In reply to neal:
> Landowners (including the NT) are paid very handsomely by the tax payer supposedly for managing their land for the public good (in reality they often do very little that they wouldn't otherwise do). Landowners in the Nordic countries are also heavily subsidised, and i doubt much of the agriculture there is any more profitable without subsidies than it is here. I agree about not preserving in aspic, however.
are they paid handsomely, or are they paid by CAP to simply make farming profitable, because food sells for too little in the UK shops? If milk is bought by a supermarket for less than it currently costs a farmer to produce it, even at todays diesel prices, then it is tax payers via Brussels than are providing the farmer with a living, not the consumer who drinks the milk they produce.
Farmers don't have much say at all in how they manage their land in terms of receiving the money from CAP that keeps the banks at bay though. Most would prefer things to be much different. A new version of CAP comes out and farmers have to modify what they do, or have less income, which usually means more debt, especially in dairy.
Norwegian farmers are subsidised a little higher by their own government, than they would if they were in CAP. But, despite animals being indoors a little more than most of Europe, they have one of the lowest uses of antibiotics and other drugs in their animal chain of all European farms. So perhaps animal welfare and quality produce has a price? They also value maintain an independent supply within their own country as much as possible.
Sweden/ Denmark follow standard CAP, with no extra money from government coffers. Denmark's welfare standards are base level EU, but their antibiotic use is very high, so I don't touch Danish meat. Sweden has higher welfare standards that the EU baseline, which are checked by no notice inspections and their antibiotic use is similar to Norway ie very low.
Finland, it all starts to go a bit further down hill from there on in, but again they don't subsidise they farmers above CAP, so they effectively get the same as the UK? Iceland, no idea.
Farming is more profitable in Sweden, Norway or Denmark simply because all food costs more to buy. Meat for example is probably twice the price for the cheaper cuts than the UK. You would never get a frozen chicken for £2 or 3, orr mince for a couple of quid a kilo, it costs over twice that even for the cheap stuff. But, a fair proportion of people here take some national pride and will pay more for local stuff. I think it's because of the right to roam etc.. which most people do, there is a greater connection between people, the outdoors and their food chain.
Post edited at 11:20