Public Image Limited.

[homefarm]

Does anybody/the public care where clothes and shoes come from or the conditions in which they must be produced.
There are no pictures of the sweat factory the Nike trainers are produced in, just a linked to a famous sports star.
Why is our produce any different.
Let the supermarkets do the PR they know every detail of every customer including their inside leg measurement.

Let the public have the rural dream, because just like clothes and shoes they do not care where food comes from so long as it is cheap.
The rural dream is much better than the facts. Animals have died in the making of this food and almost every thing you eat has been treated with chemicals.

 

[Woolly]

Everything tells me that farmers need to get nearer to the consumer - that's where the ££ are made.

Cost isn't everything. Many folk will pay for a better product, and increasing store is being placed on provenance, 'free from' etc. That's where farmers need to be.

 

[yellowbelly]

I’m really glad I don’t have to deal with a lot of people every day because there are some really ignorant arrogant disgusting people walking this planet these days

A long time ago we had a customer who used to say, "The more people I meet, the more I like my dog."

The older I get, the more I think he was right.

 

[ollie989898]

Sounds like every manager I have ever had, and a good few of today's world leaders!

Sounds like me!

 

[ollie989898]

What is the public perception of a farmer though? Do we really know?
Type "farmer" into Google and select images, and you get endless pages of men in dungarees holding a spud, all smiling happily. Change this to cartoon and you get pages of men in dungarees holding pitchforks.
I have asked townies. They either think we are sons of the soil, leaning on a gate with a bit of straw in our mouths, saying "aaarrrr" and being a bit thick, or twits in Range Rovers and pink cords who swan around looking down their noses at everyone. (livestock v arable????)
The ignorance of what we actually do is staggering. I was told I was sheltered from "real life" by a group of townies once, and I told them I was involved with life, animals giving birth, and death, animals dying or going to slaughter, on a virtual daily basis. They were gobsmacked.
So do we really know what the general public think of us?

Another reason why I should force everyone of you- at gun-point if required- to interact with the public on at least a weekly basis!! Ask them!

 

[Henarar]

I am glad I never bought a RR

 

[yellowbelly]

I am glad I never bought a RR

What? A Reliant Robin......
........I thought you had.......

 

[Henarar]

What? A Reliant Robin......
........I thought you had.......
View attachment 601374

had two at one time, got one over 70mph

 

[yellowbelly]

got one over 70mph

had two at one time

I knew you were a bit flash but 'his and hers' Robins...

There was a farmer not far from here who had 'his and hers' Rolls Royces with personalised number plates....##1 and ##2 in the 1960's

 

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I try and be polite as possible to any trespasser or dog walker. Thankfully in my area a lot of them are really lovely people, so usually ends in a good chat. I think that is important, if you deal with the situation calmly and politely, even if the person is really having a go at you. I was always taught to not lose my temper with people, doesn't always work but I do try my best last walker we had on the land had lost her way, so we very kindly directed her to where she needed to go. She gave us a present for our trouble. Lovely woman We really are blessed with were we live, I just wish everywhere else was like that tbh. So in answer to the question above, usually if you come across as being the calm, polite and lovely mannered person, not just in farming but in any other situation too, you will usually find that it calms both that person and you down. May be a lot harder If their dog is chasing your sheep, but try and keep it together. Be the better person, even if they're not, because it's the right thing to do

 

[PSQ]

There are 5% of TSDG farmers who lost their Tesco contracts this year because (inter alia) they couldn't accept that the image that the UK public have of its farmers is not, in fact,'guff' at all but actually matters.

You mean the dairies didn't look like Tesco's 'Willow Farm', which believe it or not, doesn't actually exist ?

Of course it has nothing to do with Tesco using a subjective (i.e. not easily quantifiable) excuse to rip up contracts along entire tanker routes just to increase their profits?

That would be a Cunning Stunt, would it not

 

[PSQ]

I'm advocating that farmers remove their heads from their arses

Says a solicitor.

-

 

[Old Boar]

Another reason why I should force everyone of you- at gun-point if required- to interact with the public on at least a weekly basis!! Ask them!

I sold directly to the public every week, and was shocked at the lack of understanding of what they were looking at on the stall. The neat packs of bacon or sausages with the label Wild Boar did not seem to mean that I had wild boar, even thought there were photos of me with the wild boar.
The link from meat in a packet to a living animal seems to have disappeared somewhere...

 

[Kiwi Pete]

The link from meat in a packet to a living animal seems to have disappeared somewhere...

It's an incredible phenomenon isn't it.

If it wasn't in a package or packet then they possibly wouldn't have believed it was edible, I really do despair about the state of the human mind.
(Not just farmers, either....)

What benefits are there of our large cranial capacity if it is full of fluff and ideals and no good sense?

 

[multi power]

But food comes from the supermarket
Well that is how so many people see it

 

[haulmblower]

Potato sack advertising!
Hundreds of potato sacks stacked on pallets in front of fruit and veg shops in every city and town.
You would have to pay £££ for a billboard in these locations, what is written on them Wilja or something similar

Why not send a message to the community

 

[Old Boar]

When you stand behind a stall with a 3ft Pumba, and a 6ft back banner with a picture of the boar, and then someone tells their friend that Wild boar are a type of cow.....

 

[Kiwi Pete]

But food comes from the supermarket
Well that is how so many people see it

So many folk have their heads in "Southport".
Heavy haulage not needing any "support" for getting the food into said supermarket being a prime example....

 

[Walterp]

Of course it has nothing to do with Tesco using a subjective (i.e. not easily quantifiable) excuse to rip up contracts along entire tanker routes just to increase their profits?

That would be a Cunning Stunt, would it not

According to Mr Ian Potter, whom I find very reliable:

"Back in November 2015 Tesco announced the introduction of QVIS (Quality, Value, Innovation & Service). QVIS basically drives efficiency and is a scoring mechanism, which indicates whether a farm is operating to a satisfactory standard as per the retailer’s Code of Practice. At the time I commented it would result in “opportunities for the best performing farmers and casualties in terms of the loss of their TSDG contract for the worst performers” as Tesco keep the best and shed the worst.

Almost two years later and 40 (5.7% ) of Tesco’s worst performing dairy farmers have been served six month’s notice because their QVIS score falls into the bottom 5%. Those scoring in the top 5% have been allocated an extra 100,000 litres with the remaining literage to be allocated to a waiting list of new TSDG suppliers including young and/or new entrants.

Each of the 700 TSDG farmers now has their own first year’s QVIS score out of a maximum 100, with the best in class achieving 89 and the top 5% averaging 81. Shockingly the worst only achieved a miserable score of 29 having failed to meet the standards in a combination of areas including animal welfare, milk quality, carbon foot printing, environmental management. In fact, on analysis, if a producer scored maximum points in the health index or carbon foot printing it is highly unlikely they would figure in the bottom 5%. Sadly several farmers in the exit pile have failed in terms of their farm’s tidiness and cleanliness and allegedly some don’t even understand why their farm’s image is relevant to Tesco! For others, it has come as a big shock that they are relatively poor performers, some of whom were high profile and almost sitting with their feet up.

Some of the farmers will appeal and will try hard to improve their performance and score in a short three-month window. For those who appeal they need to be confident their inclusion in the 5% is temporary, and it doesn’t happen again in 12 months’ time. I accept it is possible the odd farmer will successfully appeal on temporary grounds, which were beyond their control. Those who exit will then need to meet Arla, Muller and Red Tractor standards or face being forced to leave the industry. From the information I have some would perhaps be better out and will struggle with any standards, let alone Tesco’s! Those who don’t want to engage will silently surrender their TSDG contract and may even be under the impression that, particularly for Muller Tesco suppliers, they will be financially better off! Trust me that’s unlikely to be the situation come the Spring flush in 2018 when my money is firmly on the TSDG price (29.45p) easily top-trumping the Muller Direct price.

The remainder need to digest their weaknesses and aim to up their game and improve their rating in a year’s time, especially those in the 6% to 20% relegation zone. No doubt the Tesco Dairy Conference on the 22nd November will be a full house as producers secure two bonus points for attending and learn of the tweaks to QVIS and how they need to do more."

 

[haulmblower]

No! No! No!
I was thinking "Grown on farms".