The greatest challenge for farmers is the rise in input costs. Fertilizers and seeds double and tripled in price over the past 4 years. Granted, it has improved to some degree, but the introduction of reduced fertilizer rules is certain to harm yields, and now that the EU has backed down, only British farmers are facing this existential crisis. Our farm is unaffected, because we employ organic methods, and we have not seen any changes to our production regime. Our first quarter produced results above what they were for the same period in 2023, March prices were somewhat lower than anticipated, but only 50% of our produce production is impacted by the market. The sauces, pie, baby food and other ancillary activities have seen improved profit performance, mainly because of economies of scale and better production methods. All our third-party input costs have risen by more than the average inflation rate, but overall our activities generated far higher return on deployed capital
So our youngest son just bought a rather exotic car, I will not name the brand, it's not young about 12 years old, and it was not too expensive. It is also a hybrid, you can drive about 50 miles on the batteries, and then the engine kicks in. Our son paid somewhere around 12,000 pounds. When it was on, I was an occasional fan of Top Gear, and I remember how the three hosts were gushing about this car. Honestly, I owned cars in 2012, and this particular car compared poorly against an average BMW or my wife's Mercedes. Now I get the rarety angle, I understand the attraction of having one of 550 of the type in the UK, but the damn thing should still be good, even if it was a very expensive car then. The ride is just ok, for a "sports car" it handles like an underpowered Ford, the controls are non-intuitive, and were at best "working with some prodding". Worse yet the electric system needs an occasional re-set, like an old desktop computer. Now. all