Are the farming press doing farmers any favours ?

[Hfd Cattle]

At a meeting last night discussing rural issues.
Part of the meeting we discussed the farming scene and how tough it is .....
2 of those present suddenly spoke out at what they had seen in various 'farming' type mags and market reports' about livestock making record prices in markets etc etc . ......
Getting them to see the bigger picture was hopeless ,but it did raise the question to myself which I have posted as thread theme
'Are the farming press doing farmers any favours'
......or should they be highlighting more about the bigger picture !

 

[ski]

Facts are facts. Facts out of context are meaningless. Which bigger picture did you have in mind? I would tentatively suggest that what you are alluding to, is the temptation that is becoming more performed rather than resisted, and that is sensationalism. Papers of all stripes have always done this though as far as I can reason it is getting worse. What I notice is a tendency for people to be quite immune to it within their field of competence or experience but very susceptible to it outside their field.

 

[Bury the Trash]

The bigger picture that some are raking in the sfi money and going skiing on it and others can barely wait for it to be able topay for coal to keep one room warm and a modest car to get around to work council tax etc

Others complaining about thd weather yet have also coined in the sfi money to bouy up their many air flights between their farms here and abroad.
Sustainable farming my arse.

Other big area farmer well set up by others with p.entg of resoucprces running g down other less lucky who claim oc.

Sham or Crock of sh!t kind of describes it crudely,

Describly differently like it's confusing and dishonest down right dangerous to the naive and j lressiknable, will mean it causing repression and depression even ,
Either way not good , not good at all, nothing new mind you , not that I remember iin my time anyway.

 

[PhilipB]

The farming press exists solely to promote the interests of those who sell stuff to farmers.

Their case-studies are of happy, shiny (though rarely slim) people who have bet the farm on rejigging their business- whether money is actually made, or just borrowed, and whether their projections of revenue will materialise is not covered. They are Good Farmers who have Spent Money.

 

[livestock 1]

I’ve given up reading the farming papers the mrs cancelled them because they were thrown out untouched.
The high prices are mentioned in livestock always, a few times I’ve been there odd times but it doesn’t represent the average or my average and often the higher prices maybe haven’t been the best paying wether that sold or bought
The extra high prices give a bad impression to the public because the townies in my family and in-laws family believe that all sheep or cattle can potentially be worth that and don’t think any of the values are manufactured
So with that in mind yes the farming press is doing is no favours

 

[toquark]

First rule of farming: never admit to making money.

Second rule of farming: NEVER admit to making money

 

[Bury the Trash]

Why woukd anyone spend hard earned money to the fw when it gave a journalist the space to call non members of the nfu freeloaders?

 

[livestock 1]

For years FW seemed to think farming only happened in East Anglia

 

[Bury the Trash]

PfI sub is well worth it mind you , the only one I will even consider .

 

[David1968]

Why woukd anyone spend hard earned money to the fw when it gave a journalist the space to call non members of the nfu freeloaders?

It was an opinion piece, if I remember rightly.
Come to Scotland. You'll fit right in with the SNP Government's agenda.

Is this the same Fw that's been lauded recently for ir's work on exposing RT and the GFC? Not to mention various meat scandals.

 

[Bury the Trash]

It was an opinion piece, if I remember rightly.
Come to Scotland. You'll fit right in with the SNP Government's agenda.

Is this the same Fw that's been lauded recently for ir's work on exposing RT and the GFC? Not to mention various meat scandals.

Actually the only work a magazine such as it does is for its own numbers of copies to be sold quite normal business practice/ viability
But OK then,thinking about that what the farmers weekly needs to do now is give space for an opinion piece from a Bfu representative for balance , or might that put off some of their sponsors / advertisers ?

 

[Hfd Cattle]

I’ve given up reading the farming papers the mrs cancelled them because they were thrown out untouched.
The high prices are mentioned in livestock always, a few times I’ve been there odd times but it doesn’t represent the average or my average and often the higher prices maybe haven’t been the best paying wether that sold or bought
The extra high prices give a bad impression to the public because the townies in my family and in-laws family believe that all sheep or cattle can potentially be worth that and don’t think any of the values are manufactured
So with that in mind yes the farming press is doing is no favours

That's what I was trying to say really.
It's hopeless trying to explain why the prices are where they should be when you read some of the mag articles and matket reports ..... they never mention the number of times tye vet has visited or the knacker wagon come down the farm drive .
The beasts that make 2K plus has to pay for the ones that never make it and the ever-increasing repair bills etc !

A better headline would read 'farmers are at last getting a small return on their huge investments after yrs of lack lustre prices ' !

 

[Bury the Trash]

That's what I was trying to say really.
It's hopeless trying to explain why the prices are where they should be when you read some of the mag articles and matket reports ..... they never mention the number of times tye vet has visited or the knacker wagon come down the farm drive .
The beasts that make 2K plus has to pay for the ones that never make it and the ever-increasing repair bills etc !

A better headline would read 'farmers are at last getting a small return on their huge investments after yrs of lack lustre prices ' !

and if those prices don't stay good there will be even more of an exodus than there has been for some time.

 

[yellow belly]

headline prices have always hit record

when wheat hit 100 in the 1980s or 200 in the 2010s
or potatoes in 1922 at £5 a ton

or land hit 300 in the 1970s or 2000 in the 1980s or 10000 in the 2020s

inflation eventually causes another record price

but food as a proportion of the average wage gets lower

 

[yellowbelly]

That's what I was trying to say really.
It's hopeless trying to explain why the prices are where they should be when you read some of the mag articles and matket reports ..... they never mention the number of times tye vet has visited or the knacker wagon come down the farm drive .
The beasts that make 2K plus has to pay for the ones that never make it and the ever-increasing repair bills etc !

A better headline would read 'farmers are at last getting a small return on their huge investments after yrs of lack lustre prices ' !

That's the crux of the matter - these current 'record prices' are really only where the market should be to give a realistic return for all the investment and work that's been put in.

OK, a lot of us have been pleased to sell hoggs in excess of 200 quid but that rapidly comes into perspective when you squelsh round the lambing park picking up dead 'uns and have to deal with abortions and all the other problems that come with intensive livestock.

IMHO, it's the need for big numbers to make a living, that's the problem.
The margin on every lamb, calf, tonne of corn, etc is that small, we've all had to up numbers to maintain the same income.

It would be interesting to know by how much everybody has had to up numbers compared to, say, 40 or 50 years ago.
Farms made a good living then with less acres and smaller numbers of cattle and sheep.

The whole thing has just become a 'numbers game'.

 

[Wooly]

Why woukd anyone spend hard earned money to the fw when it gave a journalist the space to call non members of the nfu freeloaders?

Probably unfair critism of the FW now.............. they have upped their game and certainly not afraid to ask awkward questions about RT, AHDB and the NFU.


As for high prices, add inflation to the equation and I doubt we are getting any more for livestock than we were getting 30 years ago.
Arable prices are terrible, yet machinery prices are through the roof.

Farming is not for the faint hearted !

 

[Bury the Trash]

Probably unfair critism of the FW now.............. they have upped their game and certainly not afraid to ask awkward questions about RT, AHDB and the NFU.

One sided comment is unfair , To make it fair the fw should 'commission' a full page piece to the objective / balance of that one, I propose @SilliamWhale as the person to do it .

 

[WillYorkshire]

The bigger picture that some are raking in the sfi money and going skiing on it and others can barely wait for it to be able topay for coal to keep one room warm and a modest car to get around to work council tax etc

Others complaining about thd weather yet have also coined in the sfi money to bouy up their many air flights between their farms here and abroad.
Sustainable farming my arse.

Other big area farmer well set up by others with p.entg of resoucprces running g down other less lucky who claim oc.

Sham or Crock of sh!t kind of describes it crudely,

Describly differently like it's confusing and dishonest down right dangerous to the naive and j lressiknable, will mean it causing repression and depression even ,
Either way not good , not good at all, nothing new mind you , not that I remember iin my time anyway.

English would help.

 

[WillYorkshire]

PfI sub is well worth it mind you , the only one I will even consider .

The Fendt promoting journal?

 

[SilliamWhale]

One sided comment is unfair , To make it fair the fw should 'commission' a full page piece to the objective / balance of that one, I propose @SilliamWhale as the person to do it .

Joe Stanley gets in bi weekly to say farmers worried about their future are far right but when I wanted to do an talking point unpicking the Red Tractor grain market scandal they wouldn't let me. We still have a two tier grain market which is unforgivable.

That said I think the current editors are a force for good at the moment...