On 17/10/2013 17:32, sacha wrote:


Why should they receive any assistance - and from where? Wouldn't it
be an illegal subsidy?

No more than any assistance given to e.g. French farmers. Since the
war, when we needed to produce great amounts of our own food,
horticulture has become a bit of a Cinderella industry in those terms.
It's a question of economics and keeping people in work and there's a
good deal of discussion in the trade press and elsewhere about
interesting young people in it as a career. The Dutch have done a lot
to help their horticultural industry, aiui, so many plants currently
coming into UK come from there. Our local tiny flower shop is often seen
with a huge Dutch artic outside, delivering cut flowers, for example.

Likewise here - there is often a big red Dutch artic blocking traffic on
the way to work

But maybe they are better at doing it/have better conditions, etc. (I
know nothing about what non-horticultural industry support they might
have had).

Same argument might apply, e.g., to the car industry.

[Thread drift alert]
At least the horticultural industry isn't mainly owned by non-UK
companies. How on earth have we got to the stage where something like
power can be virtually controlled by an overseas compay. I thought it
was always seen as an 'essential' that one wouldn't want to be in
external control.

But as you might have gathered, I'm not a fan of privatisation - the
recent decision to enrich a few at the expense of the many is another
outrageous step imo.

--
regards
Andy