Take a second and think about the veg on your plate, the steak you order on night out or the milk in your cuppa. How much does a good meal or a good brew mean to you? Does it leave a smile on your face as your belly fills?
Aside from air, water and warmth, there really is nothing more important to our survival and physical health than the food we eat. We’ve all seen and heard the ads on TV showing fields filled with happy cows; how the meat you eat is traced from farm to fork by supermarkets and how NI produce is among the world’s best.
But what if I told you those who are up with the birds in the rain, hail and shine, miss family holidays to tend their crops and animals and put in the back-breaking work to produce the food that keeps us all alive are coming under increasing pressure to stay afloat because of the paltry amount they take home for years of hard work. According to a few I’ve spoken to, farmers end up making very little from each cow, pig, chicken or sheep they rear despite funding most of the overheads and years of work.
