British Farming Union on TFF

[Hfd Cattle]

Count me in ....I will join up .

 

[kiwi pom]

Membership is £9.99 per year not the thousands the NFU charge.

It is what it says on the tin. The British Farming Union with long term only farmer members. It’s very very early stages where likeminded farmers are joining to build numbers slowly.

Obviously not for Kiwis, I'm curious as to what counts as being a farmer though?
Do you have to agree on certain things to be a member?

 

[teslacoils]

How do you define "farmer" and "one farm" though?

Currently its "do you have an SBI number"? Because thats pretty simple. Honestly, this can be made as complicated as you think! There will be folk saying "how can we be sure theyre a farmer" and at the same time someone else being jumpy about giving personal data. So its the absolute minimum - minimum cost to join (charity if in the end this comes to nothing), and minimum requirements to be a farmer in having an SBI. Yes, my farm has 4 partners and one SBI. But right now its one SBI = one farm = one vote.

Obviously not for Kiwis, I'm curious as to what counts as being a farmer though?
Do you have to agree on certain things to be a member?

The need for a new voice for British Farming. Becuase the old voice prefers to speak to its friends rather than for its members.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Obviously not for Kiwis, I'm curious as to what counts as being a farmer though?
Do you have to agree on certain things to be a member?

No its not for Kiwis

Agreeing totally on everything for what potentially is such a diverse membership would be nigh impossible as even within farming/farmers there is huge difference in their types of business, Fundamentally, the only thing needed to be 'agreed upon ' is a quest for an improvement of British farmers representation and support over and above what is currently available .

 

[Bald Rick]

This has come about through frustration. Yes, there are literally dozens of farmer organisations including all the breed societies if you think about it. But this fragmentation leads to a lack of democratic representation.

It's farmer only and one vote per farm. To be taken seriously, in the short term we just need members.

How are you going to represent farmers? Who is going to take the lead in lobbying goverments across the devolved nations?
How are you going to ensure that corn or horn, little and large rich and poor are going to be equally weighted?

 

[jondear]

Obviously not for Kiwis, I'm curious as to what counts as being a farmer though?
Do you have to agree on certain things to be a member?

Moan all the time !Oh and talk about the wrong kinda weather !

 

[Hfd Cattle]

......joined up and paid up ......that's cost me 10 cans of Thatchers ......it better be worth it !!!

 

[Hfd Cattle]

@Treg ...... will there be updates as to how many have joined etc ?

 

[teslacoils]

How are you going to represent farmers? Who is going to take the lead in lobbying goverments across the devolved nations?
How are you going to ensure that corn or horn, little and large rich and poor are going to be equally weighted?

Dont know.

Got to start somewhere though.

Can you possibly please everyone? Not if you have hundreds of different policies on many things. Best stick with fewer things than most can agree on. Its for a vibrant British farming sector! Im not sure its possible to have a more broad and diverse set of businesses. So take things slow, see what comes. Im sure not many would join me on the picket line but everyone has their own way, and I think even the large arable and tiny thatching straw business / multi site dairy and ten goats making ice cream can get onboard at an early stage to see that even if we only start with a few baby steps, that speak for some issues that unite the vast majority of us, and that a sector that is positive about the future, is a good thing.

 

[TheTallGuy]

Currently its "do you have an SBI number"? Because thats pretty simple. Honestly, this can be made as complicated as you think! There will be folk saying "how can we be sure theyre a farmer" and at the same time someone else being jumpy about giving personal data. So its the absolute minimum - minimum cost to join (charity if in the end this comes to nothing), and minimum requirements to be a farmer in having an SBI. Yes, my farm has 4 partners and one SBI. But right now its one SBI = one farm = one vote.

The need for a new voice for British Farming. Becuase the old voice prefers to speak to its friends rather than for its members.

I'm a landowner and the SBI is registered to me, but I'm not a farmer in any real sense of the word. There's a possibility that for legal reasons I may have to split the land into two separate SBIs in the near future, so I will end up with the possibility of having SBIs and hence two votes for 40 acres that I don't farm, but my neighbour farming several hundred acres gets one... if he's lucky enough to have his own land...

 

[Bury the Trash]

How are you going to represent farmers? Who is going to take the lead in lobbying goverments across the devolved nations?
How are you going to ensure that corn or horn, little and large rich and poor are going to be equally weighted?

Ok but who does that ( and collectively according to all types of farms /farmers ) effectively now ?

 

[colhonk]

IF it is going to try to get rid of rt then where do I sign up?

 

[JP1]

I'm a landowner and the SBI is registered to me, but I'm not a farmer in any real sense of the word. There's a possibility that for legal reasons I may have to split the land into two separate SBIs in the near future, so I will end up with the possibility of having SBIs and hence two votes for 40 acres that I don't farm, but my neighbour farming several hundred acres gets one... if he's lucky enough to have his own land...

Your opinions / votes are still more valid compared with being an employee of an NGO or a member of the British Retail Consortium and a Union dancing partly to their tune and still not practicing OMOV

 

[teslacoils]

I'm a landowner and the SBI is registered to me, but I'm not a farmer in any real sense of the word. There's a possibility that for legal reasons I may have to split the land into two separate SBIs in the near future, so I will end up with the possibility of having SBIs and hence two votes for 40 acres that I don't farm, but my neighbour farming several hundred acres gets one... if he's lucky enough to have his own land...

Tricky, isnt it? There are a myriad of different ways all with their own problems. But I suppose you can only sign up once with one SBI. But everything must start somewhere and this was chosen for simplicity. I suppose if anyone who felt they were a farmer and were miffed that they didnt have an SBI could be asked to show why they thought they would join? Theres actually a discussion ongoing about this - think its worth £10 to sign up and make some suggestions? If you consider the current representation for UK farming adequate, then posibly your not going to join, but if you think there is half a chance at some real change and want to get involved early on then why not chance it? As said, if it comes to naught then at least we have tried.

 

[Treg]

@Treg ...... will there be updates as to how many have joined etc ?

I think that will be as one of the points of doing this ( using SBi no ) is we can say we represent a certain number of farmers all with one vote.
No corporate members.

 

[Bald Rick]

Ok but who does that ( and collectively according to all types of farms /farmers ) and effectively now ?

I suppose that to an extent we are luckier in Wales that:

1) Our agriculture is devolved so, in theory, we can speak far easier to our Minister.
2) We have 2 farming Unions
3) Generally, we are talking livestock rather than crops & 90% of land area is allegedly disadvantaged so the main thrust/focus is there
4) Seems that NFU Cymru is less influenced by "Big" business/corporate members

However,
1) The Minister is being heavily influenced by her boyfriend ...... a green & senior civil servant in Cardiff
2) There is a bit of mutual hatred between the 2 so they often are at odds with each other and so there is not a common voice being heard in Cardiff
3) It is unintentional bias but it does exist as those who mainly pay the piper, call the tune
4) NFU Cymru is not isolated from the NFU so is tainted by association even if not directly funded by corporate (which it will be to a degree)


Convince me why I should join BFU ....

 

[Andy26]

......joined up and paid up ......that's cost me 10 cans of Thatchers ......it better be worth it !!!

Likewise I've just joined

 

[teslacoils]

IF it is going to try to get rid of rt then where do I sign up?

Some may say RT is good as they dont want more govt checks.
Some might say that RT is ok but needs to stop "mission creep".
Some might say RT needs to stay but as a definite premium option (like it was) with another "equal to imports" option (currently doesnt exist).
Some might say it all needs to be back on the drawing board becuase its all ROTTEN.

But right now we know that there is, for most grain producers, no alternative to RT. And that there are threads running here already about how the existing industry seems to be working to keep RT at the fore, while merrily importing grain from overseas using a system of assurance not open to UK farmers.

Personally I think thats unfair, and its unfairness thats at the heart of why I joined the new British Farming Union.

At the moment abolition of RT is *not* a policy. Why? Because there are no policies yet! Only broad principles. Join. Have your say. Certainly a shakeup of the "cosy club" of RT/AHDB/AIC/etc is the main reason I joined. And if its not going to be a policy then I will certainly be working to get a vote at least on the AHDB Cereals / Oilseeds. Why? Because right now I think a lot of these places simply take our money and forget that they need to provide us with a service; of value. Im not a big farm but £350 in levy and £250 to RT. And what did I get? An organisation that is supposed to get me access to markets and make my business more productive, and a sheet of stickers. £600 of fungicide might get me £1200 of more income. If all my tenner does is to get those organisations to focus on making me a return for my "investment" in them then will be money well spent.

Sorry, im an arable farmer. I dont know much about cows. But I know that a vibrant UK farming sector as a whole must be better for all of us - this isnt about corn vs horn. Its about stopping feeling so undervalued and used as a general whipping-boy for any bad news.

 

[TheTallGuy]

Tricky, isnt it? There are a myriad of different ways all with their own problems. But I suppose you can only sign up once with one SBI. But everything must start somewhere and this was chosen for simplicity. I suppose if anyone who felt they were a farmer and were miffed that they didnt have an SBI could be asked to show why they thought they would join? Theres actually a discussion ongoing about this - think its worth £10 to sign up and make some suggestions? If you consider the current representation for UK farming adequate, then posibly your not going to join, but if you think there is half a chance at some real change and want to get involved early on then why not chance it? As said, if it comes to naught then at least we have tried.

Not knocking it, just wanted to highlight that it's rarely as simple as "one farm one vote"

Your opinions / votes are still more valid compared with being an employee of an NGO or a member of the British Retail Consortium and a Union dancing partly to their tune and still not practicing OMOV

So the opinion a farmer who retails direct and has chosen to be a member of BRC is less valid than that of a land owner who isn't a farmer....

I think that will be as one of the points of doing this ( using SBi no ) is we can say we represent a certain number of farmers all with one vote.
No corporate members.

But that's not correct - you will be representing a certain number of SBI holders each with one vote per SBI, which doesn't preclude corporations as they can hold an SBI.

 

[JP1]

Not knocking it, just wanted to highlight that it's rarely as simple as "one farm one vote"


So the opinion a farmer who retails direct and has chosen to be a member of BRC is less valid than that of a land owner who isn't a farmer....


But that's not correct - you will be representing a certain number of SBI holders each with one vote per SBI, which doesn't preclude corporations as they can hold an SBI.

No, if you're a farmer that's fine. John Lewis can have one vote too as they're a farmer . I retail too