The void in the understanding of farming and the countryside between the general public and those in the industry is so vast it seems like there is no hope.
The recent thread on the abuse towards the livestock on the Somerset dairy farm springs to mind, no I don't condone the abuse but other everyday practices have been highlighted such as the hobble chains.
Over the years we have all come across laughable comments from perfectly rational, educated people totally ignorant of nature and the ways of the world. My ex, didn't have a truly rural upbringing but was aware of life was completely oblivious to be fact that in order for a cow to give milk the animal has to be put in calf, finish the pregnancy so milk can be produced! At least she knew it didn't magically appear in bottles.
Joe Public can't grasp that everything on a farm is there to be "harvested" the corn crops, grass even down to the fluffy lambs gambolling round the fields. British farming has shaped the Green and Pleasant Land that they are so fond of looking at and although they think they know best, the people who are working the ground are the ones who know what to do.
Yes it wouldn't hurt to be more transparent but there is an underlying problem with the ordinary man's idea of who a farmer is, they think of Barley Barons, the Lord of the Manor, big multi flashing beacons on tractors, cows running amok on footpaths and so on.
The only place that Fred Bloggs see's anything half agricultural is their dose of Emmerdale, that is so far removed from real life as can be, Christ are all these people like what we see on EastEnders?
Countrywide is the only thing that goes out to the masses but with the bias and selective reporting it can be downright dangerous to British farming at times
It is so difficult to see how public perception can be brought back into reality with the harshness of Mother Nature, just take the Disney style portrayal of cuddly foxes, badgers and bunnies on the John Lewis advert all over Christmas!
The recent thread on the abuse towards the livestock on the Somerset dairy farm springs to mind, no I don't condone the abuse but other everyday practices have been highlighted such as the hobble chains.
Over the years we have all come across laughable comments from perfectly rational, educated people totally ignorant of nature and the ways of the world. My ex, didn't have a truly rural upbringing but was aware of life was completely oblivious to be fact that in order for a cow to give milk the animal has to be put in calf, finish the pregnancy so milk can be produced! At least she knew it didn't magically appear in bottles.
Joe Public can't grasp that everything on a farm is there to be "harvested" the corn crops, grass even down to the fluffy lambs gambolling round the fields. British farming has shaped the Green and Pleasant Land that they are so fond of looking at and although they think they know best, the people who are working the ground are the ones who know what to do.
Yes it wouldn't hurt to be more transparent but there is an underlying problem with the ordinary man's idea of who a farmer is, they think of Barley Barons, the Lord of the Manor, big multi flashing beacons on tractors, cows running amok on footpaths and so on.
The only place that Fred Bloggs see's anything half agricultural is their dose of Emmerdale, that is so far removed from real life as can be, Christ are all these people like what we see on EastEnders?
Countrywide is the only thing that goes out to the masses but with the bias and selective reporting it can be downright dangerous to British farming at times
It is so difficult to see how public perception can be brought back into reality with the harshness of Mother Nature, just take the Disney style portrayal of cuddly foxes, badgers and bunnies on the John Lewis advert all over Christmas!
