The End Of Farming?
Observations on the US and UK farming systems and your food security
We found each other here on Substack and realized quickly that we talking about the same issue, an ocean apart: food security and what it means to our respective countries.
In the UK, Helen sees how the inheritance tax is threatening the farmers, and how the closing of small abattoirs (slaughterhouses) makes it almost impossible for farmers to get their animals dispatched humanely, especially those choosing to raise rare or heritage breeds like she does.
From her article: Reflections on the Oxford Real Farming Conference
"The crisis surrounding small abattoirs in the UK was another key theme at ORFC. In the early 1900s, there were 30,000 abattoirs; today, there are just 122. Many of these won’t accept horned cattle or rare breeds, forcing farmers to travel long distances at great cost and stress to the animals. The decline in small abattoirs also threatens the survival of rare breeds, as fewer farmers are willing to take on the added complications.... The implications for food security are enormous. Without local slaughterhouses, we risk losing small-scale farmers, rare breeds, and high-welfare British meat. Supermarkets will increasingly rely on cheap imports, flooding shelves with substandard products like hormone-fed beef from Brazil and chlorine-washed chicken from the USA."
Naturally, we got together on the Nourishing Liberty Podcast to discuss the parallels and the implications for each country of our food policies and what they mean to ordinary, hardworking, Brits and Americans, tackling questions such as:
Why does this matter?
Why should people care about this?
Are there people there working to change this on the policy level, social level?
What's next?
Here’s the full episode.
We’d love to hear your thoughts. Are you noticing some of what we talk about? What are the biggest issues you face whether you’re a farmer or someone who wants access to local food sources? What do YOU think are the implications for future food security?