David Handleys piece today

J 1177

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Durham, UK
Good morning FFA

Well at least – and at last – we have some clarity on future farming policy in the UK, or at least the current George Eustice version of it.
We are to devote ourselves mainly to returning everything to nature while producing one or two niche products in the few bits of land that won’t be covered in trees.
Meanwhile relying on the rest of the world to feed us under the astoundingly good trade deals the UK’s world-class ministerial team has been cutting around the globe.
Well why not? I’m sure consumers will soon stop noticing the chlorine tainting the flavour of their chicken; they will be able to dismiss from their minds the thought of all the hormones that were pumped into the cattle that provided their beef; and they will even, I expect, put to one side the unmitigated cruelty that is still inherent in many of Australia’s farming systems – as I detailed last week.
And, not having been told much about them anyway, they won’t be troubled by the appalling squalor of the livestock sector in Eastern Europe whence I anticipate (such are the margins to be made) cut-price beef will continue to arrive here.
And even if they were concerned there will be little they can do about it, given the volumes that will go straight in to the processing sector.
So George Eustice’s repeated assurances that he would be looking after British farmers after Brexit have amounted to offering them conservation deals that won’t repay the time and expense involved in applying for them plus an unspoken pledge that he won’t stab them in the back more than once a month.
Master Osborne’s short-term ruse to enable the Government to wriggle out of making meaningful support payments should, however, be viewed against the perspective of 20th century history, particularly the 1930s. A period when we were grandly relying on our empire to supply us with much of our food – even cheddar, whose name and formula we had willingly given away because they could make better, consistent-quality stuff in the modern facilities of Australia and New Zealand than they could in the UK’s run-down, unhygienic dairies. Then came the war, and an immediate food shortage so severe that we were obliged to dig up Hyde Park and plant carrots.
There will be no U-boats cutting our supply routes us this time round. But an even bigger threat is posed by climate change. We have had a few, relatively minor problems with the weather in the UK but by and large we can still grow food pretty much as we always have.
But we are in the process of striking trade deals with countries where drought, huge floods and other climatic extremes are already impacting heavily on their ability to produce food – as the devastation caused to global wheat harvests showed only too clearly last year.
And when those countries are eventually faced with a choice between feeding their own people and feeding us, who is going to take priority?
What this state of affairs does show beyond any doubt is the NFU is truly a spent force, with its president’s fine words about securing a good deal for its members replaced by her muted confession that life is going to be tough for farmers. Because she has been stitched up just as comprehensively as the rest of us.
Well I have some advice for her and for George. She might as well disband the NFU because the younger generation of farmers who are going to have to deal with this situation (unlike the oldies who sit round its top table) want nothing to do with it, its president, her meaningless promises, its time-wasting-meetings, it’s communist-style set piece conferences, and its lack of democracy and accountability.
They just want to get on and farm, which they are already doing. And, as one aspiring young dairy farmer from North Wales put it to me this week, whatever George Eustice’s re-greening policies at the moment, he at least sees every square inch of what we rewild now being ploughed up well within his lifetime because we shall need to it grow food again.
And I believe him.
 

farmbrew

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
North Notts
It is ridicules. However as the BPS dwindles they will have less control over what we do won't they. I can see farmers doing what they do best and farm the countryside as we see fit. I am currently in an HLS scheme that is in the second year of extension, I do not envisage switching to ELMs. The only option will be to farm productively from hedge to hedge. The idea of not being told by some desk jockey what to do is very appealing...
 

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
He’s right about the NFU.
He’s going somewhat sensationalist about rewilding.
We need a lean and mean industry of farmers. Cut all the crap that has grown to leach off us from the back of the subsidies.
We can farm with nature at its heart whilst producing good profitable crops AND proving to the rewilding types that we can sequester carbon and restore nature at the same time as producing food. The future is exciting!
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
It is ridicules. However as the BPS dwindles they will have less control over what we do won't they. I can see farmers doing what they do best and farm the countryside as we see fit. I am currently in an HLS scheme that is in the second year of extension, I do not envisage switching to ELMs. The only option will be to farm productively from hedge to hedge. The idea of not being told by some desk jockey what to do is very appealing...

Are you one of the farms that is profitable without support?

Figures have always shown that the ‘average’ is reliant on subsidies to remain viable, especially in some sectors. If that’s the case then it stands to reason that at least half of all the farms in the UK will not be able to survive without them. The rest will just see a big reduction in their income presumably.

Let us all pray at the altar of efficiency and enjoy the widespread abandonment of rural areas.:(
 
Then prime minister Carrie gets what she wants (again) rewilded large areas of Britain without having to give those troublesome peasants the money to do it 🙁
In that case hope she’s taking responsibility for feeding the masses and the country’s balance of payments deficit................does anyone actually give a fig about that anymore with the country in so much debt
 

Walterp

Member
Location
Pembrokeshire
Republican Cartoon - Journal Maine.jpg
 

No wot

Member
All these wishey, washey green activists , eco warriors and people in high places who hang on and applaud every word they say , are so full of their own self importance and self pomposity that they just can't see the bleeding obvious,, rewild this country, import our food , cause as much environmental damage elsewhere in the world that we can't see , loses all the infastruture to produce our own food and in 6, 7 yrs or less be demanding an official Government inquiry as to why domestic food production has ceased to exist , you really couldn't make it up
 

Old Tup

Member
It’s a “Con”
The whole Shebang is nothing more than Politico speak…...
The real message is paying farmers anything to do anything is finished….
The Re-wilding caper is Classic Boris “Dead Cat on the Table“ stuff……
Swallowed by the Carrie Goldsmith disciples as the new future…Sunny days and Skylarks….
Farmer reaction in the media concentrates on denouncing the whole thing….
The stark reality is either you take a pittance to be a park keeper….with an instruction book on how to do it..
Or
Thats it …..you had the choice…you are on your own……
 
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farmbrew

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
North Notts
Are you one of the farms that is profitable without support?

Figures have always shown that the ‘average’ is reliant on subsidies to remain viable, especially in some sectors. If that’s the case then it stands to reason that at least half of all the farms in the UK will not be able to survive without them. The rest will just see a big reduction in their income presumably.

Let us all pray at the altar of efficiency and enjoy the widespread abandonment of rural areas.:(
I do need the subsidies under the current system, however, the current system is taken advantage of by landlords, chemical and fert suppliers etc. We have all become too reliant on them.
I believe if prices remain firm (fingers crossed) I can farm without.

I don't have fancy machinery, don't employ anybody else, have no borrowings or loans. I don't know how long I could carry on for with by low cost system, need my old bones to keep going as well. More land taken out of production, growing population, climate change etc, the UK is in a good position to grow food on a low cost basis. It is a disgrace though that the government don't back home grown producers and manufactures.

I could be accused of being too optimistic, or short sighted. But we can't carry on as we are. Especially under big government that we have thee days.
There is a sea change in peoples attitudes its a shame the government haven't picked up on it yet.
The pending food shortage will keep prices high but could spark civil unrest, Government will topple.
Discuss
wtf do I know anyway:ROFLMAO:
 

Old apprentice

Member
Arable Farmer
We all can vote polatitions are here to day gone tomorow not that long ago we were paid to remove headges fill in ponds etc . A word of caution on the new schemes as returning to productive agriculture this lot at the moment could change the law like natural England and stop you reverting back to productive agriculture.
 

tullah

Member
Location
Linconshire
Do away with natural England and all ridiculous surveys bat, newt etc. etc. Not only would their total budget be saved but there would be an equal amount saved by letting farmers just get on with their lives. Then weed out all those other time wasting jobs for the boys government departments and see what happens to the economy.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 43.1%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.8%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.6%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.2%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,286
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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