Jeremy Clarksons Sunday times piece

[hally]

Minette Batters is the best president of the NFU we've had for a very long time. What an ignorant post.

Really, under her watch we are facing unprecedented cuts in agricultural support, removal of all protection we had against foreign imports and an increase in red tape that will be crippling to our businesses without some level of support to pay for it all. She may not be the worst but some of the changes coming to this industry could be the most damaging in a generation……again all under her watch.

 

[yellow belly]

She may well be but I can't help feeling that we are drowning under a torrent of negative publicity, uncertainty and regulation that our new competition is not burdened with. Is it the NFU 's fault? Not entirely but there is no doubt that they seem incapable of getting our side of the story anywhere near the top of the actual decision makers agenda. Who would ever have thought that JC would become a farmers champion?

We have not had that since rationing was forgotten about by politicians
the days of the nfu writing government policy finished 50 years ago

 

[Hilly]

Jeremy should keep what he does best
minette should keep doing what she does best

jack of all trades May work on some farms but not off the farm

You for real what a

 

[primmiemoo]

TFF fund to put it in there and the rest of the press as an advert?

Clarkson to be a guest writer, first? The Guardian does have some good journalism, but it's patchier since it took on the mantle of the wilders.

 

[Jimdog1]

Really, under her watch we are facing unprecedented cuts in agricultural support, removal of all protection we had against foreign imports and an increase in red tape that will be crippling to our businesses without some level of support to pay for it all. She may not be the worst but some of the changes coming to this industry could be the most damaging in a generation……again all under her watch.

I'm not sure any of the 1st part of your post is her fault. However, it is what it is - are the NFU going to raise there game.....

 

[hally]

I'm not sure any of the 1st part of your post is her fault. However, it is what it is - are the NFU going to raise there game.....

No you are possibly right but a representative body with massive influence in the corridors of power would not be sidelined in these crucial policy decisions. Losing 3billion of ag support is bound to be negative for the family farm structure of the UK, not so much the larger agribusinesses

 

[Yale]

No you are possibly right but a representative body with massive influence in the corridors of power would not be sidelined in these crucial policy decisions. Losing 3billion of ag support is bound to be negative for the family farm structure of the UK, not so much the larger agribusinesses

Larger farms with employees have higher costs than family farms,actually,family farms will dig in and cut their cost.

Businesses which employ can only go so far with this.

 

[Hilly]

Larger farms with employees have higher costs than family farms,actually,family farms will dig in and cut their cost.

Businesses which employ can only go so far with this.

Aye , the family farm with no outside labour is the most efficient model , the ones employing are on a hiding to nothing if things got really tight .

 

[Jimdog1]

Larger farms with employees have higher costs than family farms,actually,family farms will dig in and cut their cost.

Businesses which employ can only go so far with this.

I agree. I am going to miss BPS but I am hopeful that there will be new opportunities that will keep me profitable. I say this as a small farmer.. For any business to have £100,000.00 knocked off your income, not sure how your going to replace that?

 

[M-J-G]

Aye , the family farm with no outside labour is the most efficient model , the ones employing are on a hiding to nothing if things got really tight .

Exactly
Family will put the new car/new kitchen/holiday etc. on hold during tough times.
But employees still need their wages every week or month.

I believe this is what makes the family farm such a diverse situation.

 

[Hilly]

I agree. I am going to miss BPS but I am hopeful that there will be new opportunities that will keep me profitable. I say this as a small farmer.. For any business to have £100,000.00 knocked off your income, not sure how your going to replace that?

If them that have been given the anual free gift of 100k a year are not millionaires or multi millionaires already they won’t last with none for sure , if all that’s been spent on production pitty help them.

 

[Hilly]

Exactly
Family will put the new car/new kitchen/holiday etc. on hold during tough times.
But employees still need their wages every week or month.

I believe this is what makes the family farm such a diverse situation.

Not just that but wage inflation is way ahead of anything agg produce is doing , to have employees on the books take the bps out and justify their existence take some farm !

 

[Bald Rick]

Really, under her watch we are facing unprecedented cuts in agricultural support, removal of all protection we had against foreign imports and an increase in red tape that will be crippling to our businesses without some level of support to pay for it all. She may not be the worst but some of the changes coming to this industry could be the most damaging in a generation……again all under her watch.

To be fair to Ms Batters, she is in place during a period of turmoil as we transition out of Europe, lose support payments to which some have become addicted, in a country that is trying to arrange any sort of trade deals with other nations all whilst having to deal with a government in the middle of a pandemic and a PM whom is a eco-warrior

I will also say that she is a much more "visible" president than the last one in terms of media coverage. Never saw Meurig on Question Time nor heard him on Woman's Hour

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

To be fair to Ms Batters, she is in place during a period of turmoil as we transition out of Europe, lose support payments to which some have become addicted, in a country that is trying to arrange any sort of trade deals with other nations all whilst having to deal with a government in the middle of a pandemic and a PM whom is a eco-warrior

I will also say that she is a much more "visible" president than the last one in terms of media coverage. Never saw Meurig on Question Time nor heard him on Woman's Hour

From what I hear, she is a big supporter of red tractor. The NFU (whose members include merchants, processors and retailers). co- own red tractor along with the British retail consortium among other non farming organisations.

We all know red tractor is run for the benefit of the non farming food chain, be it feed mills, fertiliser suppliers or supermarkets.

How anyone can possibly say that any of this is working for the benefit of farmers is beyond me, and until any of that changes they will continue to lose farmer support.

 

[Bald Rick]

From what I hear, she is a big supporter of red tractor. The NFU (whose members include merchants, processors and retailers). co- own red tractor along with the British retail consortium among other non farming organisations.

We all know red tractor is run for the benefit of the non farming food chain, be it feed mills, fertiliser suppliers or supermarkets.

How anyone can possibly say that any of this is working for the benefit of farmers is beyond me, and until any of that changes they will continue to lose farmer support.

I'm no supporter of RT in its current form at all. It has become bloated and bureaucratic way beyond its needs or relevance to traceability and food sources.
I am, however, a supporter of some form of on-farm auditing to ensure that we are all working within a set of common standards that promotes the welfare & safety of British grown food.

I guess Ms Batters has a near impossible task of reigning back RT now the corporates have infested the NFU

 

[tullah]

I'm no supporter of RT in its current form at all. It has become bloated and bureaucratic way beyond its needs or relevance to traceability and food sources.
I am, however, a supporter of some form of on-farm auditing to ensure that we are all working within a set of common standards that promotes the welfare & safety of British grown food.

I guess Ms Batters has a near impossible task of reigning back RT now the corporates have infested the NFU

So you agree with us being audited or not to the same standard as "equal to imports". We all know that imports are not audited.
Those that don't agree to equal to imports are quite happy for an unlevel playing field and to be undercut.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

I'm no supporter of RT in its current form at all. It has become bloated and bureaucratic way beyond its needs or relevance to traceability and food sources.
I am, however, a supporter of some form of on-farm auditing to ensure that we are all working within a set of common standards that promotes the welfare & safety of British grown food.

I guess Ms Batters has a near impossible task of reigning back RT now the corporates have infested the NFU

The thing is that we all know that most of red tractor is asking have you broken the law? So that would be tagging and recording livestock movements, observing withdrawal periods and complying with spray labels and general cross compliance.

It's what we do anyway, because it's the law and because it's how you get the best out of your farm.

There are numerous government agencies who actually oversee all this; and most of us act within the law. So what is the point of red tractor unless it becomes a government agency to replace all the others?

She can't control RT because her own membership consists of non farming bodies whose contributions to the society mean that she is beholden to them.

 

[Steevo]

So you agree with us being audited or not to the same standard as "equal to imports". We all know that imports are not audited.
Those that don't agree to equal to imports are quite happy for an unlevel playing field and to be undercut.

Clarkson's piece sums the situation up well.

Market forces do not work because producers are not able to respond to the demands of the customer In fact, consumers are unable to voice them effectively. Effectively we have two customers, the end user (be that the supermarket/restaurant/processor/retailer and the government - both of whom tell the farmer and the "eater" how things will be.

Sadly I can't see most customers paying the extra £5 for their meat - to them as he puts it all meat is equal. The link between the food they eat and the result on the farmed environment around them just isn't there so good on Jeremy for highlighting this.

I had a conversation with a tradesman about milk yesterday.....they said they would be happy to pay more for milk if they knew that money went to the farmer. They said that at 20p extra a litre, £2 extra on their 10l milk consumption per week would be nothing to them. That additional moeny would mean a huge amount to the farmer when multiplied up. If all things were equal (convenience of still buying at supermarket) then that support is worth the extra cost to that person because they can see where it would go and how the farmers that produce the food deserve a fairer price for it in order to survive.

Do the public value the countryside and want to continue to see cows in the field? I think they do.....but I think that successive governments have created a disconnect between this and food production over a period of decades.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Clarkson's piece sums the situation up well.

Market forces do not work because producers are not able to respond to the demands of the customer In fact, consumers are unable to voice them effectively. Effectively we have two customers, the end user (be that the supermarket/restaurant/processor/retailer and the government - both of whom tell the farmer and the "eater" how things will be.

Sadly I can't see most customers paying the extra £5 for their meat - to them as he puts it all meat is equal. The link between the food they eat and the result on the farmed environment around them just isn't there so good on Jeremy for highlighting this.

I had a conversation with a tradesman about milk yesterday.....they said they would be happy to pay more for milk if they knew that money went to the farmer. They said that at 20p extra a litre, £2 extra on their 10l milk consumption per week would be nothing to them. That additional moeny would mean a huge amount to the farmer when multiplied up. If all things were equal (convenience of still buying at supermarket) then that support is worth the extra cost to that person because they can see where it would go and how the farmers that produce the food deserve a fairer price for it in order to survive.

Do the public value the countryside and want to continue to see cows in the field? I think they do.....but I think that successive governments have created a disconnect between this and food production over a period of decades.

The trouble is that the supermarkets would up the price by 20p and then charge the farmer 2p a litre to be in the scheme.