For better or worse, they are our voice in the corridors of power.
Personally I should remove my finger from my orifice and stand for office rather than slag them off ..... but I can’t be bothered
Still, I don’t begrudge my subs as it’s better than nothing
You've stated this twice but not bothered quoting the relevant post.So you are happy to pay subs to the NFU which is actively employing people from left wing places like the BBC/ Guardian etc who only have an intrest in not defending/and or attacking UK farming??
( and they do have a policy of employing left wing people as Guy Smith confirmed on another thread recently )
Is @Clive trying to boost the TFF web traffic figures before the year end???????
there is not much alternative though apart from nothingLol - not interested, I think the question has been answered before !
Everyone has a choice - no one is forced to be a member so ultimately they are masters of their own fate
I have always been an NFU supporter because there is no other organisation in England that looks after working farmers interests.
They could always do better but surely one can say that about any organisation. I am also a token member of the CLA and to be honest I am going to give that up as they contribute absolutely nothing to farming.
All of those who say they are a complete waste of time I presume would not wish to pay any subs to look after their interests and also do not wish to contribute to the only lobbying organisation that we have.
Apart from the hoary old chestnut about OMOV for the leadership you are able to influence the organisation through the local democratic structure. I have held a number of positions over the years and sat on many specialist committees which have made a radical difference in our own parliament and within the EU.
It is all a bit like we don't want to remain in the EU but we don't know what we want instead. We are just happy not to contribute if that makes us worse off or let someone else (not sure who) do the work for us!
only if we entertain the non farmerIs @Clive trying to boost the TFF web traffic figures before the year end???????
I didn't get to Red Tractor...but i'm with you there.I'm not a member of the NFU, as I think their involvment and stance on Farm Assurance stinks. Reading threads on here and talking to other farmers, i think that most farmers do not want farm assurance, and would leave FA if they could.
Also think the NFU are not vociferous enough in putting the case forward for certain issues.
Hence, why i am not a member.
If they were to reform then i would pay my membership.
I would gladly join another organisation that was more robust in fighting for the interests of UK farmers. Some sort of Real Farmers Union with bigger teeth.
I just cannot join the NFU when they back the farm assurance pantomime. I have to be farm assured for grain if i want to sell to a feed mill. Same mill can buy GM soya from South America that has no traceability, mix it together and send it out as assured feed. That is wrong. It stinks. There's no sense in it. If non-assured soya can be used, then there is no case for the grain to be assured going into these feed mills. It is a whole load of nonsense.
Can anyone from the NFU please come on here and explain/defend this situation to me?
I take a similar view when it comes to all the regulation we have. I don't mind high standards of animal welfare, pesticide safety, NVZ's etc. BUT, we can't have all these costs, whilst we try and compete with the rest of world ag. Either imports need to be produced to our standards, or we should get more subsidy payments (much more than we get now). If we have high standards for chicken welfare (which we should), but standards and cop in Thailand are lower, then we will end up importing chicken from Thailand. Badically we will have exported the animal welfare issue to another country, at the expense of our domestic production. The government need to be aware that we will not stand for this unlevel playingfield. How an earth can this be sensible.
These issues need to be red lines for UK ag, and we need an organisation who take the steps to achieve this.
Rant over!
I didn't get to Red Tractor...but i'm with you there.
Maybe i shouldn't have mentioned it!
Didn't mean for it to denegrade into a RT thread. That said, i think it is a big issue for many farmers, and a big reason that many farmers might have withdrawn their support for the NFU, but the NFU know best and seem to ignore the voice of their grass roots farmers. My view is that if an organisation is on a pedestal and ignores its members it will be doomed to fail.
It's not that they do nothing, it's the direction of travel.
There seems to be an idea that if we're all forward thinking tech enabled lowland farmers, we'll reinvent the wheel.
In the real world, some of us are not like that.
Some of us are working and living on less than perfect ground, off the track beaten by cash rich diversification customers.
The core business we're involved in can hardly pay in its own right, so even the sharpest forward thinkers are hardly pushing the boundaries.
Those with the shiniest gear and latest whistles and bells are often either simply pishing away their subsidies, or using funding from outside to do it.
I went to a presentation on impending cattle EID lately, which the NFU are evidently heavily backing (glossy NFU funded videos playing promoting the concept).
And the presentation included several outright lies, trying to jolly us along.
We were told that you'll be able to walk into the field and scan the tags (really really, we were told that),
and that we MUST adopt EID as the UK are falling behind the rest of the world in cattle ID.
When it was pointed out what happens in various other countries...multiple half ersed tagging systems/no tags until sale etc etc(and other DEFRA staff present confirmed the stories) there was a quick change of subject.
A direct question from one member of the audience 'what gain will this get me, from my suckled calves sold at 6 months?' simply led to another quick change of subject.
Then there's the latest 'oops', where top office holders allowed their (understandable) declared position on farm safety make it look like they're critical of that Dales family with all the kids on the TV.
The TV show is demonstrably doing huge PR work for peasants like me -the tedious Chris Evans raving about it for instance- , at a time when 'rewilding nuts' are stalking the corridors of power, and the way of life portrayed is immediately recognisable to so many of us -change the faces/numbers of kids/breed of sheep, and that is exactly how it is.
We do understand the safety concerns, really we do....but backing the UNITE statements so quickly hardly read well.
I'm a member, and regard the dues as a modest PR investment, but by gum the flavour of the organisation is light years from where I sit.
I wonder why that will be ?Dont think they will be ever needed more than they will be in the next few years.
Something needs to change to get farmers behind them
I’m with you on the eid for cattle farce. It is tragic they are pushing something with such a deluded attitude regarding the benefits of it for members.