Question for Minette

Location
Devon
It shouldn't take a genius to work out that if the NFU did something about this issue, then they may get lots of new (supportive) members.

Every farmer, without exception, that i speak to, is sick to the back teeth of added cost and regulation whilst mills, food factories and retailers import non-assured produce. It's complete nonsense, and needs to be addressed.

Don't forget the NFU co-own the RT company/ RT logo so its in their intrests that as many farmers as possible are forced to sign upto the RT scheme.
 

willdevon

Member
Location
devon
How about 'Given the NFU's support for ever increasing bureaucracy and red tape in farming, does she think the effective export of UK food production to overseas countries with lower environmental /regulatory burdens is in either the NFU members or indeed the long term National interest?'

Or 'How about one member one vote and is the NFU structure fit for purpose in the twenty -first Century ?'
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
( of course im not thinking about Minettes answer to the serious fodder/ grass shortage last summer when Minette told Gove it could all be sorted out if farmers could apply for licences to buy/sell water to each other:rolleyes: you really couldn't make it up! )

That policy (assuming it's true of course) would likely have been formulated from the results of the phone survey they did of members back in the summer. I was one of the ones called and asked how the drought was affecting my business and what could be done to help. Half the questions seemed to be about irrigation and whether I had enough water to use for that.:banghead: I did point out the ridiculous nature of the questionnaire, so I expect my replies were deleted from the survey.
 

hally

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
cumbria
That policy (assuming it's true of course) would likely have been formulated from the results of the phone survey they did of members back in the summer. I was one of the ones called and asked how the drought was affecting my business and what could be done to help. Half the questions seemed to be about irrigation and whether I had enough water to use for that.:banghead: I did point out the ridiculous nature of the questionnaire, so I expect my replies were deleted from the survey.
That pretty much sums up the NFU nowadays, why would they need to pay a phone survey company to gauge farmers opinion on a drought?
Surely their secretaries on the ground dealing with members could give them feedback for free. I have resigned after over 30 years as a member as I am so disappointed in their inability to react to the negative onslaught of publicity that farmers are facing at the moment. I didn’t take this decision lightly.
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
That pretty much sums up the NFU nowadays, why would they need to pay a phone survey company to gauge farmers opinion on a drought?
Surely their secretaries on the ground dealing with members could give them feedback for free. I have resigned after over 30 years as a member as I am so disappointed in their inability to react to the negative onslaught of publicity that farmers are facing at the moment. I didn’t take this decision lightly.
Indeed. The NSA seem far more switched on and prepared to stand up against the lies and half truths peddled by vegans and the climate change bandwagon. (And I'm not a climate change sceptic).
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
You might do a @Clive and have an awakening when you hear the top brass in full flow.:whistle:

lets not get carried away .............. there is still a LOT that they really need to be doing a LOT better than they do right now, i'm not about to re join just yet !
 
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Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
I’ve been invited to a small local meeting with Minette Batters. Think there will be another 10 farmers there plus a couple of local senior NFU officials.

A mix of arable/livestock/mixed farmers. We pretty much all know each and are local to each other.

Its a 90 minute meeting with no formal agenda, just an open table meeting where we can ask questions.

Meeting is 31st of Jan.

If you had one question for her that you could ask direct what would it be?

Can I have 2 ?

"Why does the NFU fail to understand the importance of Social media (beyond a fairly poor presence on Twitter that is) in influencing opinion, and rather than being so fearful of it why are they not using this to their PR advantage and to understand / poll opinion of their membership and engage with those farmers and members uninterested or lacking time, inclination or confidence for traditional committee meetings to enable them to represent the industry better ?"


"It's clear now that the Red Tractor scheme has been a universal failure, unrecognised by consumers and disliked by farmers (most of which it has turned into liars) and unable to provide any premium for produce - Unless all imported food has to be produced to the same or higher standard why doesn't the NFU set about radical reform or scrap the scheme completely ?"
 
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Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
I’ve been invited to a small local meeting with Minette Batters. Think there will be another 10 farmers there plus a couple of local senior NFU officials.

A mix of arable/livestock/mixed farmers. We pretty much all know each and are local to each other.

Its a 90 minute meeting with no formal agenda, just an open table meeting where we can ask questions.

Meeting is 31st of Jan.

If you had one question for her that you could ask direct what would it be?

"How will you show to your membership, and potential membership, that you can provide good value for money?" By that I mean a more transparent structure so members can see exactly what they are up to - there's lots they do behind the scenes that doesn't get talked about. I don't want to see glossy brochures, but consider a third party to come in and look at their communications. There's too much "old boys club" about it.

There are going to be a lot less farmers in 10 years which means the NFU's membership will dwindle. They certainly don't have 100% of farmers as members. I know plenty who aren't, including my employers. They will need to attract new members in order to maintain their current presence in the sector.
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
That policy (assuming it's true of course) would likely have been formulated from the results of the phone survey they did of members back in the summer. I was one of the ones called and asked how the drought was affecting my business and what could be done to help. Half the questions seemed to be about irrigation and whether I had enough water to use for that.:banghead: I did point out the ridiculous nature of the questionnaire, so I expect my replies were deleted from the survey.
Loaded questions to get the answers they wanted. I answered there survey a couple of years ago and all the questions had an a,b,c answer, you couldnt say what you wanted too. Glad i have left.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 77 43.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.2%

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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