Chris Bennett: Shortages show supply chain flaws
© Tim Scrivener If September taught us anything, it’s how fragile our supply chains are.
It is amazing and scary that it only takes an increase in the price of gas, and suddenly animals can’t be slaughtered, fresh vegetables can’t be packaged and even our nuclear reactors can’t be cooled.
Producing 60% of the UK’s carbon dioxide, CF Industries found itself in an incredibly strong position and it did an amazing job of leveraging it.
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I hope that the people responsible for brokering our next foreign trade deals were taking notes because it gave the government a valuable lesson in negotiation.
See also: Chris Bennett – let’s think differently about mental health
I don’t know what is more amusing; a carbon dioxide shortage in the days of climate change, or the fact that the government is paying tens of millions of pounds to a US company so that they can restart burning fossil fuels. I hope somebody asks Boris that at COP26.
The carbon dioxide shortage is only one of many we’re seeing in a year where we are getting used to the sight of empty supermarket shelves.
The agricultural sector must rank among the worst-affected industries by the cracks in the supply chains.
Glyphosate, fuel, labour, HGV drivers, seed, fertiliser… the list of shortages is ever increasing and it makes you question what will be next.
The Remainers will blame Brexit, the Brexiteers will blame Covid, and we can all come together to blame climate change.
Minnette Batters and the NFU have done a commendable job of trying to alert the government to the seriousness of the different shortages facing our sector.
They and many others have been warning of labour shortages for months, but it is hard to shake the feeling they’re banging their heads against a brick wall.
The government seems to wait until crisis point before taking action and the actions they take seem insufficient.
When they stop subsidising CF Industries, will the carbon dioxide shortage have disappeared? Will making the HGV test easier really produce 100,000 more drivers? I have my doubts.
I hear that because of new importing rules, the UK is going to be a few million Christmas trees short this year. You’d better go and buy yours now, you don’t want to miss out.