There have been many well contested threads debated on this forum but I discern what may be termed a 'thinning' in not only the views posted but also a 'thinning' in the threads themselves. By 'thinning' I posit that there is a weariness in the ranks of the forum members that is reflected in replies and in the subject matter raised, I certainly feel a level of that myself and was wondering if this is felt widely or is it just me? For the purposes of this thread I will assume there is at least something in my observation and therefore would ask why is this the case, what has been the reason, and what can we do about it?
Perhaps it is the constant barrage of anti-farming propaganda spewing forth from all mainstream sources and the inability we all see and feel in any absence of a well placed counter narrative. Is it also because of the divergent voices within our ranks? Can we find 'common ground' with the ecological hardliners as some think we should surely these people who can only continue if they keep moving the goalposts, because they cannot accept that a good standard of welfare, husbandry or ecological concerns have been met, because then their reason to exist has been removed so they have no alternative but to keep shifting the end point.
Our farming bodies appear to be a bit like the vaccines and claim that things would have been much worse without them, a claim which is not falsifiable, and it is hard to decide whether it is time to demolish and rebuild or get involved and change from within.
On top of all that the last two years have brought a whole new set of concerns we had never dreamed off, and wherever you stand on the whole pandemic debate, all opinions also have a set of anxieties and fears contingent with their position.
When you think about all the issues we confront at this time it is easy to come to the conclusion that things have never been so difficult. It is not clear to me that this is the case, all generations have boogeymen real or imagined to contend with ( and I do think most of them are concocted by governments so they can also then propose the solution and thus show themselves to be great men) and the level of anxiety is probably remarkably similar for the generations.
Should we consider the possibility that what really separates us from our forebears is not any difference in ability, but in conviction. And maybe we should examine why our convictions are less strongly held than our fathers and their fathers before them. Could it be that we have entered a Faustian bargain with the Government and what we call 'big agriculture', and many of us are now sensing and feeling uneasy as the realisation of what that bargain means?
I should like to hear what others think and why, perhaps describe what they think are the foundations of farming and perhaps what we might be able to do, (in the particular rather than the abstract) to fortify our foundations.
Perhaps it is the constant barrage of anti-farming propaganda spewing forth from all mainstream sources and the inability we all see and feel in any absence of a well placed counter narrative. Is it also because of the divergent voices within our ranks? Can we find 'common ground' with the ecological hardliners as some think we should surely these people who can only continue if they keep moving the goalposts, because they cannot accept that a good standard of welfare, husbandry or ecological concerns have been met, because then their reason to exist has been removed so they have no alternative but to keep shifting the end point.
Our farming bodies appear to be a bit like the vaccines and claim that things would have been much worse without them, a claim which is not falsifiable, and it is hard to decide whether it is time to demolish and rebuild or get involved and change from within.
On top of all that the last two years have brought a whole new set of concerns we had never dreamed off, and wherever you stand on the whole pandemic debate, all opinions also have a set of anxieties and fears contingent with their position.
When you think about all the issues we confront at this time it is easy to come to the conclusion that things have never been so difficult. It is not clear to me that this is the case, all generations have boogeymen real or imagined to contend with ( and I do think most of them are concocted by governments so they can also then propose the solution and thus show themselves to be great men) and the level of anxiety is probably remarkably similar for the generations.
Should we consider the possibility that what really separates us from our forebears is not any difference in ability, but in conviction. And maybe we should examine why our convictions are less strongly held than our fathers and their fathers before them. Could it be that we have entered a Faustian bargain with the Government and what we call 'big agriculture', and many of us are now sensing and feeling uneasy as the realisation of what that bargain means?
I should like to hear what others think and why, perhaps describe what they think are the foundations of farming and perhaps what we might be able to do, (in the particular rather than the abstract) to fortify our foundations.
