Andrew Blenkiron

[digger64]

Not my intention Daniel i agree that many farm managers are probably the best you can get and generate way more income for the farms the manage than the cost.
Its a pity that the opportunites are not there for them to get into farming on their own bat but thats a subject for another day .......
Blenkiron is not one of these he is just a mouthy plonker who would starve if he had to make his living of a couple of hundred acres and knows little about the reality of smaller farming not " estate management " .

He is out of touch with reality , last spring the mobile mill came they were struggleing- said we were lucky as we had protein lots of customers couldnt get feed deliveries etc it was serious , we went to the local abbattoir -they had massive staff issues regarding workers on the line 2 metres and schools being shut etc .The remaining staff were struggleing .I would guess this type of thing was happening nation wide .
Then you see the local NFU man on BBC EAST tv (Mr Blenkiron) telling the world that everything in farming was" hunky dory" and there were no supply chain issues . Well it was good weather for planting potatoes I suppose .(which would be ok for those not tied up with macdonalds or chip shops )

 

[Suffolk Serf]

It's one thing having an argument with Red Tractor and completely another thing making it highly personal and singling out one individual and devalues the argument in my humble opinion.
Please don't allow this thread to continue.

 

[Henarar]

It's one thing having an argument with Red Tractor and completely another thing making it highly personal and singling out one individual and devalues the argument in my humble opinion.
Please don't allow this thread to continue.

And meanwhile he says what he likes about those with a different view to him?

 

[Danllan]

It's one thing having an argument with Red Tractor and completely another thing making it highly personal and singling out one individual and devalues the argument in my humble opinion.
Please don't allow this thread to continue.

No. This chap is presumably, since he is in a fairly responsible role, someone well aware of what he is writing and what the effect is likely to be on the farming audience*.

He's entered - in fact initated - a de facto political discussion and has no right to expect to be handled with kid gloves, and as far as I'm aware hasn't sought to be. Nobody on here has criticised him as a father, parent etc., but solely on the basis of what he's written regarding agriculture, and that alone.

Any objective assessment of what he's written by someone with a little industry knowledge will without doubt lead to a conclusion of its being ill-judged, at best. Any subjective assessment will go a damn sight further.

I don't know if he is angling for a role within the NFU / RT or not, but either way this is just the sort of article one would expect to be written by someone who is. (although in my judgement it's rather short-sighted even in that capacity, because I sense a momentum against RT beginning to build)



*If you want to be sure of this, just turn it around and ask if it would be right to label him as someone stupid and incapable of understanding or caring about both what he writes and those he writes for.

 

[teslacoils]

It may be that others on the RT board are more representative of the average UK farm. I'd say manager of a 10,000ac hereditary estate was about as far remote from the average RT member as you can possibly be. Please could someone print the ACC's price bands to remind me if large farms pay per acre, or if it's capped at say 1000ac?

 

[Henarar]

No. This chap is presumably, since he is in a fairly responsible role, someone well aware of what he is writing and what the effect is likely to be on the farming audience*.

He's entered - in fact initated - a de facto political discussion and has no right to expect to be handled with kid gloves, and as far as I'm aware hasn't sought to be. Nobody on here has criticised him as a father, parent etc., but solely on the basis of what he's written regarding agriculture, and that alone.

Any objective assessment of what he's written by someone with a little industry knowledge will without doubt lead to a conclusion of its being ill-judged, at best. Any subjective assessment will go a damn sight further.

I don't know if he is angling for a role within the NFU / RT or not, but either way this is just the sort of article one would expect to be written by someone who is. (although in my judgement it's rather short-sighted even in that capacity, because I sense a momentum against RT beginning to build)



*If you want to be sure of this, just turn it around and ask if it would be right to label him as someone stupid and incapable of understanding or caring about both what he writes and those he writes for.

Err yep your right, give him the sack and a bag to put it in

 

[SilliamWhale]

It's one thing having an argument with Red Tractor and completely another thing making it highly personal and singling out one individual and devalues the argument in my humble opinion.
Please don't allow this thread to continue.

I think he has positioned himself as the "defender of the faith" of Red Tractor in letters and in his farmers weekly profile. A few unprofessional riposte's about being naive and backstabbers is insulting- and he has already stated there is no apology for that.

If the employed VP of the scheme we are complaining about has this as a defence them I'm sorry there is no doubt we have a problem.

He may be an exceedingly pleasant chap personally, but wrong is wrong in my eyes

 

[Chris F]

It's one thing having an argument with Red Tractor and completely another thing making it highly personal and singling out one individual and devalues the argument in my humble opinion.
Please don't allow this thread to continue.

I would agree if these were private comments being repeated on here. However, they are not. He pushed his "opinion" in the biggest trade magazine for farming. He put himself in this position. Furthermore, he could have apologised for these comments and as far as I have seen he has not. This is the consequence of acting as if you are above others. How difficult is an apology?

 

[nelly55]

Premium prices,get real someone tell me exactly what premium I get for fat cattle .I have watched cattle sell at market and the only difference is which buyer can only buy for farm assurance slaughter houses.

 

[Clive]

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was that titled as the “Advertorial” it clearly is @AM_Arable ? What an utter abuse a of farmer focus column

i look forward to the report calling for his resignation in next week’s issue ?


If Red Tractor think it’s acceptable for someone in his paid position to throw insults at farmer members for simply having an opinion then they REALLY are beyond all help

 

[Clive]

and lets not forget the utter hypocrisy of this man .......... breaking the very standard he suggests red tractor stands for, damaging this “iconic” brand posting such pictures on facebook

@AM_Arable - how about that for next weeks front cover ? come on, lets see some REAL journalism !

 

[Suffolk Serf]

I won’t comment on the tone and wording of his letter and article, which “might” well have been wrong.
But stand by my view that singling out one person as devaluing the argument.
Does the campaign become about the resignation of one person or the root and branch reforms that might be needed?

 

[Clive]

It's one thing having an argument with Red Tractor and completely another thing making it highly personal and singling out one individual and devalues the argument in my humble opinion.
Please don't allow this thread to continue.

i think calling a large number of farmers “naive” “backstabbers” he devalued Red Tractors argument and made it clear our fears they are not listening to anyone that doesn’t agree with them are correct

for what its worth i’m not going to single him out ........... i think they ALL should be sacked. based on 20 yrs of failure to deliver

 

[michael N123]

Found this article from 2010 which made for interesting reading! Seems to don’t need a sprayer test to pass a RT inspection.....

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Just park it for away and say contractor does the spraying

 

[Clive]

Can you imagine the consequences if Boris called voters “backstappers” or “naive” ?

this is not a angry customer - its the PAID Vice Chairman ........... he should act and speak as such

 

[Suffolk Serf]

and lets not forget the utter hypocrisy of this man .......... breaking the very standard he suggests red tractor stands for, damaging this “iconic” brand posting such pictures on facebook

@AM_Arable - how about that for next weeks front cover ? come on, lets see some REAL journalism !



View attachment 942826View attachment 942827

It won’t have been him that posted those pictures, it will have been someone quite a bit more er..... naive.

 

[Clive]

It won’t have been him that posted those pictures, it will have been someone quite a bit more er..... naive.

its soil he “manages” it’s his responsibility ..... as are staff he manages

“naive” to post ! even if its was a “back stabbing “ employee !

 

[warksfarmer]

As per poll. He wants to insult us, then let’s take the fight right back to the board and show them we are not naive, miss understood or back stabbers but we will stand up and be counted when needed.

He’s made his entire career a failure and pointless with his remarks. How long can he stay in the estate management position is probably also a question.

 

[tullah]

Can you imagine the consequences if Boris called voters “backstappers” or “naive” ?

this is not a angry customer - its the PAID Vice Chairman ........... he should act and speak as such

Isn't that just what Gordon B did in the run up to his election defeat. He thought he was off the record when he referred to that dear old Yorkshire lady as a bigot. Look where it got him. There was uproar.

 

[Clive]

Isn't that just what Gordon B did in the run up to his election defeat. He thought he was off the record when he referred to that dear old Yorkshire lady as a bigot. Look where it got him. There was uproar.

exactly- end of career!