Ageing Farmer Population in the EU

[Atheist-Lite]

Was listening to a prog about this on Radio Four earlier and it's scary if you extrapolate into the future. More than half of farmers in the EU are over the age of 55 whilst younger farmers, under 35, only make up 7% of the farmer population. Farmers may run out before long? Some centralization and enlargement of farms as occured but in the post cheap oil era this is going to be unsustainable, and it leads to monoculture. Very worrying trends indeed out of sight, what about other parts of the world?

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultryne ... rries-meps

[Rum]

Wonderful - one more thing to worry about! Yay!

[MrJonno]

Massive overproduction in the western world when it comes to food due to stupid amounts of subsidies, a lot less farmers = cheaper food

[Atheist-Lite]

Massive overproduction in the western world when it comes to food due to stupid amounts of subsidies, a lot less farmers = cheaper food

Less food production = cheaper prices. Why didn't I think of that?

[JimC]

Old MacDonald has a ...

Nah, too corny...

[MrJonno]

Massive overproduction in the western world when it comes to food due to stupid amounts of subsidies, a lot less farmers = cheaper food

Less food production = cheaper prices. Why didn't I think of that?

Yup less farmers paid not to grow anything

Farming has about as much to do with the free market as the arms industry

[Hermit]

Massive overproduction in the western world when it comes to food due to stupid amounts of subsidies, a lot less farmers = cheaper food

Less food production = cheaper prices. Why didn't I think of that?

Perhaps it is because of the meat mountains, milk lakes and other surpluses nobody seems to know what to do with making less food production a good thing. We haven't thought of shipping those surpluses off to the starving millions elsewhere for half a century. Why should we start worrying about them now, when we can invent problems for our affluent selves to worry about instead?

[Atheist-Lite]

Surpluses are always preferable to shortages. Over-optimisation is never a good thing in natural systems. It might appear wasteful but there is a certain idiocy in believing it is when the consequence of a over-effecient system stalling is mass starvation.

[Hermit]

Surpluses are always preferable to shortages. Over-optimisation is never a good thing in natural systems. It might appear wasteful but there is a certain idiocy in believing it is when the consequence of a over-effecient system stalling is mass starvation.

Europe has not been anywhere near an agrarian system that can be described as over-efficient for decades, and won't be even after half the farming gerontocracy carks it in the next ten or 30 years.