Yes as grassland / livestock / environmentally minded farmers I think we felt under represented by the NFU, anyone that watched the whole Efra Committee session on the future of ELMS will realise how inadequate the NFU are at not only representing livestock farming but the industry as a whole , Ian who represented TGGG was brilliant and the MPs asked more questions of Ian than they did the NFU representative because Ian knew what he was talking about .Well said, and well done to those who represented themselves at the TGGG.
I only skimmed through what you guys had done, but it proves the concept works.
I'm guessing you didn't feel represented by NFU policy, or they were missing key points? Then you discussed what points were important, and formed thoughts from that online discussion.
I think being a small group with similar ethos in the way we farm helped the group, we all had a input and discussed everything in detail online if one of the group wasn't happy with what we were submitting we reworked it until we all agreed on the wording of the submission.
So I see BFU as expanding on that idea, it will be harder as a bigger group will have more variation in input but I think as long as everyone is listened to it should work.
Also I see nothing wrong in taking polls on subjects and going to government saying 64% of our members think X is a brilliant idea 16% are unsure 20% are dead against X, or even dividing it down further, our livestock members agree with Y but 70% of Arable farmers don't , it would give a clearer picture of what the industry is thinking rather than saying our union things Q is brilliant when actually most members can't stand Q.