Food in Britain ran out today.

[izzy_mack]

I have heard this from farming friends before, if something happened to stop food from coming in to the country, it wouldn't take more than a week or so for the trouble to start and maybe the gov. would take farmers more seriously and the public be more supportive, not that any of them really want such an event.

This time of year is ONE of the lean times for food production as this years crops of grain and potatoes are in general not yet harvested and this years crop of lambs are still growing to killing weights. Eggs are generally better in the warmer weather but any of us who have hens know that production drops when they moult in summer.Soft fruits are good just now but long keeping like apples are a while away yet and while some veg could be got from your garden if you have one, main harvests are a while away too. If you pick too soon you miss out on your veg growing bigger and giving you a greater weight in veg at the right time.(eg baby carrots instead of big ones)

the problem of returning to war time Britain and growing as they did then are many. Fewer people have gardens, allotments are like golddust,many have never grown or been in a family that grew veg and worst of all I do think that in general we are less honest as people and theft would be a big problem from gardens and fields. Thats if we survived long enough to reach another planting seasons. Food production is not something that can be expanded overnight nor can re-educating an entire population on how to grow, cook and store food to last an entire year. Most want a bag of chips and go get one, teaching them that if they have x amount of potatoes to last till the next crop, it means they have to ration them , would be beyond their comprehension.

The only real hope we have is that production is slowly increased here in a sustainable way and maybe it's time to think seriously about large stock piles being created again (won't hold my breath on that one). Remember the butter mountains and warehouses full of wheat, lovely!

[jansman]

I threw this one into the mix as I found the news item about it interesting from a prepping point of view. There has always been outside trade of course, but times such as two world war U - Boat blockades changed that, albeit for a relatively short time.

However, there is a very recent example of a country having to live on what it could produce. That is Cuba. When the USSR Economy collapsed in 1991, Cuba was unable to trade it's sugar for oil and wheat. They went into what is now known as 'The Special Period'. Effectively they were 'Digging For Victory', rice, which is a staple, was severely rationed too. It is reckoned that everyone lost an average of 20lbs in weight in a very short time.

Every spare patch of land was turned over to production ( by law) and everyone had to pitch in, even off duty doctors! Oxen drawn implements were the norm as oil was desperately short. You get the idea. I find the topic fascinating, and if you do a search it throws all sorts of information up.

Obviously , right now, the 'West' is bumping along steadily and food and oil are plentiful. The problem may occur though in the future ( I stress, may), and there will be no real amount of skilled food producers. Apparently the average age of a farmer now is 55+. Interesting.

[Arzosah]

The thing about skilled food producers is interesting - I'm currently watching Edwardian Farm on iplayer, and I've seen Wartime Farm previously - and they stress the amount of information that was handed to farmers from central government - i.e., even over 100 years ago, farmers were being informed by the govt. about new research to make things more efficient, or more profitable.

I *do* agree that reception of that information would be very dodgy - a huge lack in understanding about overwatering/underwatering, transplanting etc.

[Smudge]

From what I've read we're between 60 - 68% self sufficient in food production, and the figures are biased as we enjoy many foods out of season because we're buying them in from elsewhere instead of growing and stockpiling. When they talk about food stuffs being brought in they do not take into account, exotic foods (none native), speciality foods such as the stuff brought in for foreign nationals etc.

The figures also don't make mention of the food we export........ yes we actually do export food.

I think this article from the BBC is pretty accurate, I did a quick follow on study when I first found it and the majority of sources at the time seemed to confirm it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18623096

In urban England, for example, the researchers found that just over half the land (54%) in our towns and cities is greenspace - parks, allotments, sports pitches and so on.
Furthermore, domestic gardens account for another 18% of urban land use; rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs an additional 6.6%.
Their conclusion?
In England, "78.6% of urban areas is designated as natural rather than built". Since urban only covers a tenth of the country, this means that the proportion of England's landscape which is built on is…
Paved garden of a terraced house
Scotland and the North-East embrace paving
… 2.27%.
Yes. According to the most detailed analysis ever conducted, almost 98% of England is, in their word, natural.
Elsewhere in the UK, the figure rises to more than 99%. It is clear that only a small fraction of Britain has been concreted over.
There will be quibbles. What about the gardens people have paved? The NEA looked at that, noting how in London an estimated 3,200 hectares of front gardens have been covered in concrete, bricks or gravel.
Paving levels are highest, it was found, in the North-East of England and Scotland, where 47% and 31% of front gardens are more than three-quarters paved. The detail in their analysis is impressive.
Quite simply, the figures suggest Britain's mental picture of its landscape is far removed from the reality.

Could we become self sufficient in food production? Much as I run the risk of ripping off Obama, if the following article is to be believed, Yes We Can

http://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/ar...-farm-itself-2

Basically the potential is there to become self sufficient in food but the diet would be rather boring compared to what we have grown accustomed too.


Above is an extract (quoted myself) from a conversation on another board on a similar topic, during the discussion I was informed Cuba imports a substantial amount of their food and the government has strict control over the food that is produced on the city farms.

[Vespa]

I can't hlp but think that this is a good idea.

http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/

Quantities produced may not be that large but the fact that some people are learning how to actually produce food is a good prep.

[Hamradioop]

thanks for the link vespa

[junmist]

Veg wise I wouldn't really notice as I grow most of mine grains have all been harvested in my part of the world so I would imagine flour production would be ok and the old WW2 rationing would be back in place pretty fast as well.
This doesn't mean that I would not be concerned about food shortages but it is not one of my worry's

[Deeps]

Veg wise I wouldn't really notice as I grow most of mine grains have all been harvested in my part of the world so I would imagine flour production would be ok and the old WW2 rationing would be back in place pretty fast as well.
This doesn't mean that I would not be concerned about food shortages but it is not one of my worry's

A bit of a cliche but we live in a different 'time', trying to ration now would require martial law just about and we don't have the personnel to enforce it (I'm not sure our Armed Forces and Police would be over keen to police it either), we're a lot more affluent than we were back in '39 and a lot more demanding. I genuinely think our society would find it very hard to accept rationing. Part of me applaud's this because we have so much more of our society doing pretty well, certainly a lot more people in the 'comfortable' bracket than we did back in (for example) 1939. Another part of me despairs that we live in a society that is so self centred and self serving. Can you imagine the outrage if some people can't get their couscous Oh the humanity.

[CynicalSurvival]

I give this a lot of thought, because it is not hard to foresee a future where imported food is either unavailable or extremely expensive.

To an extent you can stockpile desirable 'exotics' like olive oil, but they will only last so long. Perhaps we should get more used to the tastes of local food. It's also a lot easier to grow things that naturally belong here.