Mainstream Media "Stock up on food"
- Thread starter Edcraft
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I've been reading.
I was told, and believed, that it wasn't for use on agricultural land, but was fine for forestry.
Lo and behold.....
www.theferret.scot
I was told, and believed, that it wasn't for use on agricultural land, but was fine for forestry.
Lo and behold.....
More than half a million tonnes of sewage sludge spread on Scotland's fields
Huge volumes of sewage sludge have been used to fertilise Scottish farmland. Studies show it contains microplastics, forever chemicals and cancer-linked pollutants.
www.theferret.scot
I believe we have.
About 5 years ago, I did some speculative business development whereby I was able to operate a (large) drone to cover a 50Ha field with a muilti-spectral sensor at a resolution of 2cm/pixel, covered that field in about 45 minutes. With processing and recharge, there was potential for a field level service of some 300Ha per day and the results within 12 hours.
Idea was that pests/disease and poor crop growth could be identified quickly, allowing spot-treatment (ideally with drones) rather than full field treatment. Saving on chemical use/run off, and also opening the door to using solar/wind to recharge the batteries rather than diesel for the big tractor for whole-field treatment.
With the help of a farm estate allowing us to fly their fields, we got the proof of concept stage sorted, but then couldn't get funding for scale-up as we got to that stage without anything and were not as "out there" as some bizarre ideas that were being grant funded. (We even had ideas on longer term reducing the impact of sourcing the drone equipment).
Next stage: it needed to wash it's face. But we couldn't even persuade a wealth ag farm estate to cover expenses the following year because for them, it wasn't a priority- as they just paid extra if fertilizer/chemicals/fuel prices went up, harvested and put the crop into conditon-controlled storage, and could wait for market conditions to enable them to sell at a price that guaranteed profit. So we walked away and the drone/sensor kit is still parked in one of my outbuldings.
That's the problem that will eventually lead to food scarcity: there is no incentive for the producers to reduce use of the chemicals they rely on. Or to adopt alternative methods such as use of argoforestry and use of diverse populations of crops (such as the Wakelyn experiments).
The whole experience opened my eyes on a lot of levels- including the lobby which wants us to go vegan "for the planet." Well, I have seen what a crops-only industrially-farmed landscape is like and I don't want it. In the West of Britain where the fields naturally grow grass in the wet conditions and animal manure provides dung to support insects, the place is (literally) buzzing and there's birdsong. Whereas over in these big crop flatlands in east of Britain, it's comparatively lifeless- silent, and few insects. And insects are the foundation.
[I am also totally against "net Zero" as it's driving the wrong behaviours- and is fundamentally flawed as apparently gas purchased from Norway doesn't count towards UK net zero whereas that we drill ourselves does! Couldn't make it up etc etc etc. We really need a much more sophisticated view of the whole ecological system and a localised lower-input system with more acceptance of modest consumption and carrying capacity of a system, not a made-up metric that's easy to measure and which achieves nothing useful (and arguably is causing significant harm).]
GC
Nothing wrong with disagreeing and counter-position, it's how we learn new stuff.
Misunderstanding there, I was commenting on the original newspaper article not your reference. Which of course is entirely correct.
UK farmers use increasing amounts and increasing costs of fertilizers at the encouragement of Govt, main buyers, the Stock Market/shareholders and fertiliser manufacturers. It has been that way since the second world war. Big Pharma and Big Business will not permit the UK Govt to go an alternative path even if they could, which is debatable.
That Scottish suggestion is laughable. Realistically, pollution is now so much of our lives and hence our waste that it is not removable at the treatment stage. Arguably, it is better to spread it on the fields where some, but not all of it, will held for evermore, than to dump it into the waterways and sea. There is some justice in that our food will also be affected, as we created the original pollution.
It's not that idyllic these days. The farm near us that was sold last year seems to have completed its works of scalping many of the hedges back with a couple of large excavators. All the fields are now covered in plastic presumably to grow forage maize. All the grass has been sprayed off and ploughed. I hope this year is a one off and they go back to planting some grass but even that will be a monoculture and any wild flowers, herbs or even the wrong grass will be weeded out. The multiple larger tractors seemed to be working day and night for several weeks. Hence me wondering about the amount of diesel and fertilizer that will now be required.
In the past a large amount of sewage sludge has been spread on the fields around here too, thankfully they didn't seem to use it this year. Although it does add some nutrients I gather it's done to get rid of the stuff and only so much can be used due to the heavy metals and other toxins in it.
We're spoilt for choice these days. Any history of our food shows how very seasonal, and how very unvaried it was for most people.
There's an awful lot of waste in the system now, an awful lot of 'I want' and not 'I need' too.
I know, I'm an optimist, I think we'll manage.
There's an awful lot of waste in the system now, an awful lot of 'I want' and not 'I need' too.
I know, I'm an optimist, I think we'll manage.
Yes , maybe.
Agree to waste in the system and I don't think people can even distinguish between want and need anymore - returning to seasonal based eating and actual tangible food miles may help - also having a single set of coding on packets that makes sense.
I guess my main point of concern is that this is potentially culminative to the overall increase in living costs.
Housing / Rent
Fuel costs
Food costs.
Its ALL going up with no sign of easement ( currently ) - It all the small things together that tend to sink the boat Or just one really big black swan iceberg.
Biggest worry for most folks is mortgage payments.
That's actually another want/need situation.
Everyone seems to want their own place these days, but there are actually an awful lot of empty bedrooms in houses.
I'm not saying homelessness isn't an issue, but well, that's a social construct for many instead of a dire need to build another million houses....with more empty rooms.
That's actually another want/need situation.
Everyone seems to want their own place these days, but there are actually an awful lot of empty bedrooms in houses.
I'm not saying homelessness isn't an issue, but well, that's a social construct for many instead of a dire need to build another million houses....with more empty rooms.
Interesting.
I think that ownership is more about sense of security isn't it? it would be for me , I'm not bashing Landlords as I'm one myself but I know myself my anxiety levels do peak with regards to that matter which isn't wasted on me.
But when you say spare Bedrooms - Modern housing stock barely have actual usable bedrooms - box rooms are turned into dressing rooms / laundry rooms / office spaces ( wfh ) as no storage space is included. So whilst they may not be bedrooms for occupants they are utilised for other purposes
I do think we have a more ingrained 'need' for ownership than maybe our European neighbours from what I understand but thats probably more down to supply vs demand in areas of limited building stock.
Its a good segue however - Your point of "Biggest worry for most folks is mortgage payments." when you apply it to any country ( I'm thinking States but no doubt other countries also are included ) when medical care is provided as an individual.
In a situation where you have to decide where the money is going to go - Mortgage - Medical Insurance - Food , its a tricky one to triage and you can see why people get into a downwards spiral once they are forced/chose to opt out.
Ah, cultural and political (sorry, that's verboten) differences.
We don't really 'do' medical debt here, do we ?
Thankfully
I live in a fairly affluent area (we're local, not posh) and while I know a lot who choose to go privately for health care, that's always backed up by the NHS if things go amiss.
I think a lot of that is back to want vs need though.....they want a facelift, they want a tummy tuck, they want.....
Housing, again, an awful lot of it is want not need.
We all need a safe, dry, warm and clean home, but that has become 'investment', and so many times salary type mortgages that many will never pay off, but hope that their house will increase value and sell well to clear that mortgage and leave a profit too.
Political again....sorry.
We don't really 'do' medical debt here, do we ?
Thankfully
I live in a fairly affluent area (we're local, not posh) and while I know a lot who choose to go privately for health care, that's always backed up by the NHS if things go amiss.
I think a lot of that is back to want vs need though.....they want a facelift, they want a tummy tuck, they want.....
Housing, again, an awful lot of it is want not need.
We all need a safe, dry, warm and clean home, but that has become 'investment', and so many times salary type mortgages that many will never pay off, but hope that their house will increase value and sell well to clear that mortgage and leave a profit too.
Political again....sorry.
I know you love working there, but there are a lot of Heritage sites in England, a fair number near where you live.
I realise that that's perhaps not quite your experience of 'near', but here if I want to work a commute of over a hundred miles each way was fairly common.
M
I realise that that's perhaps not quite your experience of 'near', but here if I want to work a commute of over a hundred miles each way was fairly common.
M
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Ah, cultural and political (sorry, that's verboten) differences.
We don't really 'do' medical debt here, do we ?
Thankfully
I live in a fairly affluent area (we're local, not posh) and while I know a lot who choose to go privately for health care, that's always backed up by the NHS if things go amiss.
I think a lot of that is back to want vs need though.....they want a facelift, they want a tummy tuck, they want.....
Housing, again, an awful lot of it is want not need.
We all need a safe, dry, warm and clean home, but that has become 'investment', and so many times salary type mortgages that many will never pay off, but hope that their house will increase value and sell well to clear that mortgage and leave a profit too.
Political again....sorry.
I see what you are saying now - yes Property has become its own asset class as opposed to a physical requirement of need. However I can't blame people speculating on property ( Safe as bricks and mortar ) when I look back at my lifetime and the amount of Pension funds being robbed, swindled or dipped and the pensionable age being pushed up and up people will look for other means of investment.
