Err And That's Bad Because.......?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-41775222
One of the main reasons the EU is collapsing, should we be celebrating leaving the disastrous CAP rather than whining about it?

[Pete65]

Surely you mean "er"?

[Zacs-Master]

The CAP and the future survival of British Farmers was always a central issue with Brexit.
UK farmers benefit from the political cover provided by farmers in other member states where agriculture is a higher percentage of GDP.

In what way is it disastrous?

[ToraToraTora]

have a day of ZM, the CAP is a farmers' benevolent fund, especially the French and Germans. They pay farmers not to farm distorting prices across the continent. Socialism again. Why do you think the french farmers fill Paris with tractors every time someone even farts in their direction?

[Zacs-Master]

Almost all of British agriculture isn't competitive in the global market, in the absence of tariffs. Especially for sheep and other meat production. The Government will have to decide whether consumers are to pay a premium through tariffs and trade barriers to ensure more expensive food is produced in the UK. The Govt will be looking for free trade agreements with other world economies, as well as with the EU after Brexit, and as such the trade consequences for British farmers are likely to be more detrimental than the loss of CAP subsidies, which last year were £3b.

[lindapalmara]

zac, didn't you know that the £3 billion was just our money coming back to us. The CAP benefits France the most as it causes protectionism. We used to buy from the Commonwealth and they were hit badly when we joined the EEC because they couldn't compete with France's subsidies.

[youngmafbog]

Farming will have to adjust. When we abandoned the Kiwi Farmers to join the CAP they had to change their way of working to ensure they were competitive.

No, UK farmers may not be competitive, they need to get so. At present there is little incentive given any are given subsidies to actually do nowt or grow crops they probably would not choose to.

Those that fail to adjust will go under, but it will be their fault since the opportunity will be there to get on. In addition I predict that home grown produce will become more available which is a good thing removing food miles.

As for tariffs it must be remembered we do not have Tariff free trad with the EU today. We pay a massive levy to the EU for the privilege so it is simply a tariff by another name. The big difference is that the tax payer picks up the tariff so subsidizing the imported goods (For instance all of us are subsidizing the new Mercs people buy). In the future, providing May does not capitulate, the tariff will be on the goods so individual members of the public can choose whether or not to pay them.

[fender62]

meat prices, i remember belly pork like scrag end was cheap, now its way over priced, why? joining the eu did not bring down prices, rather they went up, why is it cheaper to buy kiwi lamb rather then uk produced, considering it's shipped half way round the world.

[youngmafbog]

Anyone remember the butter mountain or the wine lakes created to artificially inflate the price?

[New Judge]

Yes youngmaf has it spot on.

UK farmers will need to adjust and be weaned off Nanny EU and her pocket money. There is no reason that farmers should be subsidised by the EU. It's just a money shovelling exercise: UK taxpayers shell out; it's shovelled over to Brussels; a suitable sum is extracted for Mr Juncker's bar bill and the lorries that move the EU from Brussels to Strasbourg ten times a year; loads of it is syphoned off for eastern member nation's "development"; a load goes to French framers and a few bob comes back to ours.

All sorts of businesses will need to do things differently. The benefits will be enormous in the long term and the UK will revert to being a "proper" nation again.

[Spicerack]

There was an interesting programme a few years ago about a wheat/cereal farmer.
Amongst other things he showed a picture of his grandfather sat outside the farmhouse surrounded by the 120 staff needed to run the place. He ran it with 2 full-time workers, lol.
Of course, grandad didn't have GPS controlled combined harvesters, etc.
Anyhow, he was most bemused that, despite record harvests and record profits, the EU wouldn't stop sending him subsidies. That if only he'd run his farm more inefficiently he'd be entitled to more, bigger, better subsidies.
He might even have said, and I had zero interest in the EU or politics when I watched it, that he tried to stop them being sent/tried to return them and was told he couldn't and it wasn't up to him.
Perhaps that last bit is misremembered, lol. Seems rather unlikely.

[youngmafbog]

Yes, I vaguely remember that story Spice. There was something about he couldn't refuse it. To be honest it would cost a fair amount to process not sending to some than it would to just pay across the board.

[mikey4444]

That money, that was mentioned on the side of the Bus, will have to cover an awful lot of things won't it ?

Not just the NHS but all the millions that we currently get from the EU in farming subsidies.

[youngmafbog]

Ah Mickey clearly a pupil from the Dianne Abbott school of Mathematics.

A 'NET' contributor means we pay in more than we get back. A lot more is actually the case so what exactly are you getting at?

[Zacs-Master]

It’s billions mikey not millions.

[youngmafbog]

Yes billions of our money given back, not all to farming.

It is not the EU's money they dont have any.