Martin Grantley Smith “moved on” / “retired”

[Chris F]

I think you missed out NRoSO from the circle.

And Voluntary Initiative

 

[Grass And Grain]

And Voluntary Initiative

Is that the Voluntary Initiative which was going to help safeguard the licence for products such as metaldehyde, clorpyriphos and clorothalonil?

 

[ollie989898]

The official FOIR response:

‘’The individual contractual cost relating to the Facebook Live question and answer session with Mr Will Jackson via the Farmers Weekly Facebook page is commercially competitive information for Farmers Weekly and we are obligated to confidentiality. We have therefore applied Section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act on confidentiality which allows for the recognition that the pricing information was provided with an obligation of confidentiality and disclosure would constitute a breach of confidence, which is likely to be successfully actionable through a court for that breach. Disclosure would be an unauthorised use of the information to the detriment of that organisation’’

Surely levy payers are entitled to know how much the company has spent on whatever they choose to ask about?

I very much doubt Farmers weekly have been able to charge anyone for using 'their' facebook page as it would not belong to them and faceache would want some serious money out of anyone trying to make money using their plaform.

 

[simon w]

Surely levy payers are entitled to know how much the company has spent on whatever they choose to ask about?

I very much doubt Farmers weekly have been able to charge anyone for using 'their' facebook page as it would not belong to them and faceache would want some serious money out of anyone trying to make money using their plaform.

It is very strange that a body we are forced to contribute to can withhold this information.There must be some sort of appeal process they also have not disclosed the number that used the FW question time. They seem to have some kind of bias against TFF perhaps this is due to the potato/hort vote going against them after growers used this forum to muster voters. There is a saying "communication rather than confrontation" the AHDB could learn from.

 

[steveR]

Panorama will split it wide open!

Been waiting a while now....

 

[SilliamWhale]

It is very strange that a body we are forced to contribute to can withhold this information.There must be some sort of appeal process they also have not disclosed the number that used the FW question time. They seem to have some kind of bias against TFF perhaps this is due to the potato/hort vote going against them after growers used this forum to muster voters. There is a saying "communication rather than confrontation" the AHDB could learn from.

It's because a forum can give equal weight to anyone who contributes whereas using Facebook and committees means the narrative can be edited or controlled

 

[ollie989898]

It is very strange that a body we are forced to contribute to can withhold this information.There must be some sort of appeal process they also have not disclosed the number that used the FW question time. They seem to have some kind of bias against TFF perhaps this is due to the potato/hort vote going against them after growers used this forum to muster voters. There is a saying "communication rather than confrontation" the AHDB could learn from.

They deserve to be sunk, totally and irretrievably. There is no need for them to exist.

 

[JP1]

They deserve to be sunk, totally and irretrievably. There is no need for them to exist.

Which you will be unable to do by registering yourself per sector to “have your say” . They learnt that mistake with the potato and veg sector and now it cannot be repeated

You and I are stuck with them

 

[Old apprentice]

Isn't it possible that enought people requested a vote it could be done?

 

[teslacoils]

Panorama will split it wide open!

Like a packet of rich tea at a boys boarding school game of "soggy biscuit". See circle jerk above.

You and I are stuck with them

No. I'd expect they will be getting a vote soon. And after that, should it fail, they may find that voters start electing far more millitant representatives to the board at the expense of their chummy mates.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

AHDB cancelled late yesterday - they didn’t like comments in this thread and do not want to meet or engage with anyone critical of them

Specifically they didn’t like a post made by @Chris F which mentioned Will Jacksons salary (information already in the public domain ) and was critical of Will not responding to emails (a fact)

it’s now clear they are happy to ignore FREE engagement with any of the 10’s of thousands of levy payers that use TFF everyday, instead they will continue pay Farmers Weekly and others where narrative can be controlled to reach much smaller numbers. As a levy payer this has changed by opinion of AHDB significantly and I can see no justification for that ? I have asked AHDB employees and CEO directly (as a levy payer) to explain in polite emails this seemingly wasteful use of levy payer money but have not been afforded reply. Seeing money being wasted like this makes me wonder what else it maybe being wasted upon ?

it's clear to me from this and what we have all seen in FOIR emails that a very cozy relationship between AHDB RT AIC NFU and others exists. This platforms members upsets, exposes and threatens these relationships and they simply do not know how to deal with that. There is nothing wrong with levy payers starting threads like this, asking questions, being critical and holding to account anyone they ultimately are paying for. This thread has not been in anyway rude or threatening, if it had been it would have been moderated. Some personal questions were asked which were close to the bone but nothing we would not see in main stream media being asked or discussed about any of our politicians etc. As I have posted several times anyone with any level of public profile has to accept criticism and scrutiny as part of the job.



Finally I wanted to post here what I was prepared to give up a morning of my time and drive to Stoneleigh and sit in a room of highly paid individuals to explain, I could email but (ironically) ALL involved at AHDB are of course reading this "irrelevant" forum so I will post here instead............


TFF is now over a decade old, it started as a small forum called "Direct Driller" and existed purely and selfishly to enable knowledge exchange on a subject I needed to learn more about. In truth I shouldn't have had to start a forum at all, that's exactly the kind of thing the AHDB should have been innovating had they been forward thinking enough back then. It has grown in size to a point where over a bibles worth of words are added by farmer contributors EVERY day, and hosts 30-40000 unique vistors EVERY day, there is nothing close online in terms of UK farmer use, not even AgTwitter or facebook. It continues to grow and it is not going away. Any of this can be easily independently verified and should be rather than listening to uninformed, agenda fuelled assumption from those for whom either commercially or representationally the existence of TFF does suit

Facilitation of knowledge exchange is still to this day our primary remit, all none commercial organisations that have remit or desire to engage with farmers are welcome to us the platform completely free of charge or moderation to improve communication with farmers , some (such as DEFRA) do a very good job of this and we have a load of analytic tools that run behind the forum that can demonstrate massive changes in sentiment towards them.

I'm a farmer that accidentally ended up owning and being part of a team that runs this platform, it's not something I planned or ever wanted to do if honest but it has undoubtedly been very successful and of use to many, including myself as there are many examples of things I have learnt and discovered via TFF that has transformed my farm business, quite frankly more than I think I have ever really got from AHDB .

The experience it has given me and others like @Chris F over the last decade or so has taught us a LOT about agricultural social media to a point whee I'm fairly confident that there are very few individuals (if any) that have as much experience and specific knowledge in this niche area as we do, In the commercial world of digital agriculture we now earn good money for sharing that knowledge but we are always happy to give away time to help any none commercial organisations, charities or agricultural governance if doing so benefits the industry that we love, are proud to be part of and make a living from, we do not exist however to do that for people that are already being paid significant salaries by farmers who seemingly either hold a personal prejudices that get in the way of doing their job or maybe just simply can not be bothered to do ?



An email I received last week on this subject from Tim Rycroft (AHDB CEO) stated "AHDB will continue to engage actively and robustly with levy payers, whether they be our supporters or critics, through a range of existing and new communications and engagement methods". This sentiment sadly does not seem to be aligned with the views and policies of his communication and engagement team, I know a lot of good staff have left AHDB over the last 12 months, it's clear that a lot is changing internally and the loss of Potato and Horticulture votes has placed the fear of god into them regarding their very existence in the future. I would say there has never been a more important time to communicate what you do and why you are value to farmers than NOW and lack of engagement in thread like this are just going to be nails in a coffin unless culture within AHDB changes fast

As a farmer this thread has bought nothing but disappointment, sadness and more disillusionment about the state of our industry right now which faces some seriously difficult times over the next few years and needs effective communication and leadership more than it ever has.

I have nothing more to add to this thread and nothing more to say about the AHDB other than "we did try to help"

Just read this post again. It's absolutely ridiculous that they would cancel a meeting with no notice because the engagement officer was called out for not engaging. They can't have cancelled the meeting because the disengaged engagement officer's £85k salary was revealed on here because it's already in the public domain.

If they don't like engaging with farmers, then really they are in the wrong job.

There seems to be an assumption that they are entitled to the levy to spend as they see fit.

They are starting to look like a more expensive version of the dead tractor "Give us your money, it's for your own benefit".

 

[teslacoils]

85k..

184,000 tons of levy money right there.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

85k..

184,000 tons of levy money right there.

Wow. Do we know the total levies the AHDB sucks out of the industry?

 

[An Gof]

Wow. Do we know the total levies the AHDB sucks out of the industry/

Yes, read the annual report.

 

[An Gof]

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1037361/AHDB-annual-report-accounts-2020-21.pdf

£57.6m total levy income

 

[Top Tip.]

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1037361/AHDB-annual-report-accounts-2020-21.pdf

£57.6m total levy income

They’ll need every penny of it to maintain there plush offices and I mean plush ,I’ve been shown round and it is a very pleasant work environment.

 

[Grass And Grain]

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1037361/AHDB-annual-report-accounts-2020-21.pdf

£57.6m total levy income

They spent £120,000 of it on advertising/promotion of the recent Levy Payer Survey.

 

[Clive]

85k..

184,000 tons of levy money right there.

 

[warksfarmer]

They’ll need every penny of it to maintain there plush offices and I mean plush ,I’ve been shown round and it is a very pleasant work environment.

Just like the Nfu office. Totally corrupt and living off the backs of farmers who no longer make up the bulk of the annual membership. the moles keep feeding info out …….

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Interesting isn't it?

They say they work for us but I'm beginning to think we are all working for them.