Fight fire with fire ?

[Farmer Roy]

It is utterly depressing

I absolutely despair of UK farmers - sometimes I guess stuff is just too broken to fix ?



Time to start printing TFF "the end is nigh" trailer stickers I think - they would be very popular and sadly probably accurate the whilst current attitudes prevail

It is utterly depressing

Yet how many threads are there bemoaning their lot, there's no money in the game / costs are too high / prices are too low / subsidies / Brexit etc etc. The one common theme of all those threads is they all disintegrate into a squabble, but it doesn't seem like any are willing to adapt or change or heaven forbid - even take advantage of new opportunities . . .
It seems like UK Ag is just stuck in the halcyon days of the 50's or whenever it was & society has to accept that, rather than Ag adapting to changing society . . .

As an outsider looking in, I just shake my head in wonder at the differences in attitudes & resilience between our 2 countries. Why is that so ? Is it a hangover from peasantry / serfdom / tenants ? Is it that sense of "self entitlement" that seems to pervade every thread, that the public somehow "owe" them a living ? Is it so many years of control & regulation via subsidies, payments etc etc that they are incapable of any self initiative or adaptation ? Is it a loss of community & a case of every man for himself, rather than the greater good of the Ag industry in general ?

Pork sausages
Really ?

Can you imagine a campaign promoting U.K. Ag ?
The collective here would be arguing over what a "real" farmer is & wouldn't get past that . . .

FFS

Every hand wringing pizzle dampening angst ridden thread ( weather, Brexit, trade, prices etc ) is people either saying or getting all worked up about the impending political moment and how it will sort out all their business problems / send their business down the pan? So few are actually seriously looking at their, often many, options and PLANNING ahead

I'm sorry to say it, but I think you are a lone voice ( or at least, one that will face a lot of opposition & ridicule ) in your call for any concerted positive campaign for UK Ag to promote itself.
I sincerely wish you all the best, I know that whatever the future holds, you at least will be looking for the opportunities it holds.
As for the rest ?


Pork sausages


Really ?
Time for the blubbering children to grow a pair . . .

 

[PSQ]

I absolutely despair of UK farmers - sometimes I guess stuff is just too broken to fix ?

Look on the bright side Clive: the 'farmers' that refuse to stand up to support their own industry or show any attempt at 'resilience', they'll probably be the first to drown in the rising tide of sh!t being thrown at the UK ag industry, and it will be good enough for them.

 

[SteveHants]

That tweet is exactly what is needed to counter similar dumbed down over simplified, agenda fueled attacks on our industry

no one give wants you to educated them with the boring facts - no one cares ? get it ? NO ONE cares .............. even I don't care what's in a sausage as long as it taste good and it won't kill me !! I even ate one from Ikea once FFS !


What are YOU doing to educate our customers / counter the vegan / anti farming agenda this week ? and have YOU reached 40,000 of them in just over 48hrs like my "ridiculous" tweet has ?

Your tweet, painting farmers as liars is absolutely not what is needed, and, like I said is pretty bloody embarrassing.

TFF managed to run a perfectly good promotional campaign in the form of the "farming is the solution" series, which is based in fact.

The BBC managed to spend yesterday morning promoting farming pretty well (the bits I caught of it on BBC breakfast).

So there's two decent campaigns.

Resorting to making stuff up paves the road to ending up like PETA, utterly devoid of any credibility. And, whilst I'm happy that has happened to them, I don't want to see it happening to us.

As I've said before, I think the notion of a vegan "war" on farming that has massive traction with the public is mildly hysterical. Less than 2% are vegan and of those, much less than that are militant (as I've said - I've been involved in the meat industry and managed to have a few vegan friends over the years). If you want to find it, like anything else, you can find internet echo-chambers where it is the prevailing mode of thought, but they don't reflect the wider population at large, who continue to buy more and more meat, especially chicken, which is rapidly becoming the UKs protein source of choice.

As for what I actually "do" to promote UK farming, it's pretty much my job (in a slightly roundabout sort of way).

 

[SteveHants]

And, almost as if I made it up to prove my point about non-millitant vegans (I didn't, but you'll just have to believe me), my other half (a vegan) sent me this via WhatsApp this morning along with the caption "that woman is a bloody idiot"....https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-49...at-apps.in-app-msg.whatsapp.trial.link1_.auin

 

[Pond digger]

The vegans dont let the truth get in the way of smearing us. Its a dirty war, lets fight dirty too.

But we need to be better than them. Our arguments need to stand up to scrutiny.

 

[Pond digger]

And there we have it. This thread is a clear example of why UK ag is f***ed. If we allow ourselves to be divided from the outset then conquered we shall be.

Nothing wrong with balanced debate: we need our argument to be bulletproof.

 

[Farmer Roy]

Nothing wrong with balanced debate: we need our argument to be bulletproof.

If you want a bulletproof argument, then you'd better be ready for some home truths & admit to & own the fact that there are many areas that agriculture really needs to lift its game, especially from an environmental, carbon footprint & emissions point of view

 

[Pond digger]

Their pork and apple ones are very good but always seem to be in short supply.

Then stop buying so many.

 

[Pond digger]

If you want a bulletproof argument, then you'd better be ready for some home truths & admit to & own the fact that there are many areas that agriculture really needs to lift its game, especially from an environmental, carbon footprint & emissions point of view

Wouldn’t deny that, but there’s plenty to shout about as well.

 

[Hilly]

Peterson brothers from America do a great job of promoting themselves and agriculture , we need things like that , fun happy not a bloody open university course on the ingredients of a sausage.

 

[Hilly]

Nothing wrong with balanced debate: we need our argument to be bulletproof.

The vegan argument is not bullet proof but they wining the battle with it , and will continue to do so while no fight back because we all to scared our counter argument is not bullet proof hiding away.

 

[Canada Farmer]

Haha - I was thinking the same just before I read your post

This whole thread is very funny, great satire



Oh wait - it's not meant to be comedy. It's actually a very serious subject concerning people's businesses & the industry . . .

In that case, this is one of the saddest & most depressing threads on TFF

Pork sausages
Really ?

FFS

Such a negative, whinging, moaning lot. No one owes you a living, no one cares if you go broke, no one else is going to step in & solve all your problems for you.

Step up or step out . . .

Satire, like Clarke and Dawe?

 

[Farmer Roy]

Peterson brothers from America do a great job of promoting themselves and agriculture , we need things like that , fun happy not a bloody open university course on the ingredients of a sausage.

Yes, just look at how US & Australian farmers use social media to their advantage. Private individuals. Small industry organisation. Grasses roots type stuff, large corporations & industry lobby groups.
No point waiting for the NFU ( does that stand for no f**king use ? ) to do something. Own it yourselves & step up, like the Petersons & others

 

[Pond digger]

It is utterly depressing

Yet how many threads are there bemoaning their lot, there's no money in the game / costs are too high / prices are too low / subsidies / Brexit etc etc. The one common theme of all those threads is they all disintegrate into a squabble, but it doesn't seem like any are willing to adapt or change or heaven forbid - even take advantage of new opportunities . . .
It seems like UK Ag is just stuck in the halcyon days of the 50's or whenever it was & society has to accept that, rather than Ag adapting to changing society . . .

As an outsider looking in, I just shake my head in wonder at the differences in attitudes & resilience between our 2 countries. Why is that so ? Is it a hangover from peasantry / serfdom / tenants ? Is it that sense of "self entitlement" that seems to pervade every thread, that the public somehow "owe" them a living ? Is it so many years of control & regulation via subsidies, payments etc etc that they are incapable of any self initiative or adaptation ? Is it a loss of community & a case of every man for himself, rather than the greater good of the Ag industry in general ?

Pork sausages
Really ?

Can you imagine a campaign promoting U.K. Ag ?
The collective here would be arguing over what a "real" farmer is & wouldn't get past that . . .

FFS

Every hand wringing pizzle dampening angst ridden thread ( weather, Brexit, trade, prices etc ) is people either saying or getting all worked up about the impending political moment and how it will sort out all their business problems / send their business down the pan? So few are actually seriously looking at their, often many, options and PLANNING ahead

I'm sorry to say it, but I think you are a lone voice ( or at least, one that will face a lot of opposition & ridicule ) in your call for any concerted positive campaign for UK Ag to promote itself.
I sincerely wish you all the best, I know that whatever the future holds, you at least will be looking for the opportunities it holds.
As for the rest ?


Pork sausages


Really ?
Time for the blubbering children to grow a pair . . .

You moaning about somebody moaning? ?

 

[SteveHants]

The vegan argument is not bullet proof but they wining the battle with it , and will continue to do so while no fight back because we all to scared our counter argument is not bullet proof hiding away.

In what world are they winning the argument?
Like I said, less than 2%are vegan, step away from the internet and you'll find that not many are militant about it.

It's probably hard to see this as someone who cares about food production on either side of the argument, but in reality, most people don't give a crap about where their food comes from.

I chose chicken as an example deliberately- broilers have come under attack from both meat eaters and veges over the last 20 years (sometimes justifiably - especially with reference to birds growing too fast for their skeletons, which the breed companies have now mostly rectified) and yet the broiler industry expands and expands.

 

[Pond digger]

The vegan argument is not bullet proof but they wining the battle with it , and will continue to do so while no fight back because we all to scared our counter argument is not bullet proof hiding away.

Certainly not suggesting “hiding away”, but we need to be smarter. As said, there’s plenty for us to shout about, without tripping ourselves up.

 

[Hilly]

If the na sayers put as much effort into something positive we would have a hell of a fight back , but no , anyone done anything yet ?

 

[Pond digger]

That tweet is exactly what is needed to counter similar dumbed down over simplified, agenda fueled attacks on our industry

no one give wants you to educated them with the boring facts - no one cares ? get it ? NO ONE cares .............. even I don't care what's in a sausage as long as it taste good and it won't kill me !! I even ate one from Ikea once FFS !


What are YOU doing to educate our customers / counter the vegan / anti farming agenda this week ? and have YOU reached 40,000 of them in just over 48hrs like my "ridiculous" tweet has ?

Errr, actually I care what’s in a sausage, and indeed, the less ingredients the better, especially if I don’t understand what the heck they are.

 

[Pond digger]

So what kind of forums do these vegan nutters inhabit? I might go hunting!

 

[AGN76]

And, almost as if I made it up to prove my point about non-millitant vegans (I didn't, but you'll just have to believe me), my other half (a vegan) sent me this via WhatsApp this morning along with the caption "that woman is a bloody idiot"....https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-49...at-apps.in-app-msg.whatsapp.trial.link1_.auin

I think your other half is right!!