Janet Hughes DEFRA Missing in action?

Huno

Member
Arable Farmer
I might suggest that Janet is pretty robust @Flasheart or might not have suggested a Peerage for doing the right thing as a civil servant... sorry to hit a nerve for you... too close to the bone? She will DM us if we cross the line... and one should respect that too... This is not politics... this is about livelyhoods hence why DEFRA engage with this online circus😙
 

Flasheart

Member
Location
N.Suffolk
I might suggest that Janet is pretty robust @Flasheart or might not have suggested a Peerage for doing the right thing as a civil servant... sorry to hit a nerve for you... too close to the bone? She will DM us if we cross the line... and one should respect that too... This is not politics... this is about livelyhoods hence why DEFRA engage with this online circus😙
Not sure what close to the bone for me means. Farming is my livelihood too .
 

Huno

Member
Arable Farmer
Not sure what close to the bone for me means. Farming is my livelihood too .
Ok... Janet chooses to engage with farmers... she wants to hear it and read it... and hear it at the ag shows she attends...she will then make her own decisions... she is certainly not interested in our individual opinions and why would she be... equally we have moderators on this forum if any of us cross any line...
 

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
Why is there so much opposition to farmers being financially independent? I just don't get it
This is the strangest thing I’ve read on here for a while. Who exactly is opposed to farmers being financially imdependent? I’m quite sure we all want to be financially independent. Trouble is, we need decent prices which the market has singularly refused to allow. Until now.
 

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
This is the strangest thing I’ve read on here for a while. Who exactly is opposed to farmers being financially imdependent? I’m quite sure we all want to be financially independent. Trouble is, we need decent prices which the market has singularly refused to allow. Until now.
You can't be in receipt of subsidies and still be financially independent.

And what gives the market the excuse to pay such poor prices, is that subsidies allow farmers to sell cheaper.
 

delilah

Member
You can't be in receipt of subsidies and still be financially independent.

Are Tesco financially independent ?
The taxpayer spends more each year topping up the wages of folks working in the food chain than is given to farmers.
Every link in the food chain gets taxpayer support in one form or another. The £3Bn given to farmers is, by far, the best value of the lot.
 

Goweresque

Member
Location
North Wilts
Trouble is, we need decent prices which the market has singularly refused to allow. Until now.

Yes but better prices bring every parasite out of the woodwork to suck on the extra cash flow. Its the reverse of the supermarket issue - farmers lack market power for their output prices because they are many and the supermarkets (and processors) are few, and the same applies to the input market - when output prices go up the input suppliers know they can raise their prices in lock step because they are few and farmers are many.

We all know that magic connection between the price of grain and the price of fertiliser, there is no way that all the input suppliers will ever allow higher world food prices to remain in farmers pockets. Everyone, from fertiliser manufacturers, to the agro-chemical conglomerates to the half a dozen big machinery makers will see extra cash pouring into farmers coffers and think 'We'll have that!' And they will because who else do you buy your fertiliser or new tractor from but one of the cartel?
 

BrianV

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Dartmoor
You can't be in receipt of subsidies and still be financially independent.

And what gives the market the excuse to pay such poor prices, is that subsidies allow farmers to sell cheaper.
Doing without subsidies would be fine if all our competitors were doing the very same but that simply is not the case, you wouldn't find any other English business trying to compete with competitors in the EU & our devolved areas where they are being subsidised for production & we are not.
 

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
You can't be in receipt of subsidies and still be financially independent.

And what gives the market the excuse to pay such poor prices, is that subsidies allow farmers to sell cheaper.
You haven’t answered the question. Who here is opposed to farmers being financially independent?

You are clearly of the view that many on here are demanding subsidies but that’s because you’ve chosen to take that view. I don’t see people demanding subsidies. I see people warning that food is gonna become sharply short if the authorities don’t wake up and realise there’s a problem heading our way at high speed. The govt has been heading down the road of reducing money paid to farmers for a few years now, it’s not exactly news so we’ve all been expecting it to continue.

Something’s changed though. Costs have rocketed. If you remove subs (as you seem to be demanding from what I’ve read of your posts) then food production is gonna fall off a cliff in this country as it’s beginning to do everywhere else to some degree. It’s not falling here and everywhere else because subs have been withdrawn in lots of countries. Hence some questioning whether right now is the time for the govt to be blasting on with their removal regardless. Again though, please point me in the direction of the posters who are demanding subs rather than financial independence. Chicken and egg. If prices go up for our produce then subs aren’t necessary for production to continue.
 

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
Yes but better prices bring every parasite out of the woodwork to suck on the extra cash flow. Its the reverse of the supermarket issue - farmers lack market power for their output prices because they are many and the supermarkets (and processors) are few, and the same applies to the input market - when output prices go up the input suppliers know they can raise their prices in lock step because they are few and farmers are many.

We all know that magic connection between the price of grain and the price of fertiliser, there is no way that all the input suppliers will ever allow higher world food prices to remain in farmers pockets. Everyone, from fertiliser manufacturers, to the agro-chemical conglomerates to the half a dozen big machinery makers will see extra cash pouring into farmers coffers and think 'We'll have that!' And they will because who else do you buy your fertiliser or new tractor from but one of the cartel?
I don’t know about you but frankly I’d faaaar rather be getting £200 than £100 for exactly the same thing. I can then choose how much of that extra £100 I go on to spend. Giving it all back to the usual suspects isn‘t compulsory or did you not know that?
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
You haven’t answered the question. Who here is opposed to farmers being financially independent?

You are clearly of the view that many on here are demanding subsidies but that’s because you’ve chosen to take that view. I don’t see people demanding subsidies. I see people warning that food is gonna become sharply short if the authorities don’t wake up and realise there’s a problem heading our way at high speed. The govt has been heading down the road of reducing money paid to farmers for a few years now, it’s not exactly news so we’ve all been expecting it to continue.

Something’s changed though. Costs have rocketed. If you remove subs (as you seem to be demanding from what I’ve read of your posts) then food production is gonna fall off a cliff in this country as it’s beginning to do everywhere else to some degree. It’s not falling here and everywhere else because subs have been withdrawn in lots of countries. Hence some questioning whether right now is the time for the govt to be blasting on with their removal regardless. Again though, please point me in the direction of the posters who are demanding subs rather than financial independence. Chicken and egg. If prices go up for our produce then subs aren’t necessary for production to continue.
Subsidies need to go back to pre 1985 production subsidies ie guaranteed grain prices, headage payment for sheep and cattle, and sod all for non farmers
 

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
Subsidies need to go back to pre 1985 production subsidies ie guaranteed grain prices, headage payment for sheep and cattle, and sod all for non farmers
Tbf, subsidies do distort markets and prices. But the fact is, govts all round the world actively want to distort markets and prices which is why they invented them and persist with them. They’re a fact of life. They’re in every aspect of life. Hell, the NHS is entirely subsidy based. But for some reason only agricultural subsidies are deemed to be disgusting.
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
Tbf, subsidies do distort markets and prices. But the fact is, govts all round the world actively want to distort markets and prices which is why they invented them and persist with them. They’re a fact of life. They’re in every aspect of life. Hell, the NHS is entirely subsidy based. But for some reason only agricultural subsidies are deemed to be disgusting.
Govts want guaranteed food supply
But they have forgotten they do
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 5 2.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,286
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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