If we vote for Brexit what happens

Generali

vivatifosi wrote: »

In terms of food production, the UK could, if it wanted, develop more Thanet Earth type projects. It is a very large, high intensity greenhouse that produces roughly 10% of the country's tomato, cucumber and pepper crops.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanet_Earth

The country needs to decide though whether it sees production of food in the UK and food security an important issue. There's also scope to take more product from the commonwealth, providing the transportation costs aren't prohibitive.

You'd need to bulldoze a significant part of the south east to put them in: you can't put them Up North as it's too grim:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/10321390/Thanet-Earth-the-farm-of-the-future.html

Light is the single most important factor. 'One per cent more light gives one per cent more production,’ van Straalen explains. That is why the complex is built where it is. The big-skied, sea-girt Isle of Thanet enjoys more light than almost anywhere else in Britain, and therefore more precious joules for the plants to photosynthesise. The operation would not be economically viable north of London because there is too much cloud cover.

Graham_Devon

Generali wrote: »

I have my doubts. The UK would find it extremely difficult to produce salad vegetables in December or tomatoes in bulk at all.

And theres no where else in the world that produces food? Other than the EU that is?

MobileSaver

indianabones wrote: »

Fewer houses are coming on and fewer are selling.

This is another flaw in the HPC strategy and one that many of us have been pointing out to them for years. When there's uncertainty in the market, many home owners simply decide to stay put and wait for better times before thinking of selling their home.

ruelle wrote: »

it's nice that buyers are finally wrestling back some power!

You seem to be forgetting that roughly 75% of those buyers are also selling a property...

Generali

Graham_Devon wrote: »

And theres no where else in the world that produces food? Other than the EU that is?

Plenty of places. I'm not sure I'd fancy eating a lettuce that had been on a boat for a week from Africa and flying food is expensive and produces a lot of CO2e.

Graham_Devon

Generali wrote: »

Plenty of places. I'm not sure I'd fancy eating a lettuce that had been on a boat for a week from Africa and flying food is expensive and produces a lot of CO2e.

Well that's OK, because most lettuce comes from within the UK itself!

We import from all over the world.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

And theres no where else in the world that produces food? Other than the EU that is?

The price of perishable foods which tends to be lower value has a higher proportional cost of transport. It makes sense from a cost and freshness perspective they are produced close to the point of consumption.

The EU has the highest food safety standards in the world which is something to consider as the UK has to define what is and isn't acceptable in the future.

I'm slightly worried about the idea that we should somehow be planning to do without EU trade. Presumably we import stuff from the EU because we think it's good value and it adds to our quality of life.

cells wrote: »

Food could very easily be produced in the UK

Not as cheaply. We're not self-sufficient in even some basics like potatoes. Presumably this isn't because of some altruistic desire to support the potato growers of Europe.

The other thing to ask is whether the fact we can produce more food necessarily makes it a desirable pastime or could enhance quality of life. We'd certainly have to get used to having less colours on our plates.

cells wrote: »

What we could surely do is drink more UK bottled water rather than importing £500m of the stuff each year!

I'm with you there. If there's one thing the UK could be self sufficient in with minimal impact it's water. Saying that anyone who travels to the continent will know just how much cheaper bottled water is there than here. Cristaline in Auchan is 15 cents per litre; Ashbeck in Tesco is 20p litre.

In or out of the EU UK consumers really need to get a grip and force prices down.

oldandhappy

Can you imagine the UK People agreeing to huge plastic greenhouses everywhere on the scale that would be required to produce all that replacement food....enough trouble trying them to except wind turbines...

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Well that's OK, because most lettuce comes from within the UK itself!

We import from all over the world.

I don't know the exact %'s but if we wanted to be more self sufficient in lettuce then we'd have to extend the growing season by using heated greenhouses.

It would probably be cheaper and use less carbon dioxide to buy a truckload of outdoor grown lettuce from Southern Spain.

We could always start to eat more seasonable produce produced in the UK but grated swede on top of mangel wurzel soup will get old very quickly.

buglawton

Generali wrote: »

I have my doubts. The UK would find it extremely difficult to produce salad vegetables in December or tomatoes in bulk at all.

That the UK imports 90% of vegetables consumed is very revealing.

Look at the last time that the UK tried to be self-sufficient in food, the 1940-50 period. Most foods had to be rationed and I suspect that having almost no choice of fruit and vegetables in winter and early spring would get pretty boring pretty fast.

What the UK imports tends to be low value add. The UK imports almost £9bn of fruit 'n' veg (the largest import category) but is a net exporter of drinks.

I leave it for other posters to comment on the feasibility of getting rid of cars in London. I suspect that cabbies wouldn't be that impressed to hear that you had closed down their industry!!!

"In Britain, rationing created the best-nourished generation of pregnant women in history, as poor people received enough nutrients to maintain their health."
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/75-years-on-from-rationing-what-did-we-learn-9963115.html

Another thing to think about is, should eating out-of-season vegetables and fruit be considered a human right in the UK?

Generali

buglawton wrote: »

Another thing to think about is, should eating out-of-season vegetables and fruit be considered a human right in the UK?

Clearly it's not a human right but just as with cells's genius idea of getting rid of cars from London it's probably not that popular as a plan.

I imagine that people buy locally out of season food from Tesco because they quite like it. Hopefully Brexit won't mean the squashing of all human enjoyment to enable Britain to limp along keeping her people in sullen mediocrity.