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A Sustainable Food Industry for Europe (Now with poll!) | 37 comments (37 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: A Sustainable Food Industry for Europe (none / 1)
Those farmers I know don't have a problem with the move from quota based production targets to direct subvention and are also quite happy to comply with habitat directives, REPS - Rural Environment Protection Scheme and other measures.  Their problem is they can't cover their costs at current prices.

notes from no w here
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Mon Jun 22nd, 2009 at 11:27:18 AM EST
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Re: A Sustainable Food Industry for Europe (4.00 / 2)
Guess time:

I'll bet many, if not all, of these farmers are locked into commodity production and do not sell their product(s) directly to consumers.  I'll further bet these farmers haven't heard of producer/consumer co-ops either.

Until farmers capture the consumer dollar they will remain ill-payed for their work while watching the middlemen and grocery/food stores reap the majority of the profits.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Mon Jun 22nd, 2009 at 11:51:46 PM EST
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Re: A Sustainable Food Industry for Europe (4.00 / 2)
The irish cooperative movement has been a huge part of Irish farming history with most farmers selling to cooperatives acting as primary processors and food marketeers.  However over the years the professionalism of the co-ops combined with the consolidation mandated by the economies of scale have rendered these businesses only marginally different from commercial businesses, albeit with significant farmer shareholdings.  

EU regulations on pasteurisation, sterility, and the equipment required - often ludicrously prescriptive - also makes it almost impossible for individual farmers to raise the capital required for even small scale craft production.  The increasing dominance of the retail market by global supermarket chains also cuts off direct access to the vast majority of consumers.  Farmer's markets exist but they operate on the margins.

There are many regulatory, technological, capital, and economic barriers to direct market entry and it is very difficult for many farmers to survive without being caught in the corporately dominated supply chain.

notes from no w here

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Tue Jun 23rd, 2009 at 06:45:10 AM EST
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A Sustainable Food Industry for Europe (Now with poll!) | 37 comments (37 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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