The Blighted Harvest.
The crisis in farming is also a crisis of British national security. The basis of Globalism and Consumerism is short termism. Consumer demand dictates both supply and production, and therefore what is not selling is not produced. In terms of T-shirts, socks, underarm deodorant and TV's this makes sense, but when applied to food production, national defence and energy production this is pure madness. We will always require electricity, an army to defend the country and food to feed the people. The defining feature of modern Britain is how economic fundamentalism has subverted our national sovereignty. The logic of the free market should never have been applied to the fundamental internal social structures in our country that are the basis of our national sovereignty, for in so doing we have allowed the corporate takeover of the nation state and surrendered our independence to the global market.
The UK trade deficit in foods is now ten billion pounds per annum. Self sufficiency in indigenous foods is less than 80 % and for all foods nears 60 %. Since the early 1990's the UK has lost 20 % of the agricultural production it requires to feed its own people. This is a scandal of the highest proportions. A nation that cannot feed its own people invites disaster.
There are in all national democracies what are defined as Red Zones - these are those structures and industries in our society that relate directly to our national security. The most important of these are energy production, national defence and agricultural production. I call these essential industries the ' Tanks, Tractors and Power Generators '. A nation that cannot feed its own people, that cannot keep the lights on and the railways running and that cannot train, equip and send out to fight and defend itself with its own independent army, navy and air force is not an independent nation. It is a puppet state of the corporations that control those essential industries.
Take for instance Dairy Framing as part of our national food production structures. The crisis in dairy farming over the last few decades has led to the collapse of British dairy farming as an industry. Cows and calves were worth almost nothing a few years ago and milk was costing more to produce than sell. Hundreds of dairy farms went into bankruptcy as supermarket profits soared as they sold cheap imported milk at the same time as demanding British farmers reduce their costs. Profits for the supermarkets were not passed onto the farmer and therefore the dairy industry could not compete. Family farms that had been in the same hands for generation were closed down and herds of cows that had been built up over generations were destroyed. In 1997 there were 34,242 registered dairy farmers and in 2002 the numbers had fallen to 25, 548. Since 1995 over 50 % of the dairy industry has collapsed. Each of these farms that closed represented a further erosion of our national independence, as the more the numbers of farms fell the more we as a nation depended upon foreign imports.
The dismantling of the Milk Marketing Board in 1994 meant the negotiating power of the farmers and milk processing plants were undermined at the same time as Globalisation opened up the UK milk industry to foreign completion and the big supermarkets began to act as a cartel and force down milk prices at the point of production. The small family farms were driven into collapse and free market economics, combined with a reduction in EU subsidies for UK produced milk, meant that only the big agri-business type farms were able to compete with foreign importers. This was at a time when the productivity and efficiency of dairy farmers was at an all time high. In the late 1980's the average yield were 5000 litres per cow, now it nearly 10,000 litres per cow. Thirty years ago it was 3500 litres per cow. Today three dairy farmers leave the business every day. There are now only 19,000 dairy farms left in the UK. Thousands more are expected to leave the industry in the next few years.
Then a few months ago in the middle of 2007 demand for milk in the global market began to increase due to changing dietary habits of consumers in countries such as China and India and this meant that imports into the UK of foreign produced milk began to rise in price. Yet the British dairy farms that could have profited from this rise in prices have gone, and Britain is now faced with importing milk at rising cost rather than producing its own milk for its home market. At the same time the rise in fuel, fertiliser and feed have added to the pressures on the existing dairy farms. Prices related to feed have risen by over 8 % and are expected to rise even more in the coming year due to increased global demand for fuel, fertiliser and feed. This is at the same time as Dairy Crest, who supply Sainsburys, has cut milk prices paid to farmers by 8 %.
This cut in the price paid to farmers from processors such as Dairy Crest is due to the big supermarkets refusing to pay more for milk in order to cover rising production costs of farmers, and therefore this means the supermarkets are now likely to drive the last of the UK dairy industry into bankruptcy and increase our national dependence on expensive foreign imported milk. Whilst the price of milk in shops has risen since by 20 % since 2002 to 53p a litre, up from 44p a litre, the price paid to farmers for their milk has fallen. In 1996 producers got 24.5p for their milk and today they get on average 18p per litre. Somehow the Dairy Framer is in the invidious position of seeing demand rise as production costs rise and sales cost remain static as supermarkets subsidise milk sales in their stores at a loss to themselves. This is the economics of the nut house, and will lead only to the complete destruction of the last of the remaining British dairy farms unless the government intervenes to stop the supermarkets and restricts foreign imports. The government will not do this though as the owners and directors of Tescos and Sainsburys are all supporters of the government. In a run up to an election a bankrupt political party does not alienate those who grease its wheels and therefore the government will abandon dairy industry.
The fact that British milk production is not able to compete with cheap foreign imports of milk is not an argument for the evisceration and extirpation of the British dairy industry. Rather it an argument for the creation of a national market for milk that excludes foreign imports that undercut British producers.
In relation to national defence economic short termism is not just madness, it is criminal. The fact that Britain now sold off much of its own national defence production capacity is an act of political treason. The first thing any Nationalist government must do when it takes power is undertake a strict programme of National Protectionism.
The following areas of concern must be addressed ;
The EU - Immediate withdrawal from it and the CAP
Globalisation - to be replaced by a form of National Economic Protectionism that puts the British farmer and the British consumers first.
Agri-Business - Only British agri-business are to be allowed to own British land and all of them are to be run only according to strict environmental laws ensuring that the small family farm is able to compete with the big producers. Foreign owned Agri-Business corporations to be bought by the government and the land leased to graduates of agricultural colleges. The era where agri-business caused B.S.E will end and the small farmer, the environment and the interests of the animals will come before corporate profits.
The government - a bonfire of legislation is required in order to protect the nation, citizens and the environment and restore our national powers and liberties
The Unions - to be banned from funding and supporting the Labour Party and political parties and banned from political campaigning in elections - only allowed to represent the interests of workers, not politicians and political parties - no union official to be paid more than the average wage of the members of that union
The media - to be banned from political campaigning and supporting or attacking individual political parties - also to be legally liable for telling lies in their publications or for publishing political propaganda - to be allowed to print and broadcast only the NEWS and not LIES. British produce and products only to advertised in papers.
The supermarkets - to be banned from selling products below cost price - to be forced to sell local farmers produce in their stores - to be banned from building any more out of town developments - to be forced to close out of town developments in areas where local shops are closing - to be forced to supply products at cost price to local shops so they can compete with the big supermarkets for price
Immigrant labour - to be banned. New schemes to be set up that encourage university / college students to work on the line during breaks - unemployed to be used at harvest times instead of immigrants labour and to be paid top up wages - prisoners to work on the land and undertake environmental reclamation and clean up projects - UK BASED NATIONAL SERVICE to be imposed for all 18 year olds before they go to university or after leave school - choice of working on the land, in hospitals or join one of the armed services to work in the UK and support civil society such as during the recent floods and assisting the armed services by undertaking work that full time soldiers have to do in this country. They will only work in the UK and not be sent abroad and will assist with UK based logistics for the armed services. Immigrant labour on farms undercut UK wages, therefore they will be prohibited from working in the country.
Public authorities not using local British produce - all schools, councils, hospitals etc to be forced to buy British produce from local farms
New colleges to train farmers - new universities to be built to train the future generations of British farmers required in order to build national self sufficiency
Land reform - the land owned by the Crown, Churches, foreign agri-businesses, investment groups, supermarkets and other large landowners that was once common land before the Enclosures Acts is to be taken back by the government and leased to graduates of new agricultural universities and also used to create local community farms.
Community Farms. We will create Community Farms where the workers share in the profits of the farms. We will reverse the Enclosures Acts and create new community farms where local people live and work on the farm and all share in profits. We intend to return our people to the land. We stand for the De-Industrialisation of agricultural production and the Re-Localisation of farming.
We should consider creating a National Farming Plan whose aim is national self sufficiency in agricultural production, within a decade. National food production is an aspect of National Security. Security for farmers is security for Britain. A crisis in the global food network could cause chaos in the UK. With the imminent arrival of Peak Oil and Peak Food then it is imperative that we begin work on creating a national self sufficiency plan as soon as possible.
The crisis of Globalism also relates to the import of foods infected with toxins and poisons, illegal Chinese GM crops, slaves in Brazil / child labour in India / African workers being forced to work on food plantations, Brazilian beef filled with growth hormones and Chinese products poisoned.
We also have Bio-Security problems due to Globalisation such as Foot and Mouth, Swine Fever and Bird Flu etc that are entering the country in foreign imports. Also bush meat and even human flesh are being sold in stores in London and this will be stamped out.
We also require Environmental Courts and an Environmental Police Force to be created in order to ensure that the NATIONAL FARMING PLAN operates and functions as we intend it too.
It is Tanks, Tractors and Power Generators that are the basis of national sovereignty. An independent national defence force , national food self sufficiency and national self sufficiency in energy production are the fundamental basis of an independent nation state. We demand total national self sufficiency and condemn individual self enrichment that damages the national interest and the national community.
Great article Lee.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletehttp://chairmans-column.blogspot.com/
ReplyDelete11 August 2007
"... the handful of Tory nationalists whose call for an organisationally suicidal system by which party policies would be decided by vote of the entire membership (including bar-room patriots and the latest wave of naïve new recruits) was overwhelmingly rejected by our first Annual Conference of 2005, implicitly rejected again by the adoption of the Voting Membership system by our Conference of 2006, and now rejected again, this time by 91% of all our members voting on the issue.
This group must now accept that their scheme to put the destiny of the BNP in the hands of anyone who deigns to pay their membership has been comprehensively and permanently rejected, in favour of a system that gives power only to those who have earned it, and who continue to earn it. The argument is over, and anyone trying to raise it again against the repeatedly expressed will of the vast majority of the party will mark themselves out as a would-be saboteur and a candidate for expulsion."
Am I the only one who thinks that the idea of the entire membership deciding party policy is NOT "organisationally suicidal" but brilliantly, appealingly directly democratic and the only way forward in our New Dark Age of Apathy and Angst???
How is it "organisationally suicidal" when it resembles to a gratifying degree the operation of www.1party4all.co.uk which already exists and is running perfectly well and is very likely to be popular if enough publicity were given to it?
Could this "handful of Tory nationalists" get in touch with me please?
www.1party4all.co.uk
To debate this issue in its Debating Chamber, visit
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/
group/1Party4All/
Post message:
1Party4All@yahoogroups.co.uk
Subscribe:
1Party4All-subscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk
Unsubscribe:
1Party4All-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk
List owner: 1Party4All-owner@yahoogroups.co.uk
THE DEBATING CHAMBER OF 1PARTY4ALL
Humans, it has been said by Aristotle, are political animals, and politics has traditionally been regarded as a manly pursuit. Muslims, believing in a theocracy (or perhaps an Islamic version of Plato's Philosopher King), regard politics as more than that. As well as a manly pursuit, it is also a godly pursuit, with the goal of making the world a better place, in this life, through laws framed according to Islamic principles.
Substitute "Islamic" for "Democratic", "Liberal", "Conservative", "Socialist", "Communist" etc and you will where the trouble lies - the eternal philosophical argument about What is Good which will forever vex us as long as intelligent life exists. Asking ourselves such questions as What is Good, What is Good Government and How to Get Good Government is, however, the only way to stop ourselves from being distracted by more seductive questions, such as, for example, How To Be and Remain In Power, which is what mostly preoccupies our current government and its dishonourable opposition.
"Unparliamentary" language: The bottom line here is that No swearing is permitted. You can be rude and dismissive of others’ opinions in more elegant ways. Obscene and abusive remarks short of swearing also come under this heading. We are Nice People here!