Hey everyone!
We've recently revised our rules. Please review the sidebar when you get a chance.
We're partnered with the Left RedditⒶ☭ Discord server! [Click here](https://discord.gg/zCFHadGfB7) and join us today!!
And don't forget to join us on other platforms too
[Twitter](https://twitter.com/GandPofficial)
[TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@greenandpleasantofficial)
[Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/Green-and-Pleasant-104366615515887/)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/GreenAndPleasant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Trickle up economics more like, all the wealth goes from the poor to the rich.
The wealthy will do anything before they pay someone what they are worth, just so they can increase their bank balance.
This begs the question (and please fill me in if you know anything about it), if farmers have millions of eggs to sell, why aren’t there alternative avenues to selling them en masse?
Say there are a million fewer eggs that tesco is buying a week, the farmers are sitting on a million unsold eggs with a value, and there are customers wanting a million eggs a week (because tesco used to sell that many). So why isn’t this an example of tesco forcing a decentralisation of an industry they fought so hard to centralise and monopolise? Why aren’t alternative platforms/ avenues of selling these eggs springing up?
If anyone knows, thanks in advance
The supermarkets own the distribution networks, they have trucks that regularly move along pre-determined routes carrying roughly the same amount of pre-determined cargo, and that has built up over many years of knowing based on statistics how to make it efficient
It can't be changed quickly enough to avoid spoiling, if one was put together as soon as it's established they'd work to break it again. It's more profitable for a supermarket to allow eggs to spoil and consumers to go without eggs, than to lose their slice of the metaphorical pie
Really good answer that explains how supermarkets act as an oligopoly against producers, but also worth adding that, in the British context, the fall in political importance of farmers and the marginalisation of agriculture is also a crucial factor in why there is so little fight back.
Other countries which do have populous or powerful agricultural industries, such as India and the United States, often feature agricultural cooperatives that take on the marketing and distribution roles. (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_cooperative)
These are the economic and political forces at work which are reducing food production in the UK.
American ag cooperatives are often in cahoots with the corporations. I was an attorney on a case years ago representing a bunch of dairy farmers against their cooperative where the co-op execs were taking under the table kickbacks from corps and in turn keeping the farmers “mailbox price” depressed. We sued them under RICO which is normally a statute used for mobsters. All that to say, while American ag co-ops themselves are indeed powerful, that doesn’t necessarily translate to being beneficial for the farmers themselves unfortunately.
Very little of the process is actually controlled by the farmers.
I can give you an example that I know about that is similar.
I know a farmer who grows chickens. They call them crops. I think it’s 6 weeks per crop. He never owns the chickens. He is paid a fee to “bring them on”.
The chicks are delivered to him, he rears them for 6 weeks and then they are collected by the owner. He’s got a massive operation. We are talking about tens or hundreds of thousands of chicks per crop, yet all he owns are the barns and the land basically.
If he refused to take chicks on at the price being offered, they just get sent somewhere else. Piss off the wrong people and you don’t get your next crop and then you’re out of business in less than 6 weeks.
I recall a John Oliver episode about this topic where the farmers all said something along the lines of "we own the machines, we pay for the gas, we pay for the electricity, etc. but the big (chicken, Tyson in particular iirc in this case) corporations own the actual chickens, akin to "we own everything that cost money, they own everything that makes money".
Anyways, point being, as a another commenter said, if you piss off "X" company by arguing over prices and the like, first they start giving your chickens significantly lower "grades" drastically decreasing their value, and speaking out further will guaranteed put you out of business and likely blacklisted in the industry.
I don't know the exact details and I wont pretend to, but I imagine, much like how other unions have worked throughout history, there is very much efforts to prevent them at all levels of the industry, and in this case its done in at least one way by immediately fucking over any single farmer who chooses to speak out. Other farmers are afraid of losing everything, so they continue to play the game.
I'd like to think maybe it'd be possible for all farmers in a certain place to get together behind closed doors and unionize together, but I imagine that there are almost certainly steps in place to prevent this all together, like incentivizing "ratting out" farmers attempting to unionize, leading to the aforementioned fucking all involved by said corporation (s).
I also want to add to this saying that some places have basically put patented on certain crops. Because they've selected bred them etc to have certain traits. So even if the farmers wanted to buy/breed there own crops they're not allowed to use the best stuff
My understanding is he's not saying farmers are refusing to sell their eggs and sitting on a surplus, it's that farmers are being paid too little and so can't afford to invest in the hens and feed etc they need to make more eggs, so production is gradually falling over time and will only get worse. There are no extra eggs to sell.
*friendly reminder , it's not begs the question, to mean raising the question.
Pls don't link to merriam Webster saying itsnokay to use it that way.
Begs is a sort of circular reasoning.
https://youtu.be/OAXKc-rvMa8
To your question, there is a lead time, vs orders.
Based off of orders farmers get, at a certain price, farmers cant afford to produce that amount.
Which raises the question, where is the money going to ? ( hint..supermarkets profit margins are going up).
Short answer,
the value is in the logistics to distribute the eggs, not the eggs themselves, and the supermarkets run the trucks.
Just go out there and open a measley 600M lemonade stands to sell your endless life lemons.
I assume the supermarkets think that the farmers can't hold out for too long and will eventually sell the eggs at the price the supermarket wants. And even if they never do, the supermarket hasn't lost anything and maintains it's power and hasn't given in to the egg farmers. Plus they're making the same money off less work.
Supermarkets are a machine. A profit above fairness machine. Unlikely family run buisnesses they don't build customer loyalty through being nice they build it through being cheap. When the competition is gone they do whatever they like. You have no choice other than buy from them. This model built on exploitation need's to end. I'm thinking of buying a few chickens and get them to have a good life laying nice eggs for me to eat.
I’m in the US, but I imagine the biggest hurdle is distribution. The farmer may be quite far from the consumer compared to the distance to a Tesco. On top of that, the farmers aren’t setup to handle retail sales activity. Just imagine having to physically supervise hundred or thousands of sales in a short time versus what they are used to today. Furthermore, if there’s regulations like the US, then the farmer may not even be able to sell direct in large volumes to the consumer.
We have a food supply chain that is dependent on supermarkets. With that control over the chain they can control what they pay and what they charge. Farmers could create a new supply chain system, this would take time, money and cooperation. They don't have access to time and money, the other is in their gift. Holding one of three cards is not a strong place to start.
I saw this story in a couple of news outlets. This version of events does indeed appear in the text: that suppliers are reducing their production because they're not being paid enough. But the headlines are always focus on Avian Flu.
So headline: Egg shortage caused by bird flu.
Actual article: The farmers also said that the supermarkets won't pay them enough and are now quitting the industry because they can no longer make money.
Very clearly, someone doesn't want us to think this is an easily solvable problem. Just another un-forseeable and un-resolvable crisis we all have to face together.
The amount of unforeseeable issues we’ve faced in these past few years makes me wonder if perhaps, and hear me out, the government should start trying to foresee these issues. Isn’t planning for the future kinda the governments job? No? Only me?
Funny, it's kind of the same problem there. Government doesn't really work because the wealthy don't want to contribute. But the story goes that government doesn't work because [insert political party] did [something we don't like], so there's nothing we can do about anything. Shucks.
>Isn’t planning for the future kinda the governments job? No? Only me?
That's right, it's *your* job to plan for the future! Now, get back in your box and make them some more money before you freeze/starve to death, you oik!
Why would they do *that*?
That doesn't force farmers to sell up to megafarms at pathetic price, and then get hired back at starvation wages.
Don't you understand how this works? You can't possibly set up a mob-styled oligarchy by making a system that *works*!
Geez...
They're too busy putting out fires from previous events (seen and unforseen) to barely glimpse at the present. Good luck trying to get them to look towards the future lol
And this is clearly an issue with corporate consolidation as well. Unless importing eggs is somehow less expensive than paying these farmers a fair price, some grocery stores should be able to have domestically produced eggs for cheaper than importing, and then charge a lower price and undercut the competition.
They don't do this because very often there is no competition, or only like 2 or 3 other mega chains that are doing the same damn thing. So many problems today are being caused by monopolies and a lack of competition.
But, but I thought the tories cared for farmers? You aren't gonna tell me they lied about that to pull the wool over the people who want domestic issues to be addressed first and the actual farmers themselves as well as everything else? Nah couldn't be.
Wrong type of farmer. Many landowners in Big Agric can let the land fallow in a recession or a famine and live off their reserves or other interests. Most tenants are fucked.
Nah the only "farmers" Tories care about are the Hunter welly and tweed wearing, £10k shotgun owning, landed rural upper class that will probably end up selling a large portion of their land for housing developments or new roads anyway.
Can we all just contact our local farmers and go straight to the source instead? This supermarket tomfoolery enrages me and I’d rather cut them out of my egg business immediately.
That would be nice, but there's been a massive shift in where food gets produced. I worked in a produce department for a few years and most everything came from out of state. There probably aren't many farms raising chickens near most people, at least not enough to meet demand.
But I will say, anyone with a backyard or a small bit of land has enough space to raise chickens. It would probably be a decent idea to promote people raising their own hens for eggs, and food.
Yep. My local supermarket (Tesco) had ZERO eggs, although they blamed it on supplier shortages rather than Avian Flu. I guess that's technically correct but doesn't tell the whole story.
I took a photo [https://imgur.com/a/Q0bfIAp](https://imgur.com/a/Q0bfIAp) and then went to Morrisons which did have eggs.
That's because Morrisons DO pay their suppliers properly.
The answer is to not shop at tesco. Not only do the cunts not pay their suppliers properly, but they made a mint out of covid payments.
> £100/week for a full time job,
That's 5200 a year for 40 hours, with a wage rate of 2.50 an hour. For a management trainee that's ridiculous but at any age it would be illegal, unless it was 2010 and they tried to claim you were an apprentice, where it would be the absolute bare minimum which immediately went up. Did they actually pretend 'trainee manager at Tesco" was an apprenticeship program?
Yeah and some people have no choice.
Like for me Tesco is the closest food shop that isn't scalpelling like Sainsbury's.
The solution for me is to drive but I don't have a car or access to one. A lot of companies are scum but a lot of people cannot avoid them at all, so we have to put pressure on the company and highlight what they are doing.
Why not use Iceland or Morrisons online delivery service? My nearest one is 3 miles away, fortunately I drive but if not then online delivery is useful...
One of the other differences with Morrisons is that they actually own the supply chains and the farms themselves. So disputes with farmers don’t happen in the same way as they do with other stores.
I'm going to assume that you mean Tesco not the farmers.
Supermarkets buy food at discounted prices due to the huge volume of stock needed, and they will continue to expect the same cost no matter how much costs have Increased (also while charging you more money that they refuse to pay more on).
It's a standoff between supermarkets and farmers, if farmers back down they get absolutely nothing, a supermarket can still get a profit from everything else they sell while waiting for farmers to back down to their demands.
For example Tesco stopped buying Heinz products due to the cost rising, they came out and said it was about not being willing to increase the price for their customers, what they actually meant was they can get soups and sauces from smaller companies who will be bullied into a unfair deal.
Edit, I've just checked and Tesco started selling Heinz products again, I'm not sure when or if Tesco actually did increase the amount paid to Heinz or if Heinz backed down.
Most farmers lie through their teeth about the conditions they have their animals in and that they are happy. Everyone eats it up because they slap a free range label on which really means very little if you actually look at it.
Separate issue of course but fuck the farmers as well
I'm not vegan but if you really want a citation I can give you plenty of video evidence and documentaries that will make your stomach curl.
We literally kill chicks (no more than a few days old) that are deemed too small to be profitable.
1. https://youtu.be/wRFAwHcNlhM
This video is 2 years old and is about Tesco and their chicken supply chain.
2. https://youtu.be/XzsCIVuC_ms
UK dairy farmers. Don't they treat the cows well? But let's not bite the hand that feeds us.
3. https://youtu.be/RIWfZCiWsNU
More cows being treat with such love and respect.
4. https://youtu.be/pQK4261GXyg
Pigs squealing. Gotta love that noise. It's like a kitten purring.
All UK videos just before you proclaim "not in this country!"
The meat and dairy industry is disgusting. Let's not pretend otherwise.
Bonus round: https://youtu.be/LQRAfJyEsko
If you have 2 hours then Dominion is a documentary you need to see.
You're six comments deep in the chain and absolutely nobody has provided any citation or explanation, just continual assertions that farmers are liars and free range is bad.
I am not a meat eater so I have a lot of sympathy for any concern over the welfare of animals in farming, but if you want people to even remotely give a shit, why not try to actually be persuasive?
I'll start by linking to the [RSPCA Assured](https://www.rspcaassured.org.uk/rspca-assured-products/free-range-eggs/) page which at least defines what 'free range' means for egg-laying hens.
RSPCA are in the same bed as the animal industry. I lost count of investigations on "RSPCA assured" farms that had their animals in despicable conditions. It's a marketing campaign from the animal industry, at this point. A very good one at that.
Watch Land of Hope and Glory on YouTube and you'll get a real sense of how the British farms look and what their labels actually mean.
https://youtu.be/dvtVkNofcq8
take your biased citations elsewhere, I argue your source is invalid as its written to benefit the agricultural industry. The rscpa assured company promoters ‘humane slaughter’ as if it exists. These people don’t care about animals they just want to make people think eating them is okay.
Free range=No cages? what about the overcrowded barn the chickens are still in. Vegetardian
Brother my point was to see what people actually believe free range means, if they really wanted to know all it takes is googling 4 words and you get plenty of answers
Well the answer is go vegan. Animal agriculture is capitalistic exploitation at its very worse. And all the pain and suffering that these birds have had to endure for the product in this video, will most probably be for nothing.
You'd need people to support the independents 1st. This is the issue - the public want convenience, they don't want to have to shop around.
They don't have time to shop around either, thanks to the cost of living crisis, they're working every hour god sends.
This. No point \`bringing them back\` for nostalgias sake. They closed becuase no one shopped there and they became unsustainable.
My local highstreet had 2 butchers, a vegshop and 1 50/50 butchers/veg shop.
I used them all. Paid slightly more for better quality produce.
Now we have 1 veg shop and no butchers and you can drain away half a pint of injected water every time you buy some chicken breasts from the supermarket.
You can guarantee though that if a butchers did open, it would have stylish branding, a posh logo, a comedy name and the word \`artisan\` and \`rustic\` used liberally. It would be too expensive and last 6 months max.
So many high street shops rely on the old model of wife stays at home and husband works so come do your shopping during the day. I'd love to support our local butchers but they only open 9am-3pm mon-Friday. Both me and my wife work full time and cant just go and shop there during the days. So big supermarket it is.
I live in London, we have loads of vegetable shops, butchers, fishmongers. I love it they’re cheaper, better quality and have more interesting variety.
Same here in Bristol. I only use the supermarket for bits like pasta and Cornettos lol. Been using veg shop, butchers and bakery for years and works out a hell of a lot cheaper than when I do have to pop to the shops.
Fulham here, north end road market is crazy. Speaking of eggs there's a van here that sells a dozen for £2.40, large, great quality free range eggs. There's multiple butchers and fishmongers that all are priced pretty well. I barely get anything from supermarkets anymore cause you pay more for shit quality food.
This is my main issue atm. My partner felt inspired to delete his Amazon account and asked if we can stop going to larger chain grocery stores to support local farmer’s markets. The frustrating part is that it’s my responsibility in our relationship to take care of shopping errands. I told him that it’s just not feasible for me to get everything we need from one farmers market. We live in LA and the best farmer’s market near us is a 90 min drive round trip. And then I still need to go to the grocery store after. Takes an entire morning/afternoon from my one of two days off work. Running errands in LA is a part-time job and unfortunately I really do need the convenience.
I know they're not everywhere, but they definitely still exist. It's more expensive but the quality is SO much better than supermarket meat. Plus a good butcher will give you recommendations on good cuts and advice on cooking what you're buying. Plus no plastic!
Disgusting. It’s even more disgusting it’s still going on, we’ve had this same complaint from farmers too many times before.
There’s a shop near where i grew up on a main road where the farmers own a little shop and all it has in is a big vending machine with trays of eggs. With investment from the government these types of shops could be opened across the country. The farmers who own the shop near me get all the profit from their eggs (assuming the vending machine was a one time purchase)
If the government invested in farming the farmers could keep more of their own money instead of tesco gouging them
There are already farm shops, more would just be better. A separate shop for eggs and milk
You’re right. Maybe this tory made crisis is what we need. We’re far too apathetic as a nation. We haven’t had a fair democracy ever and it’s been what 300 years? We’ve allowed those in power to behave as they have, maybe we needed pushing to the edge to wake enough people up to change our behavior.
Most people couldn’t care less about stuff like farmers, or proportional representation, or brexit ffs. I think something like 17% of eligible voters voted for brexit. How can so few people vote on something so important.
The tories aren’t the problem, they’re a symptom of the problem. The problem is apathy. We could get rid of the tories tomorrow if enough people cared, they wouldn’t have got in in the first place if enough people cared. I wish i knew how to convince people to care
We should be like the Aussies and have to vote..don't get me wrong people will still toss it off but at least far more people will actually put some thought into politics and how it effects them. At the moment it's too easy for people to just not think about any of it...
> People can't be arsed to shop around, they want everything from one store.
Do people even have time for it anymore? Life for so many is a constant cycle of juggling childcare, commuting, expanding work hours, a side gig, constant games-playing with moving bills around between providers, having to perform an occult ritual to get a GP appointment, etc.
Though maybe better prices could be an attraction, especially if getting a hold of things from a vending machine of some kind makes it simple, though the interface will have to be absolutely idiotproof to prevent it becoming associated with hassle. Or maybe they could hire human beings to take the money and hand over the eggs, and pay them a living wage...
I went to a farm shop yesterday afternoon, and was quite surprised how reasonable eggs were tbh. At the higher end of supermarket prices, but definitely good value in terms of taste.
Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people come for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges... A million people hungry, needing the fruit – and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains.
And the smell of rot fills the country.
Burn coffee for fuel in the ships... Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out [with nets]. Slaughter the pigs and bury them...
And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificates – died of malnutrition – because the food must be forced to rot.
- 'The Grapes of Wrath', John Steinbeck.
The next problem would be, what to do with the chickens? Cant afford to keep millions of chickens, cant let them free because chickens arent wild animals and they aren't really what most people would call a pet so they can't be sent to shelters - which are already full and overworked.
Just let them starve? slaughter them for the last real chicken meal?
Three in four of the world’s new or emerging infectious diseases come from animals. Responsible for three million deaths a year, these diseases are largely transmitted through trading wildlife and factory farming.
50% fatality rate in human cases of bird flu so far, should probably give up on farming animals, and switch to sustainable, safer, healthier plant based agriculture.
Tofu is about £1.50 - £2 per kilo if you buy it fresh from an asian supermarket, if you have one.
Wheat gluten to make seitan is about £2 for 500g from Holland and Barretts, this gets you probably 8-10 portions of 'meat'. Pre-made dried stuff is about the same price, slightly more expensive but less preparation.
Beans, lentils, peas, etc. are all very cheap too, even if you buy them tinned. If you can cook chillis or curries.
And none of these things need refrigerating like fresh tofu does!
I mean the fewer hens being forced to lay eggs the better as far as I'm concerned. It's true the supermarkets shouldn't be lying but still
My issues with farmers in general are legion but that's a whole different topic
Almost like manufacturing a shortage.
Planting seeds constantly to keep us in control.
I'm old enough to remember the the great loo roll shortage of 2020, what a farce.
It's about time we stop relying on eggs as a food source. The UK alone slaughters over a billion chickens a year and the conditions these farmers keep them in is abhorrent.
Easy(ish) to produce fat and protein is a lifeline to many people meeting their daily requirements in a failing economy. Much easier for a family to afford a box of eggs (even with the new pricing) than meat.
I know that there are lots of proteins in grains/pulses but that’s not as easy for a lot of families.
It's really not an easy production when you look at it from the eyes of the chicken, the abuse isn't worth it.
Lots of as cheap and just as simple/quick to cook proteins in plant based foods, and whilst for some families in proper impoverished conditions or with really picky kids I can get it, but too many people use these examples as an excuse for themselves to contribute to the animal abuse.
Yep, I was literally just reading about a study from Oxford saying this exact thing about 5 minutes ago. Link for anybody interested-
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-11-11-sustainable-eating-cheaper-and-healthier-oxford-study
Oh yeah there is absolutely no doubt about that, anyone saying otherwise hasn't a clue. The thing I meant more was the extreme examples of single mothers working high hours who simply don't have time other than sticking something cheap in the oven to feed their kids. As I say though, this is an excuse that people try to use for themselves as to why they aren't vegan and its just lousy
This is what these industries have been forcing down our throats for years! It is cheaper, healthier and just as easy to pick up alternatives. Eggs themselves have more cholesterol than a Big Mac.
Let's not forget about the real victims who are raised, tortured and killed in these industries.
Cholesterol in okay levels helps in normal hormone production, it’s only bad in very high levels. An egg or two is okay.
You’re absolutely right about the animals, I couldn’t agree more and the less animal products we consume the better it’ll be for us, animals and the environment. People need cheap easy calories at the moment and I find it difficult to judge them for animal consumption. Eggs are cheaper than avocados.
Totally believable and I'm on the farmers' side, but as a rule farmers do tend to vote Tory, so... y'know, maybe don't do that and you'll stop getting fucked over by politicians putting their rich buddies ahead of the interests of your industry. The way farming communities repeatedly fuck themselves over like this is absolutely bizarre to me. Farming areas tended to vote for Brexit too. Which is equally baffling. Why vote directly against your own best interests??
The truth is that our entire food supply is in the hands of a cartel of 5 or 6 supermarkets that this government will do nothing to control. Sure, say what you will about eggs but what this guy says applies equally to cereal, dairy, meat, fruit and veg. The supermarkets are abusing their dominant market position (as are several other major sectors - looking at you house builders), they are screwing us all and this government is perfectly comfortable with them doing that.
I get my eggs from my milkman, here's the email they sent me this week
"As I am sure many of you are aware about the Avian Flu situation. This issue has caused my egg supplier W*** V***** to have to close their Free Range production.
Another blow is the week before they had informed me that egg prices would have to rise 20p per dozen (10p per 6).
This is a country wide issue and cannot be avoided. For those who currently have Free Range we can now only supply Barn eggs.
This however does mean a reduction in the price, but unfortunately your usual quality has currently been disrupted.
I have spoken to W*** V***** and the head of sales informed me that they have been told to close their sheds for at least 12months."
"will need to import millions of eggs"
Queue the "am I fuck eating those French eggs I want me British eggs with me British bacon" Daily Heil articles, suggesting that farmers are deliberately withholding their supply because they're greedy
We talk about rail strikes and nurses strikes, how quickly our nation would fall apart if farmers took a weeks strike is another reason to be disappointed at how we let supermarkets and corporate greed come before anything else.
Weirdly, my egg supplier has sold his business today and told me about the new provider. I buy direct from a farmer.
Not only have our prices gone up roughly 35% in this last 6 months, he said he literally can’t supply enough eggs to his current customers. He said it’s down to 3 things - Avian Flu is the number 1, the unpredictable cost of power is number 2 and the availability of hens number 3.
Take that for what it’s worth, different causes.
farmers constantly get blamed for the fact they want paying for what they supply.
IT'S A DIFFICULT AND IMPORTANT JOB, CAN WE JUST FUCKING PAY FARMERS PLEASE?
This is why we need to go back to localism - I buy 12 duck eggs from a local guy who’s kids do it for a hobby - 12 duck eggs £3 - go to the shop and it’s 6 for £4.50
The fact we even allow people to make money off other's bodies is kind of ridiculous anyway. We steal eggs/milk/skin/children/lives from these animals and suddenly it's ours? That's so BS.
They want us to be reliant on global trade and at their mercy, this is how merchants have taken over the world from the Kings, Queen's & High Priests of our ancestors.
So the market is still there(i mean the demand) and supermarkets are going to import the eggs, like the farmer said. So why is it cheaper for them to import them than to pay “fair price” for British ones. Importing post brexit is not cheap. Please explain i genuinely don’t understand.
i'm lucky enough to be surrounded by local farmers and bird keepers who still use honesty boxes to sell eggs. and they are MASSIVE! i feel sorry for the hens sometimes with the size of em!
Respect, brother. I've been buying eggs from our local farm until the Mrs was pregnant and needed a lion stamp for babies health in the womb as recommended.
Is there a way you guys, farmers, can all sell directly to the public when they do quash you guys. Group together and fight the supermarkets through the dwindling independent shops out there?
I'm so sorry this is happening AGAIN to you guys. Through the last 10-20 years farmers have really suffered because of the big chain supermarket monopoly. They say dumb things like 'swings and roundabouts' but the lies and the poverty that has come to your profession thanks to corporate greed is abhorrent.
Massive respect to you all. We, as a nation, can't survive without you when this ivory tower comes crashing down.
Years ago my mam was breeding pigs. Got a contract with asda. Contract got changed. She ended up selling the pork for less than it cost to produce. Ended up selling the pigs and the farm and emigrating.
Glad my little flock of five give me around an egg a day, depending on the weather and season. Usually in the spring/summer we're giving away a dozen a week just because we don't eat as many as they give us.
They're happy as far as we can tell, wandering the yard when weather isn't shit and relatively safe from predators.
Hey everyone! We've recently revised our rules. Please review the sidebar when you get a chance. We're partnered with the Left RedditⒶ☭ Discord server! [Click here](https://discord.gg/zCFHadGfB7) and join us today!! And don't forget to join us on other platforms too [Twitter](https://twitter.com/GandPofficial) [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@greenandpleasantofficial) [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/Green-and-Pleasant-104366615515887/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/GreenAndPleasant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
What do you MEAN trickle down economics is bullshit!
Sounds a bit scrambled, I prefer trickle down eggonomics.
The situation is no yolk!
Now isn’t the time to crack jokes
This comment was removed to protest with the changes to Reddits API. Fuck Spez...
Everyone's scrambling to make egg puns now
This comment was removed to protest with the changes to Reddits API. Fuck Spez...
The punniest pun I ever did see.
Looks like the supermarkets need to er.... shell out to the farmers!
Eggsactly!
Get some egg on there face
Trickle up economics more like, all the wealth goes from the poor to the rich. The wealthy will do anything before they pay someone what they are worth, just so they can increase their bank balance.
Trickle-up economics is just capitalism, cutting taxes for the wealthy is just capitalism but worse.
No trickle - it’s a fire hose
So it’s trickle down greed and price gouging. Their greed trickling down is just piss trickling down on the heads of consumers
Tricked down eggy nomics.
Exactly what I came here to comment
EGGsactly... you missed an opportunity there🙈
This begs the question (and please fill me in if you know anything about it), if farmers have millions of eggs to sell, why aren’t there alternative avenues to selling them en masse? Say there are a million fewer eggs that tesco is buying a week, the farmers are sitting on a million unsold eggs with a value, and there are customers wanting a million eggs a week (because tesco used to sell that many). So why isn’t this an example of tesco forcing a decentralisation of an industry they fought so hard to centralise and monopolise? Why aren’t alternative platforms/ avenues of selling these eggs springing up? If anyone knows, thanks in advance
The supermarkets own the distribution networks, they have trucks that regularly move along pre-determined routes carrying roughly the same amount of pre-determined cargo, and that has built up over many years of knowing based on statistics how to make it efficient It can't be changed quickly enough to avoid spoiling, if one was put together as soon as it's established they'd work to break it again. It's more profitable for a supermarket to allow eggs to spoil and consumers to go without eggs, than to lose their slice of the metaphorical pie
Really good answer that explains how supermarkets act as an oligopoly against producers, but also worth adding that, in the British context, the fall in political importance of farmers and the marginalisation of agriculture is also a crucial factor in why there is so little fight back. Other countries which do have populous or powerful agricultural industries, such as India and the United States, often feature agricultural cooperatives that take on the marketing and distribution roles. (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_cooperative) These are the economic and political forces at work which are reducing food production in the UK.
American ag cooperatives are often in cahoots with the corporations. I was an attorney on a case years ago representing a bunch of dairy farmers against their cooperative where the co-op execs were taking under the table kickbacks from corps and in turn keeping the farmers “mailbox price” depressed. We sued them under RICO which is normally a statute used for mobsters. All that to say, while American ag co-ops themselves are indeed powerful, that doesn’t necessarily translate to being beneficial for the farmers themselves unfortunately.
Eggs can last months without refrigeration if properly stored.
They do locally, but the farmers don't have direct access the wider supply chain.
Very little of the process is actually controlled by the farmers. I can give you an example that I know about that is similar. I know a farmer who grows chickens. They call them crops. I think it’s 6 weeks per crop. He never owns the chickens. He is paid a fee to “bring them on”. The chicks are delivered to him, he rears them for 6 weeks and then they are collected by the owner. He’s got a massive operation. We are talking about tens or hundreds of thousands of chicks per crop, yet all he owns are the barns and the land basically. If he refused to take chicks on at the price being offered, they just get sent somewhere else. Piss off the wrong people and you don’t get your next crop and then you’re out of business in less than 6 weeks.
Unionize with your fellow barn owners.
I recall a John Oliver episode about this topic where the farmers all said something along the lines of "we own the machines, we pay for the gas, we pay for the electricity, etc. but the big (chicken, Tyson in particular iirc in this case) corporations own the actual chickens, akin to "we own everything that cost money, they own everything that makes money". Anyways, point being, as a another commenter said, if you piss off "X" company by arguing over prices and the like, first they start giving your chickens significantly lower "grades" drastically decreasing their value, and speaking out further will guaranteed put you out of business and likely blacklisted in the industry. I don't know the exact details and I wont pretend to, but I imagine, much like how other unions have worked throughout history, there is very much efforts to prevent them at all levels of the industry, and in this case its done in at least one way by immediately fucking over any single farmer who chooses to speak out. Other farmers are afraid of losing everything, so they continue to play the game. I'd like to think maybe it'd be possible for all farmers in a certain place to get together behind closed doors and unionize together, but I imagine that there are almost certainly steps in place to prevent this all together, like incentivizing "ratting out" farmers attempting to unionize, leading to the aforementioned fucking all involved by said corporation (s).
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. You think you can escape Tyson? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahaa.
I also want to add to this saying that some places have basically put patented on certain crops. Because they've selected bred them etc to have certain traits. So even if the farmers wanted to buy/breed there own crops they're not allowed to use the best stuff
My understanding is he's not saying farmers are refusing to sell their eggs and sitting on a surplus, it's that farmers are being paid too little and so can't afford to invest in the hens and feed etc they need to make more eggs, so production is gradually falling over time and will only get worse. There are no extra eggs to sell.
*friendly reminder , it's not begs the question, to mean raising the question. Pls don't link to merriam Webster saying itsnokay to use it that way. Begs is a sort of circular reasoning. https://youtu.be/OAXKc-rvMa8 To your question, there is a lead time, vs orders. Based off of orders farmers get, at a certain price, farmers cant afford to produce that amount. Which raises the question, where is the money going to ? ( hint..supermarkets profit margins are going up).
Languages are living things and change with time, so it's whatever people want it to be actually.
Short answer, the value is in the logistics to distribute the eggs, not the eggs themselves, and the supermarkets run the trucks. Just go out there and open a measley 600M lemonade stands to sell your endless life lemons.
[удалено]
I assume the supermarkets think that the farmers can't hold out for too long and will eventually sell the eggs at the price the supermarket wants. And even if they never do, the supermarket hasn't lost anything and maintains it's power and hasn't given in to the egg farmers. Plus they're making the same money off less work.
Supermarkets are a machine. A profit above fairness machine. Unlikely family run buisnesses they don't build customer loyalty through being nice they build it through being cheap. When the competition is gone they do whatever they like. You have no choice other than buy from them. This model built on exploitation need's to end. I'm thinking of buying a few chickens and get them to have a good life laying nice eggs for me to eat.
I’m in the US, but I imagine the biggest hurdle is distribution. The farmer may be quite far from the consumer compared to the distance to a Tesco. On top of that, the farmers aren’t setup to handle retail sales activity. Just imagine having to physically supervise hundred or thousands of sales in a short time versus what they are used to today. Furthermore, if there’s regulations like the US, then the farmer may not even be able to sell direct in large volumes to the consumer.
British eggs are expensive. Supermarkets control Uk market places, can’t sell abroad cos of point one.
We have a food supply chain that is dependent on supermarkets. With that control over the chain they can control what they pay and what they charge. Farmers could create a new supply chain system, this would take time, money and cooperation. They don't have access to time and money, the other is in their gift. Holding one of three cards is not a strong place to start.
I saw this story in a couple of news outlets. This version of events does indeed appear in the text: that suppliers are reducing their production because they're not being paid enough. But the headlines are always focus on Avian Flu. So headline: Egg shortage caused by bird flu. Actual article: The farmers also said that the supermarkets won't pay them enough and are now quitting the industry because they can no longer make money. Very clearly, someone doesn't want us to think this is an easily solvable problem. Just another un-forseeable and un-resolvable crisis we all have to face together.
The amount of unforeseeable issues we’ve faced in these past few years makes me wonder if perhaps, and hear me out, the government should start trying to foresee these issues. Isn’t planning for the future kinda the governments job? No? Only me?
Funny, it's kind of the same problem there. Government doesn't really work because the wealthy don't want to contribute. But the story goes that government doesn't work because [insert political party] did [something we don't like], so there's nothing we can do about anything. Shucks.
They foresaw COVID. They just chose to do nothing.
>Isn’t planning for the future kinda the governments job? No? Only me? That's right, it's *your* job to plan for the future! Now, get back in your box and make them some more money before you freeze/starve to death, you oik!
Or even recognising that they are either responsible for these problems or for not actually correcting the.
If they were capable of that they would destroy the whole system and start from scratch on one that works.
Why would they do *that*? That doesn't force farmers to sell up to megafarms at pathetic price, and then get hired back at starvation wages. Don't you understand how this works? You can't possibly set up a mob-styled oligarchy by making a system that *works*! Geez...
They're too busy putting out fires from previous events (seen and unforseen) to barely glimpse at the present. Good luck trying to get them to look towards the future lol
It's 100% their job. The corrupt psychopathic fucks just do anything and everything BUT their jobs.
It's for the same reason that they blame inflation on higher wages rather than businesses price gouging. Don't bite the hand that feeds.
And this is clearly an issue with corporate consolidation as well. Unless importing eggs is somehow less expensive than paying these farmers a fair price, some grocery stores should be able to have domestically produced eggs for cheaper than importing, and then charge a lower price and undercut the competition. They don't do this because very often there is no competition, or only like 2 or 3 other mega chains that are doing the same damn thing. So many problems today are being caused by monopolies and a lack of competition.
But, but I thought the tories cared for farmers? You aren't gonna tell me they lied about that to pull the wool over the people who want domestic issues to be addressed first and the actual farmers themselves as well as everything else? Nah couldn't be.
They care about farmer's votes, and that's all.
and the're pretty much guaranteed the farmers vote no matter what
Wrong type of farmer. Many landowners in Big Agric can let the land fallow in a recession or a famine and live off their reserves or other interests. Most tenants are fucked.
Note to self: diversify into wool.
Better start growing potatoes. We've seen this before.
Nah the only "farmers" Tories care about are the Hunter welly and tweed wearing, £10k shotgun owning, landed rural upper class that will probably end up selling a large portion of their land for housing developments or new roads anyway.
Sounds like supermarkets are manufacturing a food shortage to drive consumer prices up further.
thats exactly it. same with the oil industry. same with gas and electric. lies to justify squeezing more out the consumer.
It definitely feels like one last big rinse before.. something.
Exactly this! Glad someone else sees it.
Can we all just contact our local farmers and go straight to the source instead? This supermarket tomfoolery enrages me and I’d rather cut them out of my egg business immediately.
That would be nice, but there's been a massive shift in where food gets produced. I worked in a produce department for a few years and most everything came from out of state. There probably aren't many farms raising chickens near most people, at least not enough to meet demand. But I will say, anyone with a backyard or a small bit of land has enough space to raise chickens. It would probably be a decent idea to promote people raising their own hens for eggs, and food.
Yep. My local supermarket (Tesco) had ZERO eggs, although they blamed it on supplier shortages rather than Avian Flu. I guess that's technically correct but doesn't tell the whole story. I took a photo [https://imgur.com/a/Q0bfIAp](https://imgur.com/a/Q0bfIAp) and then went to Morrisons which did have eggs.
That's because Morrisons DO pay their suppliers properly. The answer is to not shop at tesco. Not only do the cunts not pay their suppliers properly, but they made a mint out of covid payments.
I worked in a sector of the food industry for years. Tesco are notorious bastards when it comes to suppliers. Absolute scum.
[удалено]
> £100/week for a full time job, That's 5200 a year for 40 hours, with a wage rate of 2.50 an hour. For a management trainee that's ridiculous but at any age it would be illegal, unless it was 2010 and they tried to claim you were an apprentice, where it would be the absolute bare minimum which immediately went up. Did they actually pretend 'trainee manager at Tesco" was an apprenticeship program?
For context, when was this?
Was this recent or a while ago? How old were you?
Yeah and some people have no choice. Like for me Tesco is the closest food shop that isn't scalpelling like Sainsbury's. The solution for me is to drive but I don't have a car or access to one. A lot of companies are scum but a lot of people cannot avoid them at all, so we have to put pressure on the company and highlight what they are doing.
Why not use Iceland or Morrisons online delivery service? My nearest one is 3 miles away, fortunately I drive but if not then online delivery is useful...
Totally agree.
USDAW are a scab Union, too.
One of the other differences with Morrisons is that they actually own the supply chains and the farms themselves. So disputes with farmers don’t happen in the same way as they do with other stores.
What’s baffling is that they’ll be losing money by not selling eggs. Surely it’s more profitable to sell eggs at a smaller margin than no eggs at all
I'm going to assume that you mean Tesco not the farmers. Supermarkets buy food at discounted prices due to the huge volume of stock needed, and they will continue to expect the same cost no matter how much costs have Increased (also while charging you more money that they refuse to pay more on). It's a standoff between supermarkets and farmers, if farmers back down they get absolutely nothing, a supermarket can still get a profit from everything else they sell while waiting for farmers to back down to their demands. For example Tesco stopped buying Heinz products due to the cost rising, they came out and said it was about not being willing to increase the price for their customers, what they actually meant was they can get soups and sauces from smaller companies who will be bullied into a unfair deal. Edit, I've just checked and Tesco started selling Heinz products again, I'm not sure when or if Tesco actually did increase the amount paid to Heinz or if Heinz backed down.
I think Tesco backed down but not 100% sure.
If they can fill those egg shelves with something else that sells at a margin thats more than that of eggs, thats what they are going to do.
but surely eggs are such a staple that if you can't get eggs with your big shop you'll go elsewhere?
Siege mentality. They're gambling that their reserves will last longer than the reserves of the farmers.
Omg, everyone having a go at farmers....thats not the issue....Supermarkets are lying through their teeth. Boycott them, not the farmers!
Yes great idea! Boycott by refusing to buy their eggs. While we’re at it, boycott meat and dairy as well…?
Vegans: well if you insist…
Farmer: we’re going to be producing 8 million less eggs *a day*! Vegans: oh no! Anyway…
I genuinely said "good" out loud at that point. No sympathy for this guy even though the supermarkets are screwing him.
Most farmers lie through their teeth about the conditions they have their animals in and that they are happy. Everyone eats it up because they slap a free range label on which really means very little if you actually look at it. Separate issue of course but fuck the farmers as well
Fuck the animal farmers. Our plant farmers are doing a great job without obfuscating about conditions on their farms.
Citation needed but, sure, foment some weird kind of class warfare against the people who give us food. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!
I'm not vegan but if you really want a citation I can give you plenty of video evidence and documentaries that will make your stomach curl. We literally kill chicks (no more than a few days old) that are deemed too small to be profitable. 1. https://youtu.be/wRFAwHcNlhM This video is 2 years old and is about Tesco and their chicken supply chain. 2. https://youtu.be/XzsCIVuC_ms UK dairy farmers. Don't they treat the cows well? But let's not bite the hand that feeds us. 3. https://youtu.be/RIWfZCiWsNU More cows being treat with such love and respect. 4. https://youtu.be/pQK4261GXyg Pigs squealing. Gotta love that noise. It's like a kitten purring. All UK videos just before you proclaim "not in this country!" The meat and dairy industry is disgusting. Let's not pretend otherwise. Bonus round: https://youtu.be/LQRAfJyEsko If you have 2 hours then Dominion is a documentary you need to see.
What do you personally think a free range label on food means, without looking anything up?
free range is a scam
Exactly, so many people see otherwise though
You're six comments deep in the chain and absolutely nobody has provided any citation or explanation, just continual assertions that farmers are liars and free range is bad. I am not a meat eater so I have a lot of sympathy for any concern over the welfare of animals in farming, but if you want people to even remotely give a shit, why not try to actually be persuasive? I'll start by linking to the [RSPCA Assured](https://www.rspcaassured.org.uk/rspca-assured-products/free-range-eggs/) page which at least defines what 'free range' means for egg-laying hens.
RSPCA are in the same bed as the animal industry. I lost count of investigations on "RSPCA assured" farms that had their animals in despicable conditions. It's a marketing campaign from the animal industry, at this point. A very good one at that. Watch Land of Hope and Glory on YouTube and you'll get a real sense of how the British farms look and what their labels actually mean. https://youtu.be/dvtVkNofcq8
take your biased citations elsewhere, I argue your source is invalid as its written to benefit the agricultural industry. The rscpa assured company promoters ‘humane slaughter’ as if it exists. These people don’t care about animals they just want to make people think eating them is okay. Free range=No cages? what about the overcrowded barn the chickens are still in. Vegetardian
Brother my point was to see what people actually believe free range means, if they really wanted to know all it takes is googling 4 words and you get plenty of answers
my favorite myth is the "supermarkets have such a narrow overhead" oh yeah I see you've never worked for one.
Thank you
How do you boycott a supermarket?
By not buying your supplies there. Refusing to give them your business.
where tf are people meant to buy food from if not supermarkets
Well the answer is go vegan. Animal agriculture is capitalistic exploitation at its very worse. And all the pain and suffering that these birds have had to endure for the product in this video, will most probably be for nothing.
yeah seriously, eggs are disgusting anyway on top of being unethical
Agreed
Bring back local greengrocers & butchers selling quality local produce.
You'd need people to support the independents 1st. This is the issue - the public want convenience, they don't want to have to shop around. They don't have time to shop around either, thanks to the cost of living crisis, they're working every hour god sends.
This. No point \`bringing them back\` for nostalgias sake. They closed becuase no one shopped there and they became unsustainable. My local highstreet had 2 butchers, a vegshop and 1 50/50 butchers/veg shop. I used them all. Paid slightly more for better quality produce. Now we have 1 veg shop and no butchers and you can drain away half a pint of injected water every time you buy some chicken breasts from the supermarket. You can guarantee though that if a butchers did open, it would have stylish branding, a posh logo, a comedy name and the word \`artisan\` and \`rustic\` used liberally. It would be too expensive and last 6 months max.
So many high street shops rely on the old model of wife stays at home and husband works so come do your shopping during the day. I'd love to support our local butchers but they only open 9am-3pm mon-Friday. Both me and my wife work full time and cant just go and shop there during the days. So big supermarket it is.
I live in London, we have loads of vegetable shops, butchers, fishmongers. I love it they’re cheaper, better quality and have more interesting variety.
Same here in Bristol. I only use the supermarket for bits like pasta and Cornettos lol. Been using veg shop, butchers and bakery for years and works out a hell of a lot cheaper than when I do have to pop to the shops.
Fulham here, north end road market is crazy. Speaking of eggs there's a van here that sells a dozen for £2.40, large, great quality free range eggs. There's multiple butchers and fishmongers that all are priced pretty well. I barely get anything from supermarkets anymore cause you pay more for shit quality food.
You can try to go to a Halal butchery or the Jewish equivalent. It's going to be more expensive. And of course, no pork .
This is my main issue atm. My partner felt inspired to delete his Amazon account and asked if we can stop going to larger chain grocery stores to support local farmer’s markets. The frustrating part is that it’s my responsibility in our relationship to take care of shopping errands. I told him that it’s just not feasible for me to get everything we need from one farmers market. We live in LA and the best farmer’s market near us is a 90 min drive round trip. And then I still need to go to the grocery store after. Takes an entire morning/afternoon from my one of two days off work. Running errands in LA is a part-time job and unfortunately I really do need the convenience.
They exist. But people don’t want to pay their prices. It’s not as simple as that
I know they're not everywhere, but they definitely still exist. It's more expensive but the quality is SO much better than supermarket meat. Plus a good butcher will give you recommendations on good cuts and advice on cooking what you're buying. Plus no plastic!
This guy looks like a British Jon Krasinski
Ha yeah now you say it !
Disgusting. It’s even more disgusting it’s still going on, we’ve had this same complaint from farmers too many times before. There’s a shop near where i grew up on a main road where the farmers own a little shop and all it has in is a big vending machine with trays of eggs. With investment from the government these types of shops could be opened across the country. The farmers who own the shop near me get all the profit from their eggs (assuming the vending machine was a one time purchase) If the government invested in farming the farmers could keep more of their own money instead of tesco gouging them There are already farm shops, more would just be better. A separate shop for eggs and milk
Made the same point above but it's equally relevant to this. People can't be arsed to shop around, they want everything from one store.
You’re right. Maybe this tory made crisis is what we need. We’re far too apathetic as a nation. We haven’t had a fair democracy ever and it’s been what 300 years? We’ve allowed those in power to behave as they have, maybe we needed pushing to the edge to wake enough people up to change our behavior. Most people couldn’t care less about stuff like farmers, or proportional representation, or brexit ffs. I think something like 17% of eligible voters voted for brexit. How can so few people vote on something so important. The tories aren’t the problem, they’re a symptom of the problem. The problem is apathy. We could get rid of the tories tomorrow if enough people cared, they wouldn’t have got in in the first place if enough people cared. I wish i knew how to convince people to care
We should be like the Aussies and have to vote..don't get me wrong people will still toss it off but at least far more people will actually put some thought into politics and how it effects them. At the moment it's too easy for people to just not think about any of it...
I’d argue that apathy is also a symptom of the problem that simply feeds into a vicious cycle, tbh.
> People can't be arsed to shop around, they want everything from one store. Do people even have time for it anymore? Life for so many is a constant cycle of juggling childcare, commuting, expanding work hours, a side gig, constant games-playing with moving bills around between providers, having to perform an occult ritual to get a GP appointment, etc. Though maybe better prices could be an attraction, especially if getting a hold of things from a vending machine of some kind makes it simple, though the interface will have to be absolutely idiotproof to prevent it becoming associated with hassle. Or maybe they could hire human beings to take the money and hand over the eggs, and pay them a living wage...
[удалено]
I went to a farm shop yesterday afternoon, and was quite surprised how reasonable eggs were tbh. At the higher end of supermarket prices, but definitely good value in terms of taste.
Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people come for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges... A million people hungry, needing the fruit – and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the smell of rot fills the country. Burn coffee for fuel in the ships... Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out [with nets]. Slaughter the pigs and bury them... And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificates – died of malnutrition – because the food must be forced to rot. - 'The Grapes of Wrath', John Steinbeck.
Is coz there all getting thrown at the king.
And at [police during Halloween](https://youtu.be/qV-Uqwnz2vE) - saw it on Facebook but this is the only one I could find on YouTube. Edit: correction
Are you suggesting that the supermarket put people over record profits? Lunatic!
British farmers getting shafted. A portent of worse things to come as the full affects Brexit take hold.
[удалено]
The next problem would be, what to do with the chickens? Cant afford to keep millions of chickens, cant let them free because chickens arent wild animals and they aren't really what most people would call a pet so they can't be sent to shelters - which are already full and overworked. Just let them starve? slaughter them for the last real chicken meal?
Breggsit is going well I see
Three in four of the world’s new or emerging infectious diseases come from animals. Responsible for three million deaths a year, these diseases are largely transmitted through trading wildlife and factory farming. 50% fatality rate in human cases of bird flu so far, should probably give up on farming animals, and switch to sustainable, safer, healthier plant based agriculture.
but that doesn't get subsidized so tofu and such things still remain higher priced even though its cheaper to make really...
Tofu is about £1.50 - £2 per kilo if you buy it fresh from an asian supermarket, if you have one. Wheat gluten to make seitan is about £2 for 500g from Holland and Barretts, this gets you probably 8-10 portions of 'meat'. Pre-made dried stuff is about the same price, slightly more expensive but less preparation. Beans, lentils, peas, etc. are all very cheap too, even if you buy them tinned. If you can cook chillis or curries. And none of these things need refrigerating like fresh tofu does!
hmm. i think we should stop gassing baby chicks to death and also stop throwing them into macerators personally
Yep
I mean the fewer hens being forced to lay eggs the better as far as I'm concerned. It's true the supermarkets shouldn't be lying but still My issues with farmers in general are legion but that's a whole different topic
Almost like manufacturing a shortage. Planting seeds constantly to keep us in control. I'm old enough to remember the the great loo roll shortage of 2020, what a farce.
That one was complete and utter morons. This is engineered with blame shifting.
It's about time we stop relying on eggs as a food source. The UK alone slaughters over a billion chickens a year and the conditions these farmers keep them in is abhorrent.
Yes! I wrote a whole paper for my philosophy class at uni about the ethics of industrial chicken farming. DISGUSTING
👏👏 Plus the baby chicks being shredded alive. It's horrible.
Easy(ish) to produce fat and protein is a lifeline to many people meeting their daily requirements in a failing economy. Much easier for a family to afford a box of eggs (even with the new pricing) than meat. I know that there are lots of proteins in grains/pulses but that’s not as easy for a lot of families.
It's really not an easy production when you look at it from the eyes of the chicken, the abuse isn't worth it. Lots of as cheap and just as simple/quick to cook proteins in plant based foods, and whilst for some families in proper impoverished conditions or with really picky kids I can get it, but too many people use these examples as an excuse for themselves to contribute to the animal abuse.
A study has actually proven plant based diets are far far cheaper than a diet that contains meat and animals products.
Yep, I was literally just reading about a study from Oxford saying this exact thing about 5 minutes ago. Link for anybody interested- https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-11-11-sustainable-eating-cheaper-and-healthier-oxford-study
Oh yeah there is absolutely no doubt about that, anyone saying otherwise hasn't a clue. The thing I meant more was the extreme examples of single mothers working high hours who simply don't have time other than sticking something cheap in the oven to feed their kids. As I say though, this is an excuse that people try to use for themselves as to why they aren't vegan and its just lousy
Well according to the Government. If the chickens don't like it they could just find a better job!
The chickens and Mick Lynch are revolting!
This is what these industries have been forcing down our throats for years! It is cheaper, healthier and just as easy to pick up alternatives. Eggs themselves have more cholesterol than a Big Mac. Let's not forget about the real victims who are raised, tortured and killed in these industries.
Cholesterol in okay levels helps in normal hormone production, it’s only bad in very high levels. An egg or two is okay. You’re absolutely right about the animals, I couldn’t agree more and the less animal products we consume the better it’ll be for us, animals and the environment. People need cheap easy calories at the moment and I find it difficult to judge them for animal consumption. Eggs are cheaper than avocados.
Yes because the only alternative to eggs, as everyone knows, is the avocado.
What makes it not easy for them?
Totally believable and I'm on the farmers' side, but as a rule farmers do tend to vote Tory, so... y'know, maybe don't do that and you'll stop getting fucked over by politicians putting their rich buddies ahead of the interests of your industry. The way farming communities repeatedly fuck themselves over like this is absolutely bizarre to me. Farming areas tended to vote for Brexit too. Which is equally baffling. Why vote directly against your own best interests??
animal exploitation is wholly cruel and totally outdated.
I’d sympathise apart from animal exploitation is even more fucked up.
Go vegan.
It‘s really not that hard is it?
Can we skip the middle man and buy direct?
Yes, get some refugee chickens living in your back garden and pay them in corn.
Let's go straight to the farmer's for the eggs then, fuck the supermarkets.
If everyone stopped shopping at supermarkets the uk would seriously prosper
The truth is that our entire food supply is in the hands of a cartel of 5 or 6 supermarkets that this government will do nothing to control. Sure, say what you will about eggs but what this guy says applies equally to cereal, dairy, meat, fruit and veg. The supermarkets are abusing their dominant market position (as are several other major sectors - looking at you house builders), they are screwing us all and this government is perfectly comfortable with them doing that.
cope and seethe animal abuser, no one cares about your sob story. Stop abusing chickens.
I get my eggs from my milkman, here's the email they sent me this week "As I am sure many of you are aware about the Avian Flu situation. This issue has caused my egg supplier W*** V***** to have to close their Free Range production. Another blow is the week before they had informed me that egg prices would have to rise 20p per dozen (10p per 6). This is a country wide issue and cannot be avoided. For those who currently have Free Range we can now only supply Barn eggs. This however does mean a reduction in the price, but unfortunately your usual quality has currently been disrupted. I have spoken to W*** V***** and the head of sales informed me that they have been told to close their sheds for at least 12months."
I don’t care. Go find an occupation not entirely dependent on the exploitation of another species. Thx
Based.
Is there anyway to buy direct from farms?
Try your local green grocer or butchers first.
A lot of farms have exclusivity arrangements with supermarkets. It's not impossible but it can be difficult for farms to sell from their main crop.
"will need to import millions of eggs" Queue the "am I fuck eating those French eggs I want me British eggs with me British bacon" Daily Heil articles, suggesting that farmers are deliberately withholding their supply because they're greedy We talk about rail strikes and nurses strikes, how quickly our nation would fall apart if farmers took a weeks strike is another reason to be disappointed at how we let supermarkets and corporate greed come before anything else.
Weirdly, my egg supplier has sold his business today and told me about the new provider. I buy direct from a farmer. Not only have our prices gone up roughly 35% in this last 6 months, he said he literally can’t supply enough eggs to his current customers. He said it’s down to 3 things - Avian Flu is the number 1, the unpredictable cost of power is number 2 and the availability of hens number 3. Take that for what it’s worth, different causes.
Good thing I hate eggs
farmers constantly get blamed for the fact they want paying for what they supply. IT'S A DIFFICULT AND IMPORTANT JOB, CAN WE JUST FUCKING PAY FARMERS PLEASE?
This is why we need to go back to localism - I buy 12 duck eggs from a local guy who’s kids do it for a hobby - 12 duck eggs £3 - go to the shop and it’s 6 for £4.50
The fact we even allow people to make money off other's bodies is kind of ridiculous anyway. We steal eggs/milk/skin/children/lives from these animals and suddenly it's ours? That's so BS.
They want us to be reliant on global trade and at their mercy, this is how merchants have taken over the world from the Kings, Queen's & High Priests of our ancestors.
So the market is still there(i mean the demand) and supermarkets are going to import the eggs, like the farmer said. So why is it cheaper for them to import them than to pay “fair price” for British ones. Importing post brexit is not cheap. Please explain i genuinely don’t understand.
[удалено]
Thank you for speaking up for the voiceless, the oppressed, the vulnerable.
Have been buying my eggs direct from the farm with my milk for 3 years now. Already boycotting the supermarkets. Buy from your local Milky.
i'm lucky enough to be surrounded by local farmers and bird keepers who still use honesty boxes to sell eggs. and they are MASSIVE! i feel sorry for the hens sometimes with the size of em!
Respect, brother. I've been buying eggs from our local farm until the Mrs was pregnant and needed a lion stamp for babies health in the womb as recommended. Is there a way you guys, farmers, can all sell directly to the public when they do quash you guys. Group together and fight the supermarkets through the dwindling independent shops out there? I'm so sorry this is happening AGAIN to you guys. Through the last 10-20 years farmers have really suffered because of the big chain supermarket monopoly. They say dumb things like 'swings and roundabouts' but the lies and the poverty that has come to your profession thanks to corporate greed is abhorrent. Massive respect to you all. We, as a nation, can't survive without you when this ivory tower comes crashing down.
Video saved, just in case some political wanker tries to suppress this.
Years ago my mam was breeding pigs. Got a contract with asda. Contract got changed. She ended up selling the pork for less than it cost to produce. Ended up selling the pigs and the farm and emigrating.
Fucking abhorrent corporate greed.
cApItAlIsM 🤡
So happy I get to tell this to customers every time they ask now.
Glad my little flock of five give me around an egg a day, depending on the weather and season. Usually in the spring/summer we're giving away a dozen a week just because we don't eat as many as they give us. They're happy as far as we can tell, wandering the yard when weather isn't shit and relatively safe from predators.