Gate Keepers

Cheers Piri

The poultry farmer gets a poultry sum while the supermarket gets a good profit.

The farmer is often yoked to a system that means the price at the checkout doesn’t always reflect what is paid at the farm gate.     

Cheers Piri
The Uk farming system favoured the aristocracy and the upper classes and I guess that's why the word peasant was used to describe the downtrodden people who worked on them'.
The problem with farm profitability in NZ can often be related directly to scale because the small farm size has for many farmers become unprofitable, as corporate farm ownership replaces small family farm ownership. Your farms in the UK had a history that favoured the upper-class more, whereas in New Zealand it was a bit different as many farms during the 1800's here were broken in on cheap land that made it more accessible for the working classes to buy.  The British Aristocracy and upper-class only had a small influence on our farming industry. During World War I (1914-1918) the New Zealand Government decreed that soldiers returning from overseas service would be given the opportunity to settle on farms of their own, specially purchased and developed for that purpose. The Government could assist the successful applicant to clear scrub, dig drains, erect buildings, purchase implements, stock, seed etc., with these costs being secured by a first mortgage. Title to the property was usually granted as leasehold with the right to freehold later. The successful applicant had to remain on the farm for ten years. If there was more than one applicant for a property, a ballot was held. Many of today's surviving family farms came into the family after a man's war service but not all. Most of my friends who now live in the city after being raised on a farm, families no longer own the farms as often those in my generation didn’t want to work on the family farm. Most of my friends who came to farming working for owners found that owners treated them well and often they became accepted as adopted members of the family.

Peatle

well written piece of factual history.
I just watched a news piece on the lottery system in the US

it operates basically on this       the jackpots is split   50% to the gov't and 50% among the winners.    however there is a 37% tax on the winners that goes back to the government.

so essentially - it becomes 13% to the winners and 87% to the government.
the odds of being a winner of the mega draw are 1 in 302,575,350

What the farmers should do is create their own 50 50 draw game and split it evenly with the winners.  and give the other half split up to the farmers that participate.

Just think if the government - for just 1 week - instead of using the money for the senseless things they do - just subsidized farmers with those earning.  JUST ONE WEEK out of the year .

Thanks for the great insight -( you as well Phill)     

Nice one Pedr, I'd forgotten about that. I took part in the national Eisteddfod when it was held in Llanelli in the late 50's. Because I was tall I was chosen as a soldier so I take it from that that the army was sent in to quell the rioters and as our mini pageant went arrested many. After our performance at the maes, field or showground, we then performed at a local theatre, then at the Albert hall in London. Maybe that's where I got my love of performing from? The skit was called "gat y Sandy" (pronounced, gaat) which is a road leading into town and the gate was positioned on the bridge which is still there.

In primary school I remember the teacher telling us an "apparently " true tale on a farmer arriving at the gate with his donkey cart and being asked to pay, the farmer refused and got turned away. He returned later pulling the cart himself with the donkey inside the cart! The charge couldn't be applied so he got through. I'm trying to remember how the story goes and translate from the Welsh. Hope it makes sense?