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Feeding the 7 or 9 billion... Why?

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  • 14-05-2019 11:02am
    #1
    badtoro
    Closed Accounts Posts: 482 ✭✭


    How do we feed the...
    We must feed the...

    As a full time farmer I never saw or felt any obligation to feed any of the faceless billions on this planet. Yet I often see others referring to this line, sometimes to justify doing something in particular. It feels somewhat like an attempt at psychological entrapment in a mentality?

    My farm is here to serve me and my family, to hopefully provide an income, a dwelling, a place to grow up and grow old, to help my family do what it is a family needs to do.

    What are the views of other farmer on this line of "feeding the 7/9 billion"?


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    #2
    Del2005
    Registered Users Posts: 18,872 ✭✭✭✭Del2005


    badtoro wrote: »
    How do we feed the...
    We must feed the...

    As a full time farmer I never saw or felt any obligation to feed any of the faceless billions on this planet. Yet I often see others referring to this line, sometimes to justify doing something in particular. It feels somewhat like an attempt at psychological entrapment in a mentality?

    My farm is here to serve me and my family, to hopefully provide an income, a dwelling, a place to grow up and grow old, to help my family do what it is a family needs to do.

    What are the views of other farmer on this line of "feeding the 7/9 billion"?

    If you want an income you'll have to feed a few of the 9 billion.


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    #3
    Say my name
    Registered Users Posts: 11,047 ✭✭✭✭Say my name


    Live well, live easy, do what you enjoy,

    I've no obligation to feed anyone.
    But it gives an income and fulfills what I want.

    My head was spinning yesterday after that visit from the farmer milking 6,000 cows.
    My own set up milking my few cows must have seemed like a Mickey mouse operation in Romania compared to his 24 hour milking operation. You could tell the calculator on his phone was the most important function on it.
    But I wouldn't have it any other way.
    (Well a few more acres would be nice). :pac:


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    #4
    kk.man
    Registered Users Posts: 3,425 ✭✭✭kk.man


    badtoro wrote: »
    How do we feed the...
    We must feed the...

    As a full time farmer I never saw or felt any obligation to feed any of the faceless billions on this planet. Yet I often see others referring to this line, sometimes to justify doing something in particular. It feels somewhat like an attempt at psychological entrapment in a mentality?

    My farm is here to serve me and my family, to hopefully provide an income, a dwelling, a place to grow up and grow old, to help my family do what it is a family needs to do.

    What are the views of other farmer on this line of "feeding the 7/9 billion"?
    Don't think subsistence farming works in the western world anymore bar you want to be cut off from it.


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    #5
    patsy_mccabe
    Registered Users Posts: 10,681 ✭✭✭✭patsy_mccabe


    You have no more an obligation than anyone else on the planet.

    'The Bishops blessed the Blueshirts in Galway, As they sailed beneath the Swastika to Spain'



  • Options
    #6
    _Brian
    Registered Users Posts: 18,473 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    badtoro wrote: »
    How do we feed the...
    We must feed the...

    As a full time farmer I never saw or felt any obligation to feed any of the faceless billions on this planet. Yet I often see others referring to this line, sometimes to justify doing something in particular. It feels somewhat like an attempt at psychological entrapment in a mentality?

    My farm is here to serve me and my family, to hopefully provide an income, a dwelling, a place to grow up and grow old, to help my family do what it is a family needs to do.

    What are the views of other farmer on this line of "feeding the 7/9 billion"?

    Farm output ranges hugely from low output nature friendly extensively run farms to high intensity less environmentally friendly operations. We all however have agricultural output that goes towards feeding the masses.

    Some lads love being intensive but others more enjoy a more relaxed approach with lower output.

    It will take time to see which will survive, with such pushback on environmental issues associated with high intensity farms it may not have a huge future, but will the consumer be willing to pay the extra for low environmental impact foods, they will yield less and cost more as a result.


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    #7
    Waffletraktor
    Registered Users Posts: 2,424 ✭✭✭Waffletraktor


    Say my name wrote: »
    Live well, live easy, do what you enjoy,

    I've no obligation to feed anyone.
    But it gives an income and fulfills what I want.

    My head was spinning yesterday after that visit from the farmer milking 6,000 cows.
    My own set up milking my few cows must have seemed like a Mickey mouse operation in Romania compared to his 24 hour milking operation. You could tell the calculator on his phone was the most important function on it.
    But I wouldn't have it any other way.
    (Well a few more acres would be nice). :pac:

    At his scale he prob just fobs it off to his herd managers tbh? Did you get his details for the exchange visit to Cali? :D


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    #8
    Say my name
    Registered Users Posts: 11,047 ✭✭✭✭Say my name


    Waffletraktor wrote: »
    At his scale he prob just fobs it off to his herd managers tbh? Did you get his details for the exchange visit to Cali? :D

    They told us their names. But with the noise of the machine and a head like a sieve it's gone into the ether.

    When strangers turn up like that and ask to see the cows milking ....well it's strange. I told them coming in (when I hadn't a clue who they were. Still don't ) that they could see the first two rows milking. Mainly because the first thought that entered my head was Vegans or animal rights group and we've two cows that would need a little restraint that would be near the end of the milking.
    They asked more questions though from the litres per cow to what happened the bull calves. I'm sure they were genuine enough but you've always a doubt in the back of your head. (Maybe it's just me).
    I'm told they took pictures outside not that I've anything to be ashamed of. But still no permission was asked. So I'll probably be on a projection screen in California.
    My mother got that they were over here at a seminar.
    Lovely people and all but then I am an odd fella with some odd thoughts.


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    #9
    Birdnuts
    Registered Users Posts: 9,632 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    Its estimated that nearly half the food produced is wasted via over production, poor storage, harvest techniques etc. Then you have the growing obesity crisis which is now even effecting the likes of Mexico and India in recent years. This is where the focus should be instead of the destructive drive for ever intensive production.Secondly I would like to see more of our Aid to third world countries go on education and family planning which do more than anything to raise living standards in the likes of Africa.


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    #10
    roosterman71
    Registered Users Posts: 5,360 ✭✭✭roosterman71


    Just on the post before mine - 3rd world aid. We can target the aid all we bloody like, but there's a bunch of scummy ****ers that are taking the vast majority. I was a chap in the 80's and I remember Bob and his gang on about feeding the starving in Africa. 30 years later, and billions of aid sent, the continent with arguably the worlds greatest natural resources is still piss poor and millions starving. The cause is corruption, plain and simple.

    Now, back on topic! My own opinion on food wastage is the cost. It's too cheap. If people had to pay proper money for their food ya'd be damn sure very little would be dumped. A bag of carrots for €1, and often times less. Ridiculous. €4 for a whole chicken, maybe even cooked! If the price of food was reflective of the cost to produce and process, food wastage would go down. Hell I'd even say the obesity problem would reduce too as people wouldn't be stuffing their face every chance they get.

    (BTW, same argument for clothes and throwing perfectly good stuff away as it's cheaper to buy new than wash!)


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    #11
    Gawddawggonnit
    Registered Users Posts: 3,244 ✭✭✭Gawddawggonnit


    Birdnuts wrote: »
    Its estimated that nearly half the food produced is wasted via over production, poor storage, harvest techniques etc. Then you have the growing obesity crisis which is now even effecting the likes of Mexico and India in recent years. This is where the focus should be instead of the destructive drive for ever intensive production.Secondly I would like to see more of our Aid to third world countries go on education and family planning which do more than anything to raise living standards in the likes of Africa.

    The farmers of the world already produce enough food for 10 billion people if you take into account the amount of food waste.
    It was a bullcrap spin that was spouted by Teagasc etc to justify major dairy expansion.


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    #12
    patsy_mccabe
    Registered Users Posts: 10,681 ✭✭✭✭patsy_mccabe


    'The Bishops blessed the Blueshirts in Galway, As they sailed beneath the Swastika to Spain'



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    #13
    _Brian
    Registered Users Posts: 18,473 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    roosterman71 wrote: »
    Just on the post before mine - 3rd world aid. We can target the aid all we bloody like, but there's a bunch of scummy ****ers that are taking the vast majority. I was a chap in the 80's and I remember Bob and his gang on about feeding the starving in Africa. 30 years later, and billions of aid sent, the continent with arguably the worlds greatest natural resources is still piss poor and millions starving. The cause is corruption, plain and simple.

    Now, back on topic! My own opinion on food wastage is the cost. It's too cheap. If people had to pay proper money for their food ya'd be damn sure very little would be dumped. A bag of carrots for €1, and often times less. Ridiculous. €4 for a whole chicken, maybe even cooked! If the price of food was reflective of the cost to produce and process, food wastage would go down. Hell I'd even say the obesity problem would reduce too as people wouldn't be stuffing their face every chance they get.

    (BTW, same argument for clothes and throwing perfectly good stuff away as it's cheaper to buy new than wash!)

    Damn right food is too cheap
    When something is cheap it’s never respected.


  • Options
    #14
    mf240
    Registered Users Posts: 4,843 ✭✭✭mf240


    Say my name wrote: »
    They told us their names. But with the noise of the machine and a head like a sieve it's gone into the ether.

    When strangers turn up like that and ask to see the cows milking ....well it's strange. I told them coming in (when I hadn't a clue who they were. Still don't ) that they could see the first two rows milking. Mainly because the first thought that entered my head was Vegans or animal rights group and we've two cows that would need a little restraint that would be near the end of the milking.
    They asked more questions though from the litres per cow to what happened the bull calves. I'm sure they were genuine enough but you've always a doubt in the back of your head. (Maybe it's just me).
    I'm told they took pictures outside not that I've anything to be ashamed of. But still no permission was asked. So I'll probably be on a projection screen in California.
    My mother got that they were over here at a seminar.
    Lovely people and all but then I am an odd fella with some odd thoughts.

    If he's anything like the irish lads that come home with stories of unbridled succees he's probably hand milking three or four cows. :D:D


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    #15
    SuperTortoise
    Registered Users Posts: 2,947 ✭✭✭SuperTortoise


    _Brian wrote: »
    Damn right food is too cheap
    When something is cheap it’s never respected.


    Was talking to a local last year, now this fella would be well known to be hungry for a few pound, he said to me 'never work cheaply, no one will ever respect you or the work you do if you work for half nothing'
    He's right of course. It's taken me way longer that it should have to realise it.


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