A new high in agricultural corruption has been achieved

BrianV

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Dartmoor
That is incorrect Clive, the position on the Board is not Blenkirons.
Tom has this position as part of his remit holding RT in his portfolio as NFU Deputy President. Stuart Roberts previously held the role. Prior to that Batters held the position and we fought to get her to drop it as it seemed a serious conflict of interest that the President was on RT board. You could argue similar for the other office holders but NFU have so much invested in it that they get a Board slot. Benefit or consequences of that can be argued both ways.
Despite considerable ill feeling by a great many (ordianary) NFU members to RT the great and good refuse to see, acknowledge or change it. What little they are doing is tinkering at the edges.
It's not the great & the good, as always it's money talks loudest!
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
I had (have ) sheep as well but back then as a new entrant i didn't have the quota :banghead: fudging nfu didn't want to help get the transfer of Dads modest amount to me either.
Water under the bridge though. shan't be re-joining any day soon tho.
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
headage payments went years ago, everyone gets the same now no matter what you farm
but a small or relatively so acreage Intensive pig farm doesn't and hasn't had much at all .

, damage was done for us back then with pigs and poultry. ,then it takes some keeping up with those that had all they needed and more, if you wanted to get on , and by keep etc. but its the same for some now i guess.
mind you tbf There was one or 2 that fought the corner for that sort of farm , Chap who is into and organises the Exlanas was one of them, good chap he was and the likesof for the Nfu i thought. smaller farmers and not just big cattle/dairy big moor famers .same old .....
 
Last edited:
The whole thing is utterly hideous.

NFU supporting private company to hamper UK farmers competitive position Vs worldwide production.

You can't sell a seed of oilseed rape in the UK unless you pay what is a modern day tithe to a cult. NFU are showing amply how anti farmer they are, it's not farmers they support but their own circle.

Back British Farming indeed...
 
Last edited:
I’m not a farmer and have never been a NFU member except to access their insurance services discount, so I’m not fighting their corner here.

It seems to me there is always a lot of moaning and slagging off whenever NFU is mentioned on TFF. But nobody seems to be organising any credible alternative, do they?

Surely there has been time, farmers have been putting down the NFU all my life. And surely money can’t be the problem either. There seems to be more people put them down than support them, so a credible alternative would gain members surely?

So why don’t you @Clive and a few others get on and find an opposition to them? The world is full of loudmouths who have all the great ideas but they never seem to implement them. Don’t just be one of them.

Over the years you’ve poked a few wasps nests and made a few extraordinary claims but never with any proof or plan to sort out the problem as you see it.

All hat and no cattle?
 
I’m not a farmer and have never been a NFU member except to access their insurance services discount, so I’m not fighting their corner here.

It seems to me there is always a lot of moaning and slagging off whenever NFU is mentioned on TFF. But nobody seems to be organising any credible alternative, do they?

Surely there has been time, farmers have been putting down the NFU all my life. And surely money can’t be the problem either. There seems to be more people put them down than support them, so a credible alternative would gain members surely?

So why don’t you @Clive and a few others get on and find an opposition to them? The world is full of loudmouths who have all the great ideas but they never seem to implement them. Don’t just be one of them.

Over the years you’ve poked a few wasps nests and made a few extraordinary claims but never with any proof or plan to sort out the problem as you see it.

All hat and no cattle?

A lot of ask aren't asking the NFU to represent us. I'm happy for them to do whatever they want for their members.

However what a lot of farmers don't like are how the Union advocates and promotes a position whereby all farmers not just members, must pay a tithe to a private company to access their home markets, a tithe that doesn't bring brand recognition, doesn't bring extra traceability and doesn't bring a premium. And is undermined the moment the produce leaves the farm gate anyway

It's also owned by the NFU but exists entirely to serve itself not the farmer or the customer.

We "loudmouths" have the great idea - ditch the double standards and the unfair trading position in the grain trade asap. But implementation is tricky, why? Well as the thread title shows - corruption.
 
So just do nothing then. That’s the easiest thing, isn’t it?

But if nobody has any intention of doing anything to remedy the situation, why go on about it? You’re not going to change the NFU or RT are you? That’s already been admitted.

If it’s corrupt, set up alternatives. Offer more and better terms. Nobody is going to get hurt, this isn’t 1930s gang warfare corruption so what is there to be worried about?

It seems to me that the arable, specifically combinable crops farmers are most disgruntled. If that group don’t have time over winter to get up and organise an alternative then I’m buggered if I know who does!

To say an organisation is corrupt so can’t be changed is just excuses to my very simple mind. If that’s the case, don’t try and change it, set up something else.

Next thing is you’ll all be saying the customers (supermarkets, processors etc) won’t buy into it. You’ll never know if you don’t try.
 

Daniel

Member
The whole thing is utterly hideous.

NFU supporting private company to hamper UK farmers competitive position Vs worldwide production.

You can't sell a seed of oilseed rape in the UK unless you pay what is a modern day tithe to a cult. NFU are showing amply how anti farmer they are, it's not farmers they support but their own circle.

Back British Farming indeed...
I think Tom, Guy, Minette et al start out with good intentions but the devil takes them up into the mountains, shows them the world and offers it to them.

Or George Eustace offers them a future peerage in return for not upsetting the apple cart, take your pick.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
I’m not a farmer and have never been a NFU member except to access their insurance services discount, so I’m not fighting their corner here.

It seems to me there is always a lot of moaning and slagging off whenever NFU is mentioned on TFF. But nobody seems to be organising any credible alternative, do they?

Surely there has been time, farmers have been putting down the NFU all my life. And surely money can’t be the problem either. There seems to be more people put them down than support them, so a credible alternative would gain members surely?

So why don’t you @Clive and a few others get on and find an opposition to them? The world is full of loudmouths who have all the great ideas but they never seem to implement them. Don’t just be one of them.

Over the years you’ve poked a few wasps nests and made a few extraordinary claims but never with any proof or plan to sort out the problem as you see it.

All hat and no cattle?

credible opposition costs millions Pete and huge amounts of time, The NFU have £21 million if paid staff behind them ! and hundreds of millions in asserts, these things are not like parish councils they are BIG businesses (numbers do not include the mutual just the actual nfu )


- with such a monopoly in place its now almost impossible to oppose credibly - hence why no-one has

TFF provides a platform where individuals can at least try to hold to account and place their views directly in front if policy makers - its as good as we can hope for really
 
So just do nothing then. That’s the easiest thing, isn’t it?

But if nobody has any intention of doing anything to remedy the situation, why go on about it? You’re not going to change the NFU or RT are you? That’s already been admitted.

If it’s corrupt, set up alternatives. Offer more and better terms. Nobody is going to get hurt, this isn’t 1930s gang warfare corruption so what is there to be worried about?

It seems to me that the arable, specifically combinable crops farmers are most disgruntled. If that group don’t have time over winter to get up and organise an alternative then I’m buggered if I know who does!

To say an organisation is corrupt so can’t be changed is just excuses to my very simple mind. If that’s the case, don’t try and change it, set up something else.

Next thing is you’ll all be saying the customers (supermarkets, processors etc) won’t buy into it. You’ll never know if you don’t try.

How do you know nothing has been done? There have been a lot of meetings but in quite a few the there has been a decent bit of deceit which even led the to "retiring" of one chap from the AHDB. So thats why we feel its corrupt.

The problem is Pete there is a massive blob of AIC, AHDB, NFU, RT all making decisions without any accountability. RT have inserted themselves between trader and marketplace and it is very difficult to remove them. A legal challenge could be very expensive.

As it happens supermarkets don't buy into Red Tractor (m and s and sainsburys don't), grain feed merchants don't buy into red tractor (because they mix RT grain with anything else as soon as its through the door) but its not costing them anything to be part of the party so why would they care?
 
Rather ironically, I answered a telephone survey about NFU this morning and left the guy asking the questions in no doubt as to everything that is wrong with the NFU.
As soon as I mention Red Tractor, there was an audible groan him as if to say “On no, not another one”.

However, I do think we ought to give Tom a chance to rectify the wrongs within RT before we pass judgement. There could be a lot worse than him to at least try to do so [before telling them to shove it where the sun don’t shine].
The only way he’ll get any credibility from me is if he shuts red tractor down. It’s corrupt. The Nfu is corrupt. The AHDB is corrupt and AIC is corrupt. They’ve been shafting us all for years.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
I think Tom, Guy, Minette et al start out with good intentions but the devil takes them up into the mountains, shows them the world and offers it to them.

Or George Eustace offers them a future peerage in return for not upsetting the apple cart, take your pick.


they end up so surrounded by like minded like thinking people they become sure they are right / know best

they do not allow people that challenge their opinion to boards or organisations to progress so it ends ip a giant circle of career chasing yes men and women

I messaged Tom yesterday about this RT appointment and he genuinely cant see any issues whatsoever - its a great move for farmers and he can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t think that ……… this is how un self aware they become with power
 
My apologies if I haven't seen it for all it is. As I said, I'm no farmer.

It still seems to me that the only way forward for those that don't agree with it is to do something else. Small acorns and all that.....

You've already said that M&S and Sainsburys together with grain feed merchants don't buy in to it. There's a fair chunk of influence there. Can they not all work together with farmers who want a change? Get all the small, niche and premium quality food retailers on board too?
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

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

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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

  • 1,293
  • 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/
Top