Way to go

Romeogolf

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
I applaud this and her efforts whole heartedly, however I cannot help but cringe at the answer to the the question ‘why should we buy locally produced eggs?’

‘Well….. because they’re produced locally….’

We have a responsibility to be able to put our point and values across credibly and I personally find it disheartening when farmers are not well versed in their responses. Surely they knew they were being interviewed, it wouldn’t have been hard to prep a coherent answer!
 

delilah

Member
Disagree. Any man or woman passionate about their livelihood has a responsibility to defend and promote themselves without relying on organisations to do their bidding. That attitude is where unions came from, and not a lot of use came from those.

Should we do all of our own mechanicing too ? And plant breeding ? And every other facet of what makes our businesses work ? No. We employ experts.
Think you need to have a think about where, and why, unions came about.
 

Romeogolf

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
Should we do all of our own mechanicing too ? And plant breeding ? And every other facet of what makes our businesses work ? No. We employ experts.
Think you need to have a think about where, and why, unions came about.
You may do, I prefer to be as responsible for shaping my business as possible.

Being able to answer a simple question about the benefits of buying locally produced food without just repeating the contents of the question is hardly comparable to the in depth knowledge required to design and produce components, create plant specimens and understand the ecology and biology of what we do.

I would wager any pilot would be able to explain and defend to doubters how an aircraft stays in the air, but you would probably not consider it necessary for them to be able to design a jet engine or be involved in the production of wing tips.

In an age where we as farmers are continually let down by organisations which are supposedly there to promote us, politicians who don’t understand us and a general public who think we are destroying the plant, how can you possibly disagree that we should be able to stand up for ourselves with reasonable level of intelligence?
 

delilah

Member
I cannot help but cringe at the answer to the the question ‘why should we buy locally produced eggs?’

‘Well….. because they’re produced locally….’

Perfect answer. Throw it back at the audience. Let them think about it.

I would have that egg farmer working in the PR departments of the NFU and the AHDB above the muppets who are there now, who think that it is somehow helpful to apologize for our existence and promise that we will try harder to be good.
 

thorpe

Member
ive just watched a clip on you tube by adam henson , all very basic to me, about grazing , hay and silage. to sombody who knows nowt it would be very informative, well done adam , the bbc wouldnt have shown it!
 

Romeogolf

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
Perfect answer. Throw it back at the audience. Let them think about it.

I would have that egg farmer working in the PR departments of the NFU and the AHDB above the muppets who are there now, who think that it is somehow helpful to apologize for our existence and promise that we will try harder to be good.
This is what disheartens me most.

‘I shouldn’t have to justify myself - I don't have to answer, turn the questions back to the audience - I should be able to carry on doing what I’ve always done without justification - let someone else answer for me - I’ve always done it this way’

Yet by your own admission, you accept that these unions and organisations are not promoting your business as you would like them to.
 

delilah

Member
This is what disheartens me most.

‘I shouldn’t have to justify myself - I don't have to answer, turn the questions back to the audience - I should be able to carry on doing what I’ve always done without justification - let someone else answer for me - I’ve always done it this way’

Yet by your own admission, you accept that these unions and organisations are not promoting your business as you would like them to.

I am unsure where you see the contradiction. Listen to any intelligent politician. What do they do when faced with a question they find inconvenient ? They throw the question back. Turn it into the question they want it to be. Which requires quick wittedness. Which is why we should employ people who are top of the game in that regard.
 
Perfect answer. Throw it back at the audience. Let them think about it.

I would have that egg farmer working in the PR departments of the NFU and the AHDB above the muppets who are there now, who think that it is somehow helpful to apologize for our existence and promise that we will try harder to be good.
Get over yourself we can all do better.
 

Romeogolf

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
I am unsure where you see the contradiction. Listen to any intelligent politician. What do they do when faced with a question they find inconvenient ? They throw the question back. Turn it into the question they want it to be. Which requires quick wittedness. Which is why we should employ people who are top of the game in that regard.

Any politician who employs that tactic has no credible answer to the question, is trying to divert attention away from the subject and is avoiding the reality of the situation.

No politician doing that has ever won my respect.

It does not require quick wittedness. It is a learned response, a ‘rabbit in the headlights, run away from the question’ response.

The only reason I’ve persisted in this conversation is to say that the question, ‘why should we buy local?’ should not be an inconvenient or difficult question to answer.
 

delilah

Member
Get over yourself we can all do better.

You think that egg farmer should be doing better ? Really ? How about this:

https://www.facebook.com/WeEatBalanced/

The last half dozen posts are basically the same. That egg farmer, and you and I, are paying for that. It is embarrassingly bad. Only consolation is that AHDB have been so dire in promoting it that hardly anyone sees it. I would say that a child would do better, but as the OP has shown that would be an insult to the kids.
 
Unfortunately we are not all good public speakers, people who can stand in front of a camera or an audience and be interviewed and give clear concise answers, I know I couldn’t. Coming over well in an interview is a skill which some have, I agree those farmers interviewed didn’t come over particularly well but it should also be remembered that this wasn’t meant to be some slick PR video but due to tinternet and folk sharing it it will be seen far and wide.

Top marks to that young girl for having a go, those who think they can do better can step forwards and have a go, but some of us need to know our limitations as badly worded interviews will be picked apart by key board warriors and those with an agenda and may easily end up being counter productive.
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
Any politician who employs that tactic has no credible answer to the question, is trying to divert attention away from the subject and is avoiding the reality of the situation.

No politician doing that has ever won my respect.

It does not require quick wittedness. It is a learned response, a ‘rabbit in the headlights, run away from the question’ response.

The only reason I’ve persisted in this conversation is to say that the question, ‘why should we buy local?’ should not be an inconvenient or difficult question to answer.
why should we buy local ?
 

Romeogolf

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
why should we buy local ?

Proven to taste better. Whether that’s quality increase or consumer ‘good feeling placebo’

Less risk of food contamination and bacterial ingress due to shorter time between harvest and point of sale

Supports local economies, gives increased confidence to growers to reinvest thus growing the industry further

Likely to provide grower with a fairer margin as there have been less hands in the pot on the way to point of sale which in turn makes production more sustainable

Increases connection between grower and consumer, more opportunity to learn about food sources (markets etc)

I’m not deliberately criticising the egg farmer for the sake of it. As @Tarw Coch points out, we live in an age where videos like this go viral unintentionally, and I firmly believe we have a responsibility to equip ourselves with reasonable knowledge to answer questions like these better. Farm haters will pick up on stuff like this and will end up working against us.

My parting word on this is to say how strange it is that fellow farmers are basically arguing about whether we should be able to stand up for ourselves. Bizarre.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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    Votes: 28 15.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

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

    Votes: 4 2.3%

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

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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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