Blood sucking ahdb

[White rabbit]

pity you not in our sector jp1

 

[White rabbit]

Dominic Cummings chief advisor- Dr Tim Leuing's comment that we can do without British farming might be nearer than we think,the consensus amongst farmers around here at the moment is that things couldn't be much worse. Spring barley could be down to a ton and a half,oil seed rape half a ton with wheat around two and a half,a lot of sugar beet is poor that the crop hardly wipes its face in a good season,I even see wool is virtually worthless.
What will happen when they start slicing lumps off the bps and the flood gates open to imports? well you could always call the ahdb, one of their top men said we are here to help farmers and growers through these difficult times,if anybody does decide to take their advice and give them a call maybe you might like to share it with us.

 

[White rabbit]

Well one thing is for sure you wouldn't want to have a football match against the AHDB! Not only would the referee be on their team, but so would his two officials and a further two moving the goal. We have been told that if there was an official ballot, levy payers who have been late paying in the past (which I dare say is a good majority) or any levy payer who didn't fill their return in on time would be ineligible to vote for the following five years. Highland mule and a few others might like to like to give their advice on how to get around this.

 

[An Gof]

Well one thing is for sure you wouldn't want to have a football match against the AHDB! Not only would the referee be on their team, but so would his two officials and a further two moving the goal. We have been told that if there was an official ballot, levy payers who have been late paying in the past (which I dare say is a good majority) or any levy payer who didn't fill their return in on time would be ineligible to vote for the following five years. Highland mule and a few others might like to like to give their advice on how to get around this.

In fairness @White rabbit if what you say is correct then it is starting to stink.

 

[Phil P]

In fairness @White rabbit if what you say is correct then it is starting to stink.

Don’t hold your breath on any evidence to back up his comments, you’ll be waiting a long time.

Well one thing is for sure you wouldn't want to have a football match against the AHDB! Not only would the referee be on their team, but so would his two officials and a further two moving the goal. We have been told that if there was an official ballot, levy payers who have been late paying in the past (which I dare say is a good majority) or any levy payer who didn't fill their return in on time would be ineligible to vote for the following five years. Highland mule and a few others might like to like to give their advice on how to get around this.

Any chance of seeing a copy of the letter Stating this?

 

[White rabbit]

Phil p we are not getting this in writing,I have said before there is two ahdb employees who do not agree with what is going on inside this organisation.I said we had quite serious information about what was happening while staff were sat at home,well we did manage to get a breakdown of the credit cards trouble was it appears they hadn't even bought a pencil.The information we are obtaining about the ballot is along the same lines, Our own ballot finished yesterday at 12 noon if we have enough support we will soon put these things to the test,if we do not we will have to just let these questions remain unanswered.

 

[Highland Mule]

We have been told that if there was an official ballot, levy payers who have been late paying in the past (which I dare say is a good majority) or any levy payer who didn't fill their return in on time would be ineligible to vote for the following five years. Highland mule and a few others might like to like to give their advice on how to get around this.

Seems fair to exclude levy “payers” who don’t actually pay levy, although a five year ballot ban is harsh. You know my advice though - follow their procedures as advised in statute and you can’t go wrong, if the support is as high as you claim it to be.

Our own ballot finished yesterday at 12 noon if we have enough support we will soon put these things to the test,

Yesterday? The ballot paper said last week - be careful or you’ll be as guilty of moving goalposts as you accuse them of being

PS - one further bit of advice - any communication from AHDB (or any other government department or quango) that isn’t in writing, doesn’t actually exist - ignore it and stick only to the black and white.

 

[White rabbit]

Seems fair to exclude levy “payers” who don’t actually pay levy, although a five year ballot ban is harsh. You know my advice though - follow their procedures as advised in statute and you can’t go wrong, if the support is as high as you claim it to be.



Yesterday? The ballot paper said last week - be careful or you’ll be as guilty of moving goalposts as you accuse them of being

PS - one further bit of advice - any communication from AHDB (or any other government department or quango) that isn’t in writing, doesn’t actually exist - ignore it and stick only to the black and white.

We had to extend the closing because ahdb managed to find(do to an oversight)an extra 200 levy payers if you remember.

 

[Highland Mule]

We had to extend the closing because ahdb managed to find(do to an oversight)an extra 200 levy payers if you remember.

You’ve only managed to get the major corporates though, and not the private individuals, if I recall. I’m not sure I’d have bothered with extending the deadline for what is only a snapshot of opinions and has no legal basis.

Reassure yourself that there's more unhappy that you three guys and then get a concerted effort to formally call for a ballot - according to AHDB rules. Heck, offer to your fellow dissenters that you’ll compile and deliver the 80+ requests in one tranche if you don’t trust them to keep a count (not that I personally see that as a risk, but you obviously do).

Once the ballot is called, then you have a chance to argue the case to the wider industry - but do that eloquently, with dignity and humility - so not fronted by yourself.

 

[White rabbit]

You’ve only managed to get the major corporates though, and not the private individuals, if I recall. I’m not sure I’d have bothered with extending the deadline for what is only a snapshot of opinions and has no legal basis.

Reassure yourself that there's more unhappy that you three guys and then get a concerted effort to formally call for a ballot - according to AHDB rules. Heck, offer to your fellow dissenters that you’ll compile and deliver the 80+ requests in one tranche if you don’t trust them to keep a count (not that I personally see that as a risk, but you obviously do).

Once the ballot is called, then you have a chance to argue the case to the wider industry - but do that eloquently, with dignity and humility - so not fronted by yourself.

Highland mule it was the private individuals we really wanted because they would be the ones who could least afford the levy,but of course they will not let us have them,on the blocking of people who have been late paying it seems after letting our lawyer go over the fine print this morning the don't seem to have a legitimate case,so mr Attenborough you might have to look for another obstruction.I will come back with the results when they arrive (an gof did ask) and that is me finished on the subject.Will the last veg grower standing please turn out the light.

 

[Highland Mule]

Highland mule it was the private individuals we really wanted because they would be the ones who could least afford the levy,but of course they will not let us have them,on the blocking of people who have been late paying it seems after letting our lawyer go over the fine print this morning the don't seem to have a legitimate case,so mr Attenborough you might have to look for another obstruction.I will come back with the results when they arrive (an gof did ask) and that is me finished on the subject.Will the last veg grower standing please turn out the light.

I'm not sure if I'm Mr Attenborough or not, but I'm looking for any obstructions, I'm looking for the way through this mess for you. My gut feeling is that private individuals will have lower turnover so the bottom line figure might not be as eye catching, but that's just my opinion.

Do hang around though - outside of this part of the forum there's a good chance you will learn things from us and vice-versa. You mentioned grass growth earlier and there's a whole thread on the best type of plate meter in the dairy section that might interest you. Remember, all the best inventions are not so much new things as adaptions from elsewhere in life.

And at the risk of sounding like a broken records you should get yourself and your mates to write those letters too - that's the best way for you to get closure from all of this, I'd say. Only needs 70 and you have a formal ballot.

 

[Bestriding Spraak]

Highland mule it was the private individuals we really wanted because they would be the ones who could least afford the levy,but of course they will not let us have them,on the blocking of people who have been late paying it seems after letting our lawyer go over the fine print this morning the don't seem to have a legitimate case,so mr Attenborough you might have to look for another obstruction.I will come back with the results when they arrive (an gof did ask) and that is me finished on the subject.Will the last veg grower standing please turn out the light.

If there is an independent well organised ballot that can go either way but in the end gives growers a voice and influence those who can shape the future and next generation for the greater good then let’s have some of that!

 

[Highland Mule]

If there is an independent well organised ballot that can go either way but in the end gives growers a voice and influence those who can shape the future and next generation for the greater good then let’s have some of that!

Trouble you have is an independent ballot would have no mandate for change. A formal one by AHDB would, and the UK civil service is such that the result is unlikely to be cheated (if the government wanted to do election fraud, they'd pick a better target than that).

 

[Highland Mule]

@White rabbit - any news of results yet? Raw numbers if possible, rather than interpreted results. Been a week since your survey closed, so would have hoped for something by now, surely?

 

[White rabbit]

Results will be out at the weekend.

 

[White rabbit]

Ballot provides mandate for change to AHDB

A grower’s ballot of almost 2,000 levy-payers from the Horticulture and Potatoes sectors of the Agricultural & Horticultural Development Board (AHDB) shows the majority of growers view the…

www.freshplaza.com

 

[White rabbit]

UK: Ballot provides mandate for change to AHDB

A grower

www.potatonewstoday.com

 

[Highland Mule]

What's the plan now then Peter? You've got 600 or so who want an immediate ballot on the statutory levy, so presumably you can just get them to write in en-masse? Or is there some other cunning plan?

Were you happy with a 33% response? Seems a bit lower than I would have thought, based on the level of passion for the subject that you show yourself.

 

[An Gof]

Ballot provides mandate for change to AHDB

A grower’s ballot of almost 2,000 levy-payers from the Horticulture and Potatoes sectors of the Agricultural & Horticultural Development Board (AHDB) shows the majority of growers view the…

www.freshplaza.com

Thank you for the update, you must be pleased with the outcome considering the work that you have put into this. What happens now? Or will it be conveniently ignored and swept under the carpet?

 

[Highland Mule]

Thank you for the update, you must be pleased with the outcome considering the work that you have put into this. What happens now? Or will it be conveniently ignored and swept under the carpet?

Ignored by whom, @An Gof ? It’s not official, so AHDB have no mandate or legal right to act on it, even if they wished to. As a pseudo-civil service they are bound to follow their rules on these things, and this survey is nowhere near their rule book. I fail to see what it can do apart from encourage Peter and friends to get letter writing.