I don’t think that’s the point, as much as I get off on cheap Brexit shots. It’s about food
Climate change is wreaking havoc on food production across the world, with farmers in Southern Europe literally fighting fires while farmers here are despairing as they now must spend thousands of pounds to dry sodden grain.
"At the same time, the conflict in Ukraine is putting pressure on te global grain market.
It’s about being self sufficient so you don’t have to buy from abroad. That would be sensible were we in or out of the EU.
Just to be clear. With current methods the UK would need 0.4 acres of farmland per adult to provide all food.
Most of the land we have, that is undeveloped. Or not already used for farming. Is not usable as farm land.
So while it is a solvable issue. It would take seriose spending on new farming methods. And either a huge increase in food cost. Or a change in how we currently fund food.
The main issue with food in the UK is that it is unusually cheap compared to the rest of Europe. And Brits will fight tooth and nail against price growth. Realistically, food prices should increase 1.5-2 times overnight without salary increases That will help farmers to cover their expenses and better prepare for bad weather and will reduce food waste. Or Britain should switch to the US model and start eating chlorinated shit and completely destroy the British environment.
Is this comparative advantage as in Germany buying most of its energy from a rogue state such as Russia and then getting fucked? That comparative advantage?
The TL:DR was to use cheap Russian gas to fuel the energy transition and at the same time use the economical ties to bring Russia aligned politically to the western Europe. Ostpolitik worked to unify west and east Germany so why wouldn’t it work to align a post-soviet Russia?
Gosh if only there were other countries nearby that they could have close economic ties with in order to have a secure food supply…
I don’t think that’s the point, as much as I get off on cheap Brexit shots. It’s about food
It’s about being self sufficient so you don’t have to buy from abroad. That would be sensible were we in or out of the EU.
Just to be clear. With current methods the UK would need 0.4 acres of farmland per adult to provide all food.
Most of the land we have, that is undeveloped. Or not already used for farming. Is not usable as farm land.
So while it is a solvable issue. It would take seriose spending on new farming methods. And either a huge increase in food cost. Or a change in how we currently fund food.
The main issue with food in the UK is that it is unusually cheap compared to the rest of Europe. And Brits will fight tooth and nail against price growth. Realistically, food prices should increase 1.5-2 times overnight without salary increases That will help farmers to cover their expenses and better prepare for bad weather and will reduce food waste. Or Britain should switch to the US model and start eating chlorinated shit and completely destroy the British environment.
No. No it would not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage
Is this comparative advantage as in Germany buying most of its energy from a rogue state such as Russia and then getting fucked? That comparative advantage?
No that was called Energiewende and Ostpolitik
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energiewende#:~:text=Russian fossil gas was perceived,through mutually beneficial trade relations.
https://dgap.org/en/research/publications/after-ostpolitik
The TL:DR was to use cheap Russian gas to fuel the energy transition and at the same time use the economical ties to bring Russia aligned politically to the western Europe. Ostpolitik worked to unify west and east Germany so why wouldn’t it work to align a post-soviet Russia?
Here’s why it failed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iUohhHdvoE&t=0
Eli5?