the animals are kept in cramped tiny spaces with restricted movement in a deliberate attempt to keep them fat & sad so they dont fight back when lead to slaughter. Eating meat is selfish anyway of course, but at least some people try to have a heart about it.

 

Small farmers raise fewer animals, take better care of them & have to charge more for their meat.

 

 

Exactly the kind of idiotic, gormless cretin we don't need in the world, but unfortunately it's full of them!

[pongo]

They should also put a restriction on imported meat.

A protected market is nearly always the worst option.

 

Today, in most places, the local food product - and food which proudly annouces its source - is a premium item sold at higher prices. Sold in typically smaller quantities to people who are prepared to pay for a premium product. There is no reason why the IOM should be any different. It should be a premium product.

 

But the factory / supply chain product should also be available for those who want to pay less or who want choice. This represents the best of both options.

 

The worst option would be to pay premium prices for a non premium product produced to supply chain minimums as a result of protections.

[WTF]

 

They should also put a restriction on imported meat.

A protected market is nearly always the worst option.

 

Today, in most places, the local food product - and food which proudly annouces its source - is a premium item sold at higher prices. Sold in typically smaller quantities to people who are prepared to pay for a premium product. There is no reason why the IOM should be any different. It should be a premium product.

 

But the factory / supply chain product should also be available for those who want to pay less. This represents the best of both options.

 

The worst option would be to pay premium prices for a non premium product produced to supply chain minimums as a result of protections.

 

 

 

but have we really got a premium product?? it might be nice to say it was home grown but that doesn't mean it is top quality, it may be the best we can produce but if a better product can be Imported for half the price ?? I'm not saying what we grow isn't top quality, but it is a sliding scale, not everything that gets a grade gets TQ, but back when we had regulation of imports, even the lowest quality meat in the butchers was still more expensive than decent quality stuff over the water. it was all there was so pockets were emptied. same with veg and salad, manx grown organic lettuce was terrible, the insect livestock feasting on it meant it was not fit for use long before a sell by date would take effect.

[pongo]

The point I am making is that I believe premium is the way to go. Also for export. I don't believe that the IOM should be using protectionism to produce basics which are more expensive.

[woolley]

We should never put ourselves into a situation where we have to rely on imports, so anything that takes us down that road any distance at all is bad. What might be a choice between expensive and cheap now can become the difference between availability and non-availability in the future if we do not sustain our home infrastructure. Each generation has a duty to do so. Transporting food greater distances than necessary is a waste of fossil fuel resources and a hostage to future conditions of shortage for whatever reason.

[pongo]

We should never put ourselves into a situation where we have to rely on imports, so anything that takes us down that road any distance at all is bad. What might be a choice between expensive and cheap now can become the difference between availability and non-availability in the future if we do not sustain our home infrastructure. Each generation has a duty to do so. Transporting food greater distances than necessary is a waste of fossil fuel resources and a hostage to future conditions of shortage for whatever reason.

 

 

Farming itself, and the entire infrastructure in general, depends upon imports. If we were ever to be cut off for more than a few days then we would have much bigger issues to worry about. Issues which local farming could not address anyhow.

 

The IOM will never compete on price. It could compete on brand. Especially with respect to exports.

[woolley]

 

We should never put ourselves into a situation where we have to rely on imports, so anything that takes us down that road any distance at all is bad. What might be a choice between expensive and cheap now can become the difference between availability and non-availability in the future if we do not sustain our home infrastructure. Each generation has a duty to do so. Transporting food greater distances than necessary is a waste of fossil fuel resources and a hostage to future conditions of shortage for whatever reason.

 

 

Farming itself, and the entire infrastructure in general, depends upon imports. If we were ever to be cut off for more than a few days then we would have much bigger issues to worry about. Issues which local farming could not address anyhow.

 

The IOM will never compete on price. It could compete on brand. Especially with respect to exports.

 

To an extent, but it isn't as time sensitive or volume intensive as is waiting for the finished product to appear over the horizon every day to put on your table. We've seen the panic after a couple of days of no boat.

 

So what then? You advocate letting the local industry wither?

[Albert Tatlock]

Imports or exports both involve energy costs. But we need to do a lot of both on a small island.

 

The self sufficiency argument is fundamentally flawed, both on a cost and product basis. Other than a few basic foodstuffs - 90% of what we consume is imported.

 

Where do you draw the line on this? What's next a state funded clothes factory?