Are the farming press doing farmers any favours ?

[warksfarmer]

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 !

The farming press is read by farmers so it matters not.

we need unions like the BFU to be making the proper stories clear in the national press so our customers know whats going on.

This is why the NFU has failed the last 20 years because their media/coms/marketing/advertising departments are contempt. They promote very rarely but when they do they promote to farmers. Totally stupid thing to do. Why promote to people already in the industry? Promote the industry to the customers for christ sake. Its not that hard to understand.

 

[Bury the Trash]

The Fendt promoting journal?

i tend to go for the back issues for instance the one with @exmoor dave 's 'ewe holding' machine and his 'sheep checking walking stick thistle digger' is a classic

 

[Hfd Cattle]

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 !

Tell me about it ....calf number 8 going on knacker wagon this morning.....all shmallenburg .
I won't even let the OH see the calves they are so unsightly

 

[betweenthelines]

TFF carries these "public don't know the real story" threads every so often.

To counter that I would ask what the individual posters are doing to get the real story out there.

Farm open days

Talks to schools, colleges, WI etc etc.

Letters/Articles to local and national press

Asking Local TV or radio to run reports/interview farmers



People will listen, but is anyone talking?

 

[willyorkshire]

FW is light years from where it was. Not frightened to poke the rattlesnake when required. Doing great editorial work, particularly on RT and GFC issues.

 

[Wooly]

TFF carries these "public don't know the real story" threads every so often.

To counter that I would ask what the individual posters are doing to get the real story out there.

Not helped by social media that only show the nice bits of farming........... certainly not the reality of it at all, especially this winter.

 

[capfits]

TFF carries these "public don't know the real story" threads every so often.

To counter that I would ask what the individual posters are doing to get the real story out there.

Farm open days

Talks to schools, colleges, WI etc etc.

Letters/Articles to local and national press

Asking Local TV or radio to run reports/interview farmers



People will listen, but is anyone talking?

@betweenthelines hear hear.
From some of the rhetoric and such typed on here you would all think farming is the most marginalised downtrodden lot going.
WE ARE NOT.

Get out there a push yourselves to make it better, it is not hard, just a little effort.
May do wonders for your mindsets to.
Blaming the industry press for reporting on what the market is doing is dumbest example of lack of self awareness going.

 

[An Gof]

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?

Steady on I, and I think many others, think that under the new editor Andrew Meredith that FW is doing a much better job. I think Meredith and his team are to be congratulated. In my opinion it’s well worth a sub to support

 

[betweenthelines]

Not helped by social media that only show the nice bits of farming........... certainly not the reality of it at all, especially this winter.

Well, why don't you post the truth on Social media then?

 

[Bury the Trash]

Steady on I, and I think many others, think that under the new editor Andrew Meredith that FW is doing a much better job. I think Meredith and his team are to be congratulated. In my opinion it’s well worth a sub to support

and I and many others think otherwise, thats why fw isnt sold in nothing like the numbers it used to be, well the price has a bit to do with that i guess, fact is a really nicely prepared Fish and Chips at Dominos in Tivy would be about the same and far better value for me thanks.

 

[Welderloon]

Like all media, Agri media needs to be careful of who the people involved are & what their motives are within their ranks
A huge amount of damage can & has been done by activists affiliating themselves with agriculture while hiding behind the facade of journalism.
For every Abi Kay there is a narcissistic George the Guardian Walloper claiming to be an authority on Agriculture all the while fooling the uninitiated, causing carnage to suit their agenda while their self gratification continues.
The line between agricultural fact & fiction will continue to blur while the detachment between urban & country, people & the land increases.

 

[Flatland guy]

The thing that annoys myself when they speak about supposedly 'record prices' they seem to forget about inflation. The same could be said of any worker salary, house price etc. It is always a record price due to inflation and costs, next year will be higher again etc. Most costs rise pro rata per year so why can't food/ feedstuff. Most food/ feedstuff are the cheapest they have ever been in real terms or percentage of average employee income.

 

[Hfd Cattle]

TFF carries these "public don't know the real story" threads every so often.

To counter that I would ask what the individual posters are doing to get the real story out there.

Farm open days

Talks to schools, colleges, WI etc etc.

Letters/Articles to local and national press

Asking Local TV or radio to run reports/interview farmers



People will listen, but is anyone talking?

Yes . I had a good go last night. Its very difficult to get the full story over . I don't want to give a negative view so I try say what we do and why .
Unfortunately people pick what they want to hear

 

[Hfd Cattle]

....ie last night I mentioned Shmallenburg but I just gave information about it ...I didn't mention that we had been severely affected by it .

 

[merino]

The thing that annoys myself when they speak about supposedly 'record prices' they seem to forget about inflation. The same could be said of any worker salary, house price etc. It is always a record price due to inflation and costs, next year will be higher again etc. Most costs rise pro rata per year so why can't food/ feedstuff. Most food/ feedstuff are the cheapest they have ever been in real terms or percentage of average employee income.

Unless I've picked the wrong picture, that should be the graph that proves your point.

 

[An Gof]

Must be cheap fish and chips in Domino’s.

Wife picked up some fish from the Looe fish merchant that comes to the local village community shop every fortnight this morning.
Piece of Hake, smoked haddock and a kipper came to £23 …….. but the Hake is Looe day fish, no better quality.
Just had the Hake for dinner with a tarragon sauce, samphire and Joe Buttons Cornish potatoes washed down with a nice Muscadet sur Lie and now sat in the chair reading the FW …….. bliss

 

[livestock 1]

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 ' !

If we think back there’s been a lot of time lost for stock prices. The 80’s felt good things were going well I can remember father selling small mule ewe lambs for what seemed like a fortune think they were £80 which was a fortune back then. I bought some swale ewes in the late 80’s £200 for shearlings £140 for ewes
We still haven’t recovered price wise since then you know
They are cheaper now and inflation has probably halved the value of the money

 

[Bury the Trash]

the Domino Fish Bar on Church street , near Heathcoats cooked as you wait, less than £7 for small chips and Cod, which is more than sufficient .

 

[Hfd Cattle]

If we think back there’s been a lot of time lost for stock prices. The 80’s felt good things were going well I can remember father selling small mule ewe lambs for what seemed like a fortune think they were £80 which was a fortune back then. I bought some swale ewes in the late 80’s £200 for shearlings £140 for ewes
We still haven’t recovered price wise since then you know
They are cheaper now and inflation has probably halved the value of the money

Just got in from having a pint with a neighbour .... he made a fairly good point ..... wonder how much debt the markets are carrying to maintain the trade ....

 

[Lakes Nash]

Young lad and his partner been renting ground off a local estate, the so called local estate does not farm any ground itself, grabs whatever it can grants, carbon leasing of land etc, young lad has been renting land and improved it no end, now he is selling 150 sheep with lambs as estate is putting all the land into Sfi, this is what is wrong with the country, a so called estate that is really gone backwards for yrs, been ran by umpteen agents, come and gone! Tried anything and everything to make easy money, basically not bothered what their bit of mother earth grows just how much they can gross on their footprint, not a good example for Farmers!