Farmers without qualifications could be excluded from funding

Tim W

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
So do you think that those with some bit of paper to their name are always the best farmers and the most worthy of investment while those with out some bit of paper but a perfectly good farm non the less should be discriminated against as far as public money is concerned ?


Bits of paper mean very little but if you want me to invest £££ in a project then i depend on what you can tell me about it's chance of success to make a decision . The bit of paper at least tells me that the person has completed a course and has some understanding of the basics (i have no formal education beyond school)

I think that this article is based on one mans view about what might happen in 15 years time

I also understand that direct payments are not likely to be for farming but for providing public goods in the way of (eg) flood mitigation, wildlife amenities , access etc etc (If that's the case then the best qualification will be a degree in Zoology or Environmental Science )

Many of the best farmers that i know (in a business sense) are those that have no traditional experience in farming, can read spreadsheets and keep a keen eye on market developments
 
Location
southwest
Like the comments on the "Overloaded trailers" and "Don't drive your tractor to the pub" threads, this thread could be summed up as "We are farmers, the rules that apply to everyone else, don't apply to us"

Anyone taking public money should be able to demonstrate they are suitable to receive it. Imagine the public outcry ifyour Local planning Dept employing an unqualified Planning Officer, A Crown Court judge, having no Legal qualifications, Universities staffed by Tutors with no more than a few GCSE's etc.

The public are getting more concerned about things such as where their food comes from and how their taxes are spent. I don't think we are far from a situation where people will ask if Farmer Brown should be getting their money if it's going to be spent unwisely or to support practices they disapprove of.
 
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Like the comments on the "Overloaded trailers" and "Don't drive your tractor to the pub" threads, this thread could be summed up as "We are farmers, the rules that apply to everyone else, don't apply to us"

Anyone taking public money should be able to demonstrate they are suitable to receive it. Imagine the public outcry ifyour Local planning Dept employing an unqualified Planning Officer, A Crown Court judge, having no Legal qualifications, Universities staffed by Tutors with no more than a few GCSE's etc
But does a qualification prove you are suitable to receive public money? There are people with qualifications who have made a complete hash of buisness and those without who have done well.
 

DRC

Member
There’s a farmer not too far from here, was fairly average in school, never went to college, his dad was tenant in a small council holding so no work there. He started up renting an old piggery and doing a bit of contracting, moving on to a 28 acre council holding himself.

Today close on 40 years since leaving school he owns over 300 acres, rents a lot more, Milk’s 600 cows, 100,000 broilers, runs 3 self propelled choppers, 4 umbilical systems, a fleet of vaccy tanks along with a whole host of other machinery, also has a building buisness along with other minor buisness interests.
I suspect there will be few if any involved in agriculture who have done so well from such a small start
And found time for the girlfriend as young as his sons
 

tullah

Member
Location
Linconshire
Common sense fruitcake, non PC, unqualified politicians are now doing a proper job which is incomparable to the
last shower who read Politics at a tech college.
 

thesilentone

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cumbria
To much of the tax payers money has gone on projects that don't comply with all the red tape of the day, as those who carried out the work were either unqualified or had no liability for the work being done.

However, if you borrow money against assets, who cares ?

If you take tax payers money, then it's the lenders responsibility to ensure it is used for the intended purpose.

I wonder if they'll be going round all the houses where social security is the only income and removing all the 50" Plasma TV's ?
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
To much of the tax payers money has gone on projects that don't comply with all the red tape of the day, as those who carried out the work were either unqualified or had no liability for the work being done.

However, if you borrow money against assets, who cares ?

If you take tax payers money, then it's the lenders responsibility to ensure it is used for the intended purpose.

I wonder if they'll be going round all the houses where social security is the only income and removing all the 50" Plasma TV's ?

Start with the MoD I reckon... The money wasted makes a few quid on Ag support, fades into insignificance in comparison!
 
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milkloss

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Sussex
poor job if a person is too 'busy' to put some time each day towards learning something new surely, ? can do almost everything online nowadays, learning has never been so available with the internet.


.......youtube is a great resource....:D

But that wouldn't be a formal qualification though would it? With super secure internets such as the hmrc, RPA, banking etc you would have thought many of these lantra (or whatever) courses could have been completed online. I believe the rat bait course is one such qualification, can anyone identify any others? Why aren't the spraying pa courses online, surely with videos and secure connections for examination it should be possible?

I don't think browsing YouTube counts as any sort of formal training.
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
Aye, he was a right smooth talker and had the ladies dripping off him anyway, the downside being that at 40(ish) he found that despite all the fun he hadn't been able to settle down in a stable relationship, I think he was starting to worry about that underneath it all.
Too much of a good thing does you no good
 

quattro

Member
Location
scotland
There’s plenty of educated farmers about who can make a arse of most things
And there’s plenty about with very little education,and make a very good job of what they do and make more progress than the educated ones
I think it’s more to do with how you want to do something
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.8%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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

  • 1,289
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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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