25th January 2007, 06:15 PM
:-))
On the grant side of things, is it the farmers fault that there are grants? The whole rural economy has been skewed massively since WWII first by the government trying to ensure that the country could be self sufficient in foodstuffs, then by Common Market policies partly driven by the massive inequalities between urban and rural France in the 1950s and 60's, then by production subsidies running out of control and now by the latest rounds of SPS and big supermarkets having a stranglehold on production. The farmers cannot be blamed for the grants being there - its not as if the farming community has a massive influence on the government in terms of their voting power, unlike in France.
What would you propose as a solution and how would you manage the fallout from any solution that was implemented?
On the grant side of things, is it the farmers fault that there are grants? The whole rural economy has been skewed massively since WWII first by the government trying to ensure that the country could be self sufficient in foodstuffs, then by Common Market policies partly driven by the massive inequalities between urban and rural France in the 1950s and 60's, then by production subsidies running out of control and now by the latest rounds of SPS and big supermarkets having a stranglehold on production. The farmers cannot be blamed for the grants being there - its not as if the farming community has a massive influence on the government in terms of their voting power, unlike in France.
What would you propose as a solution and how would you manage the fallout from any solution that was implemented?