Sunday 21 March 2021

Charlie Clutterbuck interview on what next for food and farming and those that work the land after Brexit?

Under the section on this website on video and documentaries I have launched a series of podcasts and interviews and this will become a regular practice and which in time I will migrate to a separate site. This will allow listeners to leave comments etc 

https://markwritecouk.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/charlie-clutterbuck-interview.mp3

 In this half hour interview Charlie Clutterbuck, author of the 2017 book BITTERSWEET BREXIT – the future of food, farming, land and labour, seeks to examine how his predictions in it are working out following Britain’s exit from the EU.

The labour and trade movement activist explains the massive forthcoming changes in farming that will put out of business many small farmers, recalls why the EU sought to develop farming policies that ended European countries dependence on US food imports, touches on the massive imbalance in land ownership at home and how the pouring into the UK of a lot of cheaper, poorly produced food will further raise obesity levels and put further pressure on the NHS and social services.

Clutterbuck notes that it is a US company, Tate and Lyle, that was the first to benefit from the Government’s removal of tariffs on imports, literally handing millions from British taxpayers to American shareholders. Money that could have been used to subsidise better paid jobs in land-based food producing occupations that would boost incomes in rural communities.

As a soil scientist, Clutterbuck investigates the Government’s plans for those that work on the land and finds a total absence of any detail. How ideas for greening the land in which big grants may be used to lever in private finance for projects that might possibly provide an initial job creation boost through rewilding and tree planting projects are not going to revive rural communities.

The interview ends with Clutterbuck exploring how to create a direct link using food credits between producers of high-quality food and the poorest in society.

The interview was conducted by Mark Metcalf

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