Is the NFU doing its job for Farmers ?

[Lincoln75]

I`m not a farmer but have an interest in the industry , most farmers I talk to dont have much time for the NFU so I was wondering what the general consensus was here on TFF .

 

[Bald Rick]

For better or worse, they are our voice in the corridors of power.
Personally I should remove my finger from my orifice and stand for office rather than slag them off ..... but I can’t be bothered
Still, I don’t begrudge my subs as it’s better than nothing

 

[Wooly]

This poll isn't going to end well !!

Mind you, we were told that TFF was insignificant by the NFU, so any constructive criticism or polls on here are irrelevant to the paymasters.

 

[gone up the hill]

For better or worse, they are our voice in the corridors of power.
Personally I should remove my finger from my orifice and stand for office rather than slag them off ..... but I can’t be bothered
Still, I don’t begrudge my subs as it’s better than nothing

So you are happy to pay subs to the NFU which is actively employing people from left wing places like the BBC/ Guardian etc who only have an intrest in not defending/and or attacking UK farming??

( and they do have a policy of employing left wing people as Guy Smith confirmed on another thread recently )

 

[Sharpy]

So you are happy to pay subs to the NFU which is actively employing people from left wing places like the BBC/ Guardian etc who only have an intrest in not defending/and or attacking UK farming??

( and they do have a policy of employing left wing people as Guy Smith confirmed on another thread recently )

You've stated this twice but not bothered quoting the relevant post.

 

[Goweresque]

Is @Clive trying to boost the TFF web traffic figures before the year end???????

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Dont think they will be ever needed more than they will be in the next few years.
Something needs to change to get farmers behind them

 

[Clive]

Is @Clive trying to boost the TFF web traffic figures before the year end???????

Lol - not interested, I think the question has been answered before !

Everyone has a choice - no one is forced to be a member so ultimately they are masters of their own fate

 

[Henarar]

Lol - not interested, I think the question has been answered before !

Everyone has a choice - no one is forced to be a member so ultimately they are masters of their own fate

there is not much alternative though apart from nothing

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

I have always been an NFU supporter because there is no other organisation in England that looks after working farmers interests.
They could always do better but surely one can say that about any organisation. I am also a token member of the CLA and to be honest I am going to give that up as they contribute absolutely nothing to farming.
All of those who say they are a complete waste of time I presume would not wish to pay any subs to look after their interests and also do not wish to contribute to the only lobbying organisation that we have.

Apart from the hoary old chestnut about OMOV for the leadership you are able to influence the organisation through the local democratic structure. I have held a number of positions over the years and sat on many specialist committees which have made a radical difference in our own parliament and within the EU.

It is all a bit like we don't want to remain in the EU but we don't know what we want instead. We are just happy not to contribute if that makes us worse off or let someone else (not sure who) do the work for us!

 

[egbert]

I have always been an NFU supporter because there is no other organisation in England that looks after working farmers interests.
They could always do better but surely one can say that about any organisation. I am also a token member of the CLA and to be honest I am going to give that up as they contribute absolutely nothing to farming.
All of those who say they are a complete waste of time I presume would not wish to pay any subs to look after their interests and also do not wish to contribute to the only lobbying organisation that we have.

Apart from the hoary old chestnut about OMOV for the leadership you are able to influence the organisation through the local democratic structure. I have held a number of positions over the years and sat on many specialist committees which have made a radical difference in our own parliament and within the EU.

It is all a bit like we don't want to remain in the EU but we don't know what we want instead. We are just happy not to contribute if that makes us worse off or let someone else (not sure who) do the work for us!

It's not that they do nothing, it's the direction of travel.
There seems to be an idea that if we're all forward thinking tech enabled lowland farmers, we'll reinvent the wheel.

In the real world, some of us are not like that.
Some of us are working and living on less than perfect ground, off the track beaten by cash rich diversification customers.
The core business we're involved in can hardly pay in its own right, so even the sharpest forward thinkers are hardly pushing the boundaries.
Those with the shiniest gear and latest whistles and bells are often either simply pishing away their subsidies, or using funding from outside to do it.

I went to a presentation on impending cattle EID lately, which the NFU are evidently heavily backing (glossy NFU funded videos playing promoting the concept).
And the presentation included several outright lies, trying to jolly us along.
We were told that you'll be able to walk into the field and scan the tags (really really, we were told that),
and that we MUST adopt EID as the UK are falling behind the rest of the world in cattle ID.
When it was pointed out what happens in various other countries...multiple half ersed tagging systems/no tags until sale etc etc(and other DEFRA staff present confirmed the stories) there was a quick change of subject.
A direct question from one member of the audience 'what gain will this get me, from my suckled calves sold at 6 months?' simply led to another quick change of subject.

Then there's the latest 'oops', where top office holders allowed their (understandable) declared position on farm safety make it look like they're critical of that Dales family with all the kids on the TV.
The TV show is demonstrably doing huge PR work for peasants like me -the tedious Chris Evans raving about it for instance- , at a time when 'rewilding nuts' are stalking the corridors of power, and the way of life portrayed is immediately recognisable to so many of us -change the faces/numbers of kids/breed of sheep, and that is exactly how it is.
We do understand the safety concerns, really we do....but backing the UNITE statements so quickly hardly read well.

I'm a member, and regard the dues as a modest PR investment, but by gum the flavour of the organisation is light years from where I sit.

 

[Grass And Grain]

I'm not a member of the NFU, as I think their involvment and stance on Farm Assurance stinks. Reading threads on here and talking to other farmers, i think that most farmers do not want farm assurance, and would leave FA if they could.

Also think the NFU are not vociferous enough in putting the case forward for certain issues.

Hence, why i am not a member.

If they were to reform then i would pay my membership.

I would gladly join another organisation that was more robust in fighting for the interests of UK farmers. Some sort of Real Farmers Union with bigger teeth.

I just cannot join the NFU when they back the farm assurance pantomime. I have to be farm assured for grain if i want to sell to a feed mill. Same mill can buy GM soya from South America that has no traceability, mix it together and send it out as assured feed. That is wrong. It stinks. There's no sense in it. If non-assured soya can be used, then there is no case for the grain to be assured going into these feed mills. It is a whole load of nonsense.

Can anyone from the NFU please come on here and explain/defend this situation to me?

I take a similar view when it comes to all the regulation we have. I don't mind high standards of animal welfare, pesticide safety, NVZ's etc. BUT, we can't have all these costs, whilst we try and compete with the rest of world ag. Either imports need to be produced to our standards, or we should get more subsidy payments (much more than we get now). If we have high standards for chicken welfare (which we should), but standards and cop in Thailand are lower, then we will end up importing chicken from Thailand. Badically we will have exported the animal welfare issue to another country, at the expense of our domestic production. The government need to be aware that we will not stand for this unlevel playingfield. How an earth can this be sensible.

These issues need to be red lines for UK ag, and we need an organisation who take the steps to achieve this.

Rant over!

 

[roscoe erf]

Is @Clive trying to boost the TFF web traffic figures before the year end???????

only if we entertain the non farmer

 

[egbert]

I'm not a member of the NFU, as I think their involvment and stance on Farm Assurance stinks. Reading threads on here and talking to other farmers, i think that most farmers do not want farm assurance, and would leave FA if they could.

Also think the NFU are not vociferous enough in putting the case forward for certain issues.

Hence, why i am not a member.

If they were to reform then i would pay my membership.

I would gladly join another organisation that was more robust in fighting for the interests of UK farmers. Some sort of Real Farmers Union with bigger teeth.

I just cannot join the NFU when they back the farm assurance pantomime. I have to be farm assured for grain if i want to sell to a feed mill. Same mill can buy GM soya from South America that has no traceability, mix it together and send it out as assured feed. That is wrong. It stinks. There's no sense in it. If non-assured soya can be used, then there is no case for the grain to be assured going into these feed mills. It is a whole load of nonsense.

Can anyone from the NFU please come on here and explain/defend this situation to me?

I take a similar view when it comes to all the regulation we have. I don't mind high standards of animal welfare, pesticide safety, NVZ's etc. BUT, we can't have all these costs, whilst we try and compete with the rest of world ag. Either imports need to be produced to our standards, or we should get more subsidy payments (much more than we get now). If we have high standards for chicken welfare (which we should), but standards and cop in Thailand are lower, then we will end up importing chicken from Thailand. Badically we will have exported the animal welfare issue to another country, at the expense of our domestic production. The government need to be aware that we will not stand for this unlevel playingfield. How an earth can this be sensible.

These issues need to be red lines for UK ag, and we need an organisation who take the steps to achieve this.

Rant over!

I didn't get to Red Tractor...but i'm with you there.

 

[Grass And Grain]

I didn't get to Red Tractor...but i'm with you there.

Maybe i shouldn't have mentioned it!

Didn't mean for it to denegrade into a RT thread. That said, i think it is a big issue for many farmers, and a big reason that many farmers might have withdrawn their support for the NFU, but the NFU know best and seem to ignore the voice of their grass roots farmers. My view is that if an organisation is on a pedestal and ignores its members it will be doomed to fail.

I am led to believe that they have an interest in RT, which seems to be a conflict of interest.

Edit. The alternative is for RT and the NFU to make CERTAIN that imports equal the RT standards, and/or negotiate a premium for the RT assured food.

I'd like to see our unions negotiate the premium for assured produce, which the farmer then invoices the customer for. For example, send the beef animal to the abattoir, then send an invoice to the abattoir for the assured standard produce, lets say £50 per head. Same with grain, £10/tonne.

In every other industry, premium products come at a premium price. There's no reason why we shouldn't charge for this premium produce, but we need the NFU to negotiate the premium.

Also grain moistures. We get a moisture bonus for oilseed rape, that's a fair system. Why haven't the NFU negotiated the same bonus system for grain? What are they messing about at? Hopeless.

If i was in charge at the NFU, then i would make it a priority to address such issues.

 

[egbert]

Maybe i shouldn't have mentioned it!

Didn't mean for it to denegrade into a RT thread. That said, i think it is a big issue for many farmers, and a big reason that many farmers might have withdrawn their support for the NFU, but the NFU know best and seem to ignore the voice of their grass roots farmers. My view is that if an organisation is on a pedestal and ignores its members it will be doomed to fail.

I don't know about doomed to fail -like I said, i regard the dues as a fairly cheap investment. but it wrankles that I'm so far off their path to enlightenment.
As for FA/ red tractor.
We're 3 years in, and I notice the requirements are ratcheting up sharply.
It's up to them, but the only benefit i'm seeing at the mo is being able to put old cows into an outfit which is crucifying me whenever they can anyway.
I'm not altogether sure I'll stay in if requirements rise.

The funniest was having to have the vet visit to sign off on some lengthy paperchain Mrs Egbert had drawn up.
He's been one of my vets for maybe pushing 30 years, and we had to sit and talk like babies to tick the boxes.
He knows -vaguely, bless his heart- that if we didn't have a very very clear grasp on how to maintain healthy stock up here, we'd fail in pretty short order.
Quizzing me, he got answers he'd never considered (because how to remain in business farming isn't something he has to worry about), but which demonstrated we take it sufficiently seriously.
I was instructed to carry out this meeting by an inspector -who was perfectly pleasant and sensible, but i'm pretty sure had a lollipop in one hand and a teddybear in the other.

 

[The Ruminant]

I went to a TB meeting the other day, organised by the NFU to educate us about the ways to keep our area as TB4. It was excellent, really informative.

Natural England / RPA are several years late paying HLS monies to one of my clients. NFU lobbying secured a 70% “advance” payment, thankfully.

NFU has been lobbying hard, really hard, to force Gove to make changes to the proposed Agriculture Bill. Thank goodness, as I’m not sure who else was watching our for us farmers.

I also believe NFU’s lobbying is one of the main reasons food and farming is at the forefront of the Brexit discussions. They’ve worked hard (albeit helped by having a political hard hitter as Secretary of State) to raise its profile.

Finally, just for the avoidance of doubt, I’m not affiliated to the NFU in any way so speak as I observe it from the outside. I think we are extremely lucky to have a strong union and think the current top team of Minette, Guy and Stuart are excellent.

 

[milkloss]

It's not that they do nothing, it's the direction of travel.
There seems to be an idea that if we're all forward thinking tech enabled lowland farmers, we'll reinvent the wheel.

In the real world, some of us are not like that.
Some of us are working and living on less than perfect ground, off the track beaten by cash rich diversification customers.
The core business we're involved in can hardly pay in its own right, so even the sharpest forward thinkers are hardly pushing the boundaries.
Those with the shiniest gear and latest whistles and bells are often either simply pishing away their subsidies, or using funding from outside to do it.

I went to a presentation on impending cattle EID lately, which the NFU are evidently heavily backing (glossy NFU funded videos playing promoting the concept).
And the presentation included several outright lies, trying to jolly us along.
We were told that you'll be able to walk into the field and scan the tags (really really, we were told that),
and that we MUST adopt EID as the UK are falling behind the rest of the world in cattle ID.
When it was pointed out what happens in various other countries...multiple half ersed tagging systems/no tags until sale etc etc(and other DEFRA staff present confirmed the stories) there was a quick change of subject.
A direct question from one member of the audience 'what gain will this get me, from my suckled calves sold at 6 months?' simply led to another quick change of subject.

Then there's the latest 'oops', where top office holders allowed their (understandable) declared position on farm safety make it look like they're critical of that Dales family with all the kids on the TV.
The TV show is demonstrably doing huge PR work for peasants like me -the tedious Chris Evans raving about it for instance- , at a time when 'rewilding nuts' are stalking the corridors of power, and the way of life portrayed is immediately recognisable to so many of us -change the faces/numbers of kids/breed of sheep, and that is exactly how it is.
We do understand the safety concerns, really we do....but backing the UNITE statements so quickly hardly read well.

I'm a member, and regard the dues as a modest PR investment, but by gum the flavour of the organisation is light years from where I sit.

I’m with you on the eid for cattle farce. It is tragic they are pushing something with such a deluded attitude regarding the benefits of it for members.

 

[DRC]

Dont think they will be ever needed more than they will be in the next few years.
Something needs to change to get farmers behind them

I wonder why that will be ?

 

[Timbo]

I’m with you on the eid for cattle farce. It is tragic they are pushing something with such a deluded attitude regarding the benefits of it for members.

With the pressures of brexit and 'realignment ' of the country i suspect itll become delayed....