Where is the NFU etc?

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
Tesco (et al).
We don't produce 10%. If we got rid of UK ag then GHG emissions would rise. If we got rid of livestock emissions would rise.
It's a message that the NFU is utterly incapable of delivering. Because the primary role of the NFU is to take the blame on behalf of the rest of the food chain. The NFU don't work for you. They work for the global corporations who screw you on a daily basis.
Actually, farming might not emit much co2 but without it there would be no factories, so no airlines, no cars, not much in the way of tools. So in a way we are the cause of it all.

There would of course be a lot of dead bodies around the place. No co2 though, because everyone would spend most of their time worrying about where the next meal was coming from, catching rabbits and digging up wild roots or whatever.

Civilisation depends on farming, however well or badly it is done because it's where food comes from in the modern world. It enables all the other activities we have chosen to do instead of hunter gathering.

The idea that farmers are doing it wrong is laughable, it's civilisation.
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
247650394_10228483901265473_3480719159576334137_n.jpg
 
Can't you copy and paste the juicy


‘’When we consider their inflated membership claims in relation to the whole UK industry we see just how unrepresentative the NFU council actually is. There are, in fact, some 212,000 UK holdings. NFU membership is only 26% of these. The truly astounding misrepresentation is that the NFU claim the number of holdings to be the number of farmers. The NFU’s membership is only 19% of the 294,000 registered commercial British farmers and a mere 11% of the recorded 476,000 farming workforce. A far cry from the "more than 70% of farmers".
... What is certain is the NFU is not anywhere close to representing the two thirds of farmers it implies – less than a fifth at best’’
 

Steevo

Member
Location
Gloucestershire
The NFU represent us. And before anyone starts, yes that's all of us whether or not we pay subs, because they use the strapline 'the voice of British farming'. Not 'the voice of our farmer members'.

The NFU, therefore, are us. They aren't like an airline taking money off a customer.

Take Bob Crow, God rest his soul. Would he have gone on the radio and telly taking the blame for London's transport congestion and pollution ? Damn right he wouldn't, he would have laid the blame where it really lay, and he would have made sure his drivers got well paid for being the heroes.

If our elected representatives aren't up to the job - and why should they be, they are farmers not media people - then the NFU should pay top dollar for some professionals. I have written before about Jane Bickerstaff.

https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index...ommunications-team.328028/page-6#post-7168444

Agreed, apologies.

What I guess I meant to say….as you did….is that the NFU themselves take responsibility for nothing. They just make others (farmers) responsible, whilst claiming the “credit” for doing that.
 
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Highashgrange

Member
Arable Farmer
Spoke to a local Nfu bod today and he said in the Nfu they aren’t happy about the video doing the rounds of clarkson at that awards things because he swore quite a bit and they’ve latched into him but it’s done them no favours in political circles. So everybody if you see it on social media make sure you share it 😄

clarksons attitude is bad for the Nfu because they are trying to move in political circles but political circles don’t like Clarkson. So their association with him has weakened their position further.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Read pages 104-107 of the attached.

Crikey, I hadn’t realised you’d become one of ‘them’.😲

The 5 year old source you quote is from an organisation who set out to undermine the NFU, and likely any mainstream farming, coming from the ‘anti-badger cull’ crusaders. It has been linked on here previously by our very own resident Green activist.

Whether the figures quoted on there are accurate I have no idea, but the biased tilt of the organisation would lead me to treat them as complete BS take them with a very large pinch of salt.
 

delilah

Member
Spoke to a local Nfu bod today and he said in the Nfu they aren’t happy about the video doing the rounds of clarkson at that awards things because he swore quite a bit and they’ve latched into him but it’s done them no favours in political circles. So everybody if you see it on social media make sure you share it 😄

clarksons attitude is bad for the Nfu because they are trying to move in political circles but political circles don’t like Clarkson. So their association with him has weakened their position further.

It is utterly bizarre that so many people can confuse 'entertainment' with 'representation'. I've always had Clarkson down as a boorish d**k, a personal bias based on his attitude towards the environmental movement, but even if I loved him I wouldn't for a second think him a safe pair of hands to represent UK ag.
 
‘’When we consider their inflated membership claims in relation to the whole UK industry we see just how unrepresentative the NFU council actually is. There are, in fact, some 212,000 UK holdings. NFU membership is only 26% of these. The truly astounding misrepresentation is that the NFU claim the number of holdings to be the number of farmers. The NFU’s membership is only 19% of the 294,000 registered commercial British farmers and a mere 11% of the recorded 476,000 farming workforce. A far cry from the "more than 70% of farmers".
... What is certain is the NFU is not anywhere close to representing the two thirds of farmers it implies – less than a fifth at best’’
I have 2 holdings on defra s surveys under one business
but also farm land that was on a number of holdings in the past

and i know others that have more

many farm businesses have more than one partner but get counted as one member business
many farm business have several registered commercial farmers
 

delilah

Member
Crikey, I hadn’t realised you’d become one of ‘them’.😲

The 5 year old source you quote is from an organisation who set out to undermine the NFU, and likely any mainstream farming, coming from the ‘anti-badger cull’ crusaders. It has been linked on here previously by our very own resident Green activist.

Whether the figures quoted on there are accurate I have no idea, but the biased tilt of the organisation would lead me to treat them as complete BS take them with a very large pinch of salt.

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethical-consumer-magazine

Good people.
 

spin cycle

Member
Location
north norfolk
It is utterly bizarre that so many people can confuse 'entertainment' with 'representation'. I've always had Clarkson down as a boorish d**k, a personal bias based on his attitude towards the environmental movement, but even if I loved him I wouldn't for a second think him a safe pair of hands to represent UK ag.

'the enemy of my enemy etc' :)
 
Spoke to a local Nfu bod today and he said in the Nfu they aren’t happy about the video doing the rounds of clarkson at that awards things because he swore quite a bit and they’ve latched into him but it’s done them no favours in political circles. So everybody if you see it on social media make sure you share it 😄

clarksons attitude is bad for the Nfu because they are trying to move in political circles but political circles don’t like Clarkson. So their association with him has weakened their position further.
To quote the late, lamented Windsor Davies " Oh dear, how sad, never mind"
 

BrianV

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Dartmoor
Spoke to a local Nfu bod today and he said in the Nfu they aren’t happy about the video doing the rounds of clarkson at that awards things because he swore quite a bit and they’ve latched into him but it’s done them no favours in political circles. So everybody if you see it on social media make sure you share it 😄

clarksons attitude is bad for the Nfu because they are trying to move in political circles but political circles don’t like Clarkson. So their association with him has weakened their position further.
Not quite sure there is much evidence of the NFU having any kind of political position at all, seems this government have been giving out an anti farmer message for a long time with very little sign they were taking any notice of the NFU, having said that there seems very little evidence of the NFU standing up for your average farmer either.
At least the public listen & hear what JC says which I seriously doubt is the case with the NFU, your average Joe public wouldn't have a clue or care who Blatters is!
 

Muddyroads

Member
NFFN Member
Location
Exeter, Devon
Radio 2, Good Morning Sunday. Was quite enjoying it whilst doing some outside work, in the rain! .. until .. they interviewed 2 environmental 'experts' who laid ALL the blame for the climate change on burning fossil fuels and particularly consumption of meat and beef production in factory farms. How you can compare the huge beef lots to British farming practices shows a huge lack of knowledge and nobody denies that cows do fart but PLEASE BBC explain how the pollution levels were SO much lower during lockdown? All the farming carried on as normal. Nothing changed .. except .. people stopped traveling, jetting around the world etc. but that is NEVER talked about as a contributory factor is it. Boring, same old, same old I know but I get so fed up of hearing this one sided attack from environmentalists without some facts from other perspectives. Why don't we hear more from 'our' experts on popular media outlets, rather than just preaching to the converted in specialist publications / forums.
I heard both of the interviews and thought much the same. The problem is that these falsehoods have been bandied about unchallenged for so long now, that they are just accepted as true by those doing the interviews, who can hardly be expected to know any different. As far as I could tell, the 2 interviewees had just won awards for their environmental activism, which in itself raises further questions.
 

Bongodog

Member
Spoke to a local Nfu bod today and he said in the Nfu they aren’t happy about the video doing the rounds of clarkson at that awards things because he swore quite a bit and they’ve latched into him but it’s done them no favours in political circles. So everybody if you see it on social media make sure you share it 😄

clarksons attitude is bad for the Nfu because they are trying to move in political circles but political circles don’t like Clarkson. So their association with him has weakened their position further.
Clarkson moves in the Chipping Norton circles, Lord Bamford & co. Our PM loves posing in a JCB. The NFU really have lost it if they think the Tory party refuses to take a call from JC and his cohorts
 

Hfd Cattle

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Hereford
Spoke to a local Nfu bod today and he said in the Nfu they aren’t happy about the video doing the rounds of clarkson at that awards things because he swore quite a bit and they’ve latched into him but it’s done them no favours in political circles. So everybody if you see it on social media make sure you share it 😄

clarksons attitude is bad for the Nfu because they are trying to move in political circles but political circles don’t like Clarkson. So their association with him has weakened their position further.
I was at the awards night ....Batters never even turned up . I was disgusted at her award and stayed in my seat instead of getting up and clapping ......as did many others .
When Clarkson got his award the whole room was up and cheering ..... yes his language was 'uncalled for' but his message was bang on .
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,292
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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