A question for Ollybloggs Oliver Harrison

[slackjawedyokel]

Farmer's really need to get over this inconvenience the public rubbish.
JSO didn't get public support because they are part of the silly green wave. We can't just stop oil, we need it.
Farmer's already have trees and things growing on land that have carbon or capture it, nearly ever other business uses carbon, releases it and pollutes the air. Rather than selling your golden eggs for pennies to snake oil salesmen who will make millions you need a marketing campaign to tell the people.

I don’t disagree with you, but I think that inconveniencing the general public by protesting treads a fine line.
I doubt we have anything like the amount of support amongst the public that they do over the English Channel- to a lot of urbanites we are just an irrelevant burden on society and we are causing untold damage to the climate and to biodiversity (yes-I know that’s nonsense, but that’s the picture you get if you like reading the Guardian and watching David Attenborough). Food comes from supermarkets or restaurants-no need for these expensive, damaging farmer things!

If we start making them late for their badminton practice, I think the mood could rapidly turn from ‘Not Bovvered’ to ‘Get these tractors out of my way’, and the lawmakers/police will oblige.

That said, I think there are plenty of things I would go out and protest about. I’m just not sure exactly how, and I wouldn’t be happy about setting up road blocks etc.

 

[tepapa]

Farmer's really need to get over this inconvenience the public rubbish.
JSO didn't get public support because they are part of the silly green wave. We can't just stop oil, we need it.
Farmer's already have trees and things growing on land that have carbon or capture it, nearly ever other business uses carbon, releases it and pollutes the air. Rather than selling your golden eggs for pennies to snake oil salesmen who will make millions you need a marketing campaign to tell the people.

Seems to be different reasons for protesting and farmers are comparing themselves to JSO.

The doctors, nurses, train drivers, teachers protest to get a fair pay rise. JSO protest because they want to ban fossil fuel use.

Why don't farmers compare themselves to doctors and protest to try and secure a fair income for their work and investment. Sort of like a pay rise

 

[tepapa]

I don’t disagree with you, but I think that inconveniencing the general public by protesting treads a fine line.
I doubt we have anything like the amount of support amongst the public that they do over the English Channel- to a lot of urbanites we are just an irrelevant burden on society and we are causing untold damage to the climate and to biodiversity (yes-I know that’s nonsense, but that’s the picture you get if you like reading the Guardian and watching David Attenborough). Food comes from supermarkets or restaurants-no need for these expensive, damaging farmer things!

If we start making them late for their badminton practice, I think the mood could rapidly turn from ‘Not Bovvered’ to ‘Get these tractors out of my way’, and the lawmakers/police will oblige.

That said, I think there are plenty of things I would go out and protest about. I’m just not sure exactly how, and I wouldn’t be happy about setting up road blocks etc.

I think the answer to that is restrict supply to the supermarkets. Like you say that's where food comes from. Will the public blame the farmers when shelves are empty or blame the supermarkets?

 

[mixedfmr]

Just seen his reply video on tiktok. He makes some good points

Hes so weak, Defra will make mincemeat out of him, but the Public love him, his followers, apparently a good income trail, DONT upset them!
Where is the NFU that says protest STAND UP

 

[slackjawedyokel]

I think the answer to that is restrict supply to the supermarkets. Like you say that's where food comes from. Will the public blame the farmers when shelves are empty or blame the supermarkets?

That would require massive co-operation across at least most farmers (and presuming it were arranged ahead, it would allow retailers to sidestep shortages to some degree by supply-chain management (stockpiling) and/or by ramping imports.

If there is anything like that level of co-operation in the industry, we could make a lot of our troubles disappear by most farmers resigning RT on the same day. Probably easier to arrange than ‘starving’ supermarkets.

If what we need is RT to bin GFC and tool back the rules 20+ years, what we need is a specimen letter with a list of our demands which we all send on the same day to RT with a date a month or 6-weeks in the future by which point either they will have met all of our demands or they can consider us resigned from RT.

Even got a slogan ready to go:

SAY F.O. TO F.A.

 

[lloyd]

I think the answer to that is restrict supply to the supermarkets. Like you say that's where food comes from. Will the public blame the farmers when shelves are empty or blame the supermarkets?

I often think if farmers produced 20% less food globally
we'd have more free time and the produce would have a realistic value ex farm.
80% of what we produce for 50% higher value is where we all should be aiming for.
The value of ag commodities have been kept low by multi national
agri trading companies being supported (little regulation)by various governments to keep inflation down.
It's a pity SFI isn't rolled out globally that would do the job for us.

look at what is happening around the capital of india today, unrest is not just a European farmer problem.

 

[tepapa]

I often think if farmers produced 20% less food globally
we'd have more free time and the produce would have a realistic value ex farm.
80% of what we produce for 50% higher value is where we all should be aiming for.
The value of ag commodities have been kept low by multi national
agri trading companies being supported (little regulation)by various governments to keep inflation down.

Ye totally agree. Cull worst performing 10%+ of the herd or flock. Don't crop the worst acreages of arable land. Which should hopefully reduce inputs costs as an added benefit and reduce supply which would hopefully be met by increased prices.

 

[mixedfmr]

That would require massive co-operation across at least most farmers (and presuming it were arranged ahead, it would allow retailers to sidestep shortages to some degree by supply-chain management (stockpiling) and/or by ramping imports.

If there is anything like that level of co-operation in the industry, we could make a lot of our troubles disappear by most farmers resigning RT on the same day. Probably easier to arrange than ‘starving’ supermarkets.

If what we need is RT to bin GFC and tool back the rules 20+ years, what we need is a specimen letter with a list of our demands which we all send on the same day to RT with a date a month or 6-weeks in the future by which point either they will have met all of our demands or they can consider us resigned from RT.

Even got a slogan ready to go:

SAY F.O. TO F.A.

Yes RT thing excelent, but the NFU, like Olly are against anything
And would these big cereal farmers sign up, would Olly sign,

Could he be the leader in that????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????!, its about the only sense he said

SOMEONE ASK HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BUT YOU SAY YOU COME HERE, SO ANSWER THIS

 

[mixedfmr]

Ye totally agree. Cull worst performing 10%+ of the herd or flock. Don't crop the worst acreages of arable land. Which should hopefully reduce inputs costs as an added benefit and reduce supply which would hopefully be met by increased prices.

But the neighbour would see what you were doing and double crop, What a world

 

[tepapa]

But the neighbour would see what you were doing and double crop, What a world

I know, now how much should I bid to rent that 10 acres 15 miles away when the landlords claiming the SFI.

 

[Jackov Altraids]

I broadly agree with you, I'm just curious how far you go.
Countries who export food can if required meet many different requirements, it just needs the buyer to up their standards.

NZ gets yelled at for a lot of this kind of thing along with beef imports from North and South America, but they could easily supply hormone free Beef if it was asked for. Is that enough I wonder?
On the other hand livestock farmers will happily import cheaper grains with lower standards to feed stock.
Is Ukrainian feed grain ok, or should they have to up standards.
Hard to do isn't it.
I don't know what the answer is, definitely something you should as farmers protest about in my opinion.

To my mind it is has 2 main components.

Firstly, any commodity sold in a marketplace should be reasonably equal. If a 'requirement' is important, those meeting it should be in a different 'market'. Otherwise requirements have the opposite effect of promoting those that don't meet them as they can cost less.
Secondly, it stops those responsible for making 'requirements' making stupid decisions. A 'free' market will put a value on meeting those requirements or stop them being implemented at all due to their implications.

 

[agricontract]

Hes so weak, Defra will make mincemeat out of him, but the Public love him, his followers, apparently a good income trail, DONT upset them!
Where is the NFU that says protest STAND UP

At The point when you said doctors don’t care if people die in your other post
was the point I decided not to take any notice of you sorry

 

[warksfarmer]

The damage done to the NFU over all this is not repairable in my view. Minette is leaving a sinking ship and it cant carry on long term. loosing members at that kind of level is not sustainable when they have huge overheads they dont need or should ever of had.
We need a clean sheet. No NFU, no RT and no AHDB. They are all to cosy with AIC and BRC.
We need a proper union with farmer only members which is why the BFU is taking in members every day now. The tied has turned.

 

[mixedfmr]

At The point when you said doctors don’t care if people die in your other post
was the point I decided not to take any notice of you sorry

So are junior doctors on strike waving plackard in the streets of London and elsewhere, planning a 5 day strike
A freind has a grandson whose life has and is been saved by the NHS, and he is enraged by them,

 

[JP1]

Whether you agree with protesting or not, if you don't hold up the public from their daily routine there's no reason for government to even engage with you. The European farmers have brought their counties to a stand still and the governments /EU have listened and acted.

There needs to be pressure from the general public to get government to act. If whole city's population are late to school late to work and inconvenienced people will want to make the problem go away and that's puts pressure on the government to react.

Welsh government aren't taking a blind bit of notice of the farmer gatherings and forging ahead with their current plans for net zero. They won't even put plans on hold. They'd laugh at farmers parked outside the Nfu building as it wouldn't have any affect on anyone but Minnie and Tom but would distract the farmers away from the senedd.

But I do believe there needs to be a good reason and set of demands from the outset as to the reason to protest. I also believe many of the general public would back the farmers and join the fight if they started the defence against enforced net zero that's strangling the country.

The French Gov knew if the farmers blockaded Paris , there’d be no food within 3 days

But they also have a sympathetic gendarmerie

 

[Vader]

Hes so weak, Defra will make mincemeat out of him, but the Public love him, his followers, apparently a good income trail, DONT upset them!
Where is the NFU that says protest STAND UP

Intresting point. He won't want to upset the public as they are his income stream..
Is that a conflict of interest if he is a NFU man? Will he act on what's best for farmers if its going to affect his personal income?

Mind you, that's the NFU full stop...
Was it 5 or 6 supermarkets that sponsored the NFU '23 conference...?
Conflict of intrest......??

 

[suffolksmallholder]

So are junior doctors on strike waving plackard in the streets of London and elsewhere, planning a 5 day strike
A freind has a grandson whose life has and is been saved by the NHS, and he is enraged by them,

All those Doctors your friend is perhaps ‘enraged’ by have massive university debts from seven years training.
That is £63k as a very basic calculation. How would you friend like these highly trained young people to pay this money back? They earn £14 per hour. They work 10 hours plus per day.

They care deeply about their patients but it is a similar situation to how farmers are treated.

Two of my children’s contemporaries have left the UK to enjoy the good life in Oz with half the patients and twice the salary as much needed Doctors. They can lead a lifestyle that is the envy of this country.
Who doesn’t want to raise children that are well educated, live on an island in the sun, have a swimming pool, own a powerboat and all that which goes with a good lifestyle?
SS

 

[kiwi pom]

But the neighbour would see what you were doing and double crop, What a world

Yep, farmers compete with one another and will do what is in their best interests, amazing how many don't understand that.

If the price for wheat doubled over night, which seems to be what everyone wants, the acreage would massively increase next year by those looking to cash in and force the price back down.
It'll still be someone else's fault though, probably the NFU.
Just the way it is.

 

[mixedfmr]

All those Doctors your friend is perhaps ‘enraged’ by have massive university debts from seven years training.
That is £63k as a very basic calculation. How would you friend like these highly trained young people to pay this money back? They earn £14 per hour. They work 10 hours plus per day.

They care deeply about their patients but it is a similar situation to how farmers are treated.

Two of my children’s contemporaries have left the UK to enjoy the good life in Oz with half the patients and twice the salary as much needed Doctors. They can lead a lifestyle that is the envy of this country.
Who doesn’t want to raise children that are well educated, live on an island in the sun, have a swimming pool, own a powerboat and all that which goes with a good lifestyle?
SS

Daughters boyfreind now a qualified Doctor, got a golden handshake when he qualified £50k

 

[kfpben]

Yep, farmers compete with one another and will do what is in their best interests, amazing how many don't understand that.

If the price for wheat doubled over night, which seems to be what everyone wants, the acreage would massively increase next year by those looking to cash in and force the price back down.
It'll still be someone else's fault though, probably the NFU.
Just the way it is.

Pretty sure the stock farmers don’t want the wheat price to double. Down corn, up horn (and poultry!)

The joy of being a mixed farm is I can cheer myself up with what’s doing well, whilst cheerfully turning a blind eye to what’s doing badly on the farm. ‘Mon the sheep at the moment. Cattle pretty too.