Daily Mail-style rant? Hopefully the opposite.

[cheekbones3]

Apparently numerous fishermen are complaining that they lose money every time they leave port, and are therefore thinking of blockades as a protest about fuel costs etc.

 

Call me stupid, but wouldn't it be more sensible if they didn't set out fishing until it's economically viable? "Duh, the fuel for the boat is going to cost more than the price I'll get for what I catch. I'll set out anyway and whinge about it later."

 

Might even be some fish to catch if they take some time off...

Comments

[cheekbones3.livejournal.com]

Farming's very balanced for 2007 - income went up strongly last year (for arable farmers), but these increases were tempered by strong increases in fertiliser (Autumn onwards), fuel and feed costs. Since fertiliser costs appear to have almost trebled in the first quarter of this year (blame Chinese tariffs and fuel costs), and feed and fuel costs are continuing to strengthen, farm profits and maybe yields I suspect may take a hit this year. Shame I'm moving post before I'll get a chance to publish the figures!

[guyinahat.livejournal.com]

Next year should be more interesting still, as grain (and others) are becoming a fashionable commodity for speculators. Grain futures are where it's at...

[cheekbones3.livejournal.com]

I've certainly heard that people are piling into agric land as an investment. As for grain, I do expect it to stay high, especially while the EU and others stick to their biofuels policy.

[guyinahat.livejournal.com]

The driver is the futures market - people are buying up crops at high prices on the theory that prices are going to go up even more. They'll make a killing until the bubble bursts...

[llamarines.livejournal.com]

I'm from an extremely rural community. Like, as rural as you can get. I am not by any means a city kid - and yet farmers complaining always rings extremely hollow for me.

When I used to work in the pub, I remember a farmer complaining because the beef crisis in 2001 meant he had to take one of this three BMW's off the road.