"Brian Sandle" wrote in message
...
Jim Webster wrote:

Did or did not BSE culling cause a reduction of some percent in
demand for UK wheat?

No, because the number of dairy cows did not change noticeably, and the
number of their offspring didn't chance much. Remember that due to
weather
the UK grain harvest can vary between 11 and 16 million tonnes anyway,
so a
change in usage of a few thousand tonnes is not going to have any
meaningful
effect on price.

So what percentage of the lower returns for UK farmers is explained by
BSE?

We are talking about a 30 year process remember. BSE had an effect on a
small sector of the industry in the last decade of a 30 year period

Then there is the high UK pound, if you are looking at exports.

Over a 30 year period we have had strong and weak currency

There are possibly follow on effects from deregulation is it?

Has the weather done a big cycle or os greenhous turbulence causing
trouble?

Over thirty years, we have had a couple of droughts, years of almost
constant rain, the weather has been pretty much average


Now how much of that sort of thing has been happening in USA to form the
loss picture for farmers there? And how much can be put down to GM
troubles - extra seed costs and extra herbicide, also needed when the
weeds which Roundup is not so strong on start to advance?


over a thirty year period, damn all

[...]
Only money made was by people who suddenly got big research grants.
Shroud
waving rules.

What about corporates hoping to buy struggling farms cheaply?

No evidence of that whatsoever. I suspect that if you look at the figures
you will find less UK farm land in the hands of insurance companies and
similar than there was thirty years ago


We spent £4 billion a year and yet current predictions are
that there will be less than a couple of hundred dead. If we had spent
this
money on kidney treatment or even maternity, we would have saved tens of
thousands of lives.

Yes, though I suppose that was a known quantity.

The BSE money was like insurance, rather expensive over the years, and
some never claim, and could have replaced their belongings with the amount
they pay over 50 years.

Or perhaps like a protection racket where a bunch of people siphon money out
of an area for their own personal use

Jim Webster