tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-770213180755051769.post8583645357674100069..comments2024-03-13T12:26:03.291-07:00Comments on basketcase: Irish poultry and pork farming, River Cottage it ain'tsuzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06688359157849015354noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-770213180755051769.post-10505892228026903552010-08-05T13:17:41.491-07:002010-08-05T13:17:41.491-07:00You are dead right Ollie, those already doing best...You are dead right Ollie, those already doing best practise in welfare terms remain unrewarded for it and get constant criticism on their price point. <br />And yes - while the conventional pig and poultry sector is being slowly regulated towards better welfare standards, the consumer rarely wants to know the details. So the industry feels "why not continue as normal and produce to the lowest cost base, who will know the difference?". The fact that Poland wanted its huge battery hen and intensive broiler industry out of the new legislation is a giveaway - if the consumer wants cheap food, give them cheap food.<br />Maybe I'm an optimist on this; myself and Philip think - when a certain percentage of society knows how food is produced and cares about sourcing the balance will shift. We live in hope xsuzannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06688359157849015354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-770213180755051769.post-59847527571191559052010-08-04T07:00:12.653-07:002010-08-04T07:00:12.653-07:00Meanwhile, organic farmers who always had higher p...Meanwhile, organic farmers who always had higher pig and poultry welfare standards get 0% extra!<br /><br />Surely its anti competitive to just give the guys who were operating the lower animal welfare standard a massive grant to improve, while giving the guys who were at and above this animal welfare standard already, get zero extra?<br /><br />Of course the net result of all of this is that the everyone will go on complaining about the price of organic, because this amounts to a massive new subsidy for slight improvements by the biggest players, thereby maintaining the gap between organic and conventional consumer prices.<br /><br />While on the one hand, I'm glad that the conventional sector is being dragged kicking and screaming, and arguing all the way mind, towards organic standards, it annoys me that these trade imbalances create artificial prices for the consumer and consequent (indeed understandable) notions of organic as elitist.olliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16489318050551894937noreply@blogger.com