British Farming Union on TFF

[Grass And Grain]

small first steps and all that ! ,(the £10 is just an expression of intent ) if we need to pay more down the line so be it , £50 maybe more ?,still be good value , the really sad thing is we have a union, that has practically zero interest in the boots on the ground membership , that also seems content to back an organisation that imposes extra regulation, while nothing is said about imports .

I think a lot of farmers would be willing to contribute to get rid of Red Tractor gatekeeping and trying to destroy our marketplace. It's a really important issue for now and the future to do this, not just for ourselves but the farmers who come after us.

What comes afterwards who knows but a loose conglomerate that tries to hold the NFU/ AIC/ RT/ AHDB cosy club to account is a positive thing.

Ooh, yea, £10 each in the pot to pay someone to create a RT alternative that we control. Then RT has zero members, we have them all, we have the power, discard all the daft rules whilst sort of keeping the supermarkets happy. Easy peasy inspection every 3 years would suffice.

 

[TheTallGuy]

Ooh, yea, £10 each in the pot to pay someone to create a RT alternative that we control. Then RT has zero members, we have them all, we have the power, discard all the daft rules whilst sort of keeping the supermarkets happy. Easy peasy inspection every 3 years would suffice.

And you think that RT will roll over and let that happen? Any attempts to go down that route will have RT and their pals screaming about reduction of standards... supermarkets won't be interested because the gold plated RT standards cost them nothing, but looks good.

 

[colhonk]

Gosh,,,,,,,,,,, There are some very negative people on here.

 

[Clive]

I think a lot of farmers would be willing to contribute to get rid of Red Tractor gatekeeping and trying to destroy our marketplace. It's a really important issue for now and the future to do this, not just for ourselves but the farmers who come after us.

What comes afterwards who knows but a loose conglomerate that tries to hold the NFU/ AIC/ RT/ AHDB cosy club to account is a positive thing.

you don’t actually need a single £ to dismantle Red Tractor

all you need is enough farmers to stand together and withdraw membership on the same day

same goes for Ahdb vote ……… or whatever issue members want to tackle


the NFU “could” do this but won’t, they have lost sight of whom they serve / represent long ago sadly

there is power in numbers more so than there is in money

BFU just needs numbers and it will then be possible to make change

 

[Bury the Trash]

And you think that RT will roll over and let that happen? Any attempts to go down that route will have RT and their pals screaming about reduction of standards... supermarkets won't be interested because the gold plated RT standards cost them nothing, but looks good.

its still possible to farm/be a farmer without RT FA you know.

What a Good thing that S.Whale said above about getting rid of that sort of style cramping misery making resource wasting rubbish now,so it will be more encouraging for new generations to be able /want to farm.

 

[Clive]

And you think that RT will roll over and let that happen? Any attempts to go down that route will have RT and their pals screaming about reduction of standards... supermarkets won't be interested because the gold plated RT standards cost them nothing, but looks good.

A. how do you eat an elephant?

Q . one mouthfu at a time !

 

[Barleymow]

And you think that RT will roll over and let that happen? Any attempts to go down that route will have RT and their pals screaming about reduction of standards... supermarkets won't be interested because the gold plated RT standards cost them nothing, but looks good.

Not all supermarkets sell rt

 

[Grass And Grain]

And you think that RT will roll over and let that happen? Any attempts to go down that route will have RT and their pals screaming about reduction of standards... supermarkets won't be interested because the gold plated RT standards cost them nothing, but looks good.

Thinking out aloud...Start with grain. New scheme run by BFU. Not dissimilar to RT. Most farmers now in the BFU Assurance Scheme. We have the farmers, so we have the power. RT is nothing without members. Then BFU call the shots.

What they going to do? No farmers in RT = no RT assured grain.

Grain is relatively easy because very few processors use the RT logo on packaging, usually because it's blended with non-assured imports. Different for meat products, as supermarkets often use the RT logo, so more tricky.

 

[SilliamWhale]

its still possible to farm/be a farmer without RT FA you know.

What a Good thing that S.Whale said above about getting rid of that sort of style cramping misery making resource wasting rubbish now,so it will be more encouraging for new generations to be able /want to farm.

You cannot trade any oilseed rape in the country with Red Tractor.

Your market for trading barley, wheat and oats are severely severely limited without Red Tractor - unless of course you lie, but why should we?

And its true - Red Tractors aim (like sensible business strategy) is to further promulgate its "importance", its market share and the more it can restrict independent trading the greater chance the business has of making more money. The carbon issue appears to be looming and it appears to have a red tractor calculator with it - we don't like that and rightly so, its a highly compromised position.

Now whether that means RT bring in more money to pay the odd farmer who are up for having their head turned and a little of cod-prestige in exchange for selling their fellow farmers down the river, or for paying staff more money for still delivering no premium or for spending more money on generic and ineffective advertising we don't know.

But we all know we must fight this tooth and nail, because integrity and values matter and fair market access for farmers should not be enabled by those deciding behind closed doors and in many cases by those who do not have our best interests at heart.

 

[SilliamWhale]

And you think that RT will roll over and let that happen? Any attempts to go down that route will have RT and their pals screaming about reduction of standards... supermarkets won't be interested because the gold plated RT standards cost them nothing, but looks good.

Lets get to the facts here.

The standards are the same whether you are in Red Tractor or not.

Recording cleaning a grain bucket is not a standard, running a leaking sprayer with a nROSO ticket is not a higher standard than a running a non leaking sprayer without one.

 

[matthew]

And you think that RT will roll over and let that happen? Any attempts to go down that route will have RT and their pals screaming about reduction of standards... supermarkets won't be interested because the gold plated RT standards cost them nothing, but looks good.

'Plausable Deniability' is what RT is all about. A tick box paper trail from retailer down to .... us.

That worked well with horsemeat, didn't it? Of course it was beef - the paperwork said so.

And according to my audit trail new stuff, RT are now taking over from EA and HSE. Wot the flying wotsit has that to do with welfare of animals? Tomorrow, they'll waste spend about three hours of MY time, trying to find a glitch in my records, and maybe 15 minutes looking at cattle and sheep.

I have wormed the cat.
The plastic recycling bloke is due next month and the scrap man next week. Intent? Maybe.
It's high time I took up knitting.

 

[Bald Rick]

A. how do you eat an elephant?

Q . one mouthfu at a time !

Have to kill it first or it will be pretty p!shed off when you take the first bite

 

[Bury the Trash]

Have to kill it first or it will be pretty p!shed off when you take the first bite

The likes of Ticks and Mosquitos don't

 

[Sid]

All these promised things for £10


Sounds like excellent value for money to me OR if something sounds to good to be true....it probably is.

 

[Clive]

All these promised things for £10


Sounds like excellent value for money to me OR if something sounds to good to be true....it probably is.

no one has promised anything

at this early stage the cost is irrelevant

 

[Bokey]

I think its a good idea and have often thought why can't we all take back control through a proper union but is there a risk of what happened to the coal miners if we demand to much the government will turn round an say sod you lot an just start importing more to gain the upper hand I'm not against this though just to be clear

 

[Bald Rick]

The likes of Ticks and Mosquitos don't

Pfft … they have ways of delousing

 

[warksfarmer]

Exactly.
Is this PR executive going to run the BFU on their own? From home? With no PA? And no additional budget?

So will this volunteer be a full time farmer? Or someone on the gravy train looking down from his Ivory Towers?



I can't believe I'm having this conversation. I am the only one not dreaming?
Perhaps I am dreaming. Some one is going to set up a national lobbying organisation, spend several days a week in Westminster, run an office with backroom staff, travel the country talking to farmers running all sorts of different businesses to gauge opinion and operate elections with OMOV all for a £10 year membership, with a maximum number of members restricted to 50,000 at 100% takeup. Wheat was £1000 tonne and a Fendt 939 ran on free electricity and cost £1500 brand new and Nitram was £50 tonne. And then I woke up.

I think a bit of different thinking is needed. You do not need fancy offices, an annual wage budget of £21 million, or to travel the country talking to members or have a high membership fee.

It’s all about numbers. If there’s a membership of 50,000 farmers then that’s power in its own right. It the year 2022 and a farming union does not need to operate or look like the Nfu.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Pfft … they have ways of delousing

View attachment 1032943

come to think of it a cute baby elephant would be better for your avatar instead of that uncute baby baby

 

[warksfarmer]

And you think that RT will roll over and let that happen? Any attempts to go down that route will have RT and their pals screaming about reduction of standards... supermarkets won't be interested because the gold plated RT standards cost them nothing, but looks good.

All RT do though is check we are not breaking the law with things such as safe storage of grain, sprayer mot etc. these laws are already in place. We do not need RT to check them.

I pay to get my sprayer MOT done. I then pay RT to check I’ve got my sprayer mot done! It’s just rediculous.