The Farmers Fight

Dyson and all the landed gentry, like the Duke of Argyll will still find a way round paying tax.

Dyson's accounts and profits are well publicised, I don't understand the likes of the Duke of Argyll land and tax.

Small farms were protected to a large extent by membership of the EU, France, Greece etc have lots of small farms so policy took that into account and subsidies were generous. After Brexit the Conservative govt continued with subsidies but they have not kept pace with inflation and farmers have been particularly hard hit by the rise in the price of oil because it affects them in lots of different ways, not just diesel. Liz Truss, who was head of Defra between 2014-16 was particularly against subsidies and believed that market forces should reign! I find it somewhat ironic that Conservatives have leapt to the defence of the "small farmer" they certainly didn't help them when they were in govt for 14 years. I think it would be easy to imagine a pretty cynical reason for the interest!
Small farmers need income and despite every farmer that I know having diversified (holiday lets, camping sites, fishing lake, meat and veg boxes etc) they are still struggling to make a living. In this area farmers are retiring and selling their land off but retaining the farmhouse. Their children don't want to scrape a living relying on subsidies. We used to have lots of dairy farms, now there is just one. This is a problem that has been going on for a long time it has not just erupted.

The CAP was designed to provide food security for Europe, each state had options it could choose in its own circumstances, even regions like Scotland and Wales had their own own differences. Now food production has no protection, it has to be grown to micro managed government specifications yet has no protection from imports, produced with with no environmental or welfare standards.

Few farmers make money out of food production the farm payments system has been more than the profit made in most cases for many years. My brother is the farmer in the family he makes 90% of his money out of 1% of his land. He started diversifying 30 yrs ago, half of his farm is out of food production, He’s seriously thinking of selling the machinery and stopping completely, because the cost of maintaining the machinery is more than farm crops make.

Why does the public think farmers should grow food for no reward.

They just said on HIGNFY that Farages, another one out supporting the farmers, owns 3 million pounds worth of land.

David Scotland is nota region its a country.A country that has exported MORE than we imported since records began,We have a positive balance of payments despite our budget being cut by Westminster and now £6Billion LESS than it was a few years ago.We also have vast natural resources that WM pilfersand assumes they are theirs not to mention our billions they raise in taxes from the likes of Scotch whisky and gin .A wee bit of research would be beneficial then if you know the FACTs about Scotland you might…just might be qualified to discuss us

MayBee70

They just said on HIGNFY that Farages, another one out supporting the farmers, owns 3 million pounds worth of land.

I looked at that Maizie woman and thought "You really do not have a clue. Shame on you".

Allira

MayBee70

They just said on HIGNFY that Farages, another one out supporting the farmers, owns 3 million pounds worth of land.

I looked at that Maizie woman and thought "You really do not have a clue. Shame on you".

MayBee70

Allira

MayBee70

They just said on HIGNFY that Farages, another one out supporting the farmers, owns 3 million pounds worth of land.

I looked at that Maizie woman and thought "You really do not have a clue. Shame on you".

Posh, out of touch, no clue.
Her food arrives pre-packaged on a supermarket shelf.
Awful woman.

Maizie? Posh? Were you watching the same programme as I was?

She had just been to a party in the British museum with the Archbishop of Canterbury...

BBC verify has compared govt figures with NFU figures and said govt is closest. On BBC website in quite a lot of detail for anyone interested.

keepingquiet

She had just been to a party in the British museum with the Archbishop of Canterbury...

It was Ian Hislop that had met the Archbishop of Canterbury wasn’t it? ( and he told him what he thought of him, too).Maisie, posh? I thought she was incredibly funny ; in fact one of the funniest people on HIGNFY I’ve seen.

paddyann54

David Scotland is nota region its a country.A country that has exported MORE than we imported since records began,We have a positive balance of payments despite our budget being cut by Westminster and now £6Billion LESS than it was a few years ago.We also have vast natural resources that WM pilfersand assumes they are theirs not to mention our billions they raise in taxes from the likes of Scotch whisky and gin .A wee bit of research would be beneficial then if you know the FACTs about Scotland you might…just might be qualified to discuss us

Most of Scotland food exports are Whisky, if you count that a “food.

Personally I think Scotland should be independant, not hanging onto Englands coat tails.

Food, beverages, and tobacco: Scotland's largest export sector, accounting for a fifth of the country's international exports in 2021. Scotland is a leading exporter of food and beverages from the UK, including world-renowned whiskies, meat, seafood, craft beers, and baked goods.
Mineral fuels, lubricants, and related materials: A significant sector of Scotland's exports, valued at £9.1 billion in 2023-24.
Machinery and transport equipment: A significant sector of Scotland's exports, valued at £8.3 billion in 2023-24.
Petroleum and chemicals: Includes the manufacture of refined petroleum and chemical products.
Mining and quarrying: Valued at £2.1 billion in 2017, or 7.4% of all international exports.
Wholesale: Includes the wholesale of agricultural products, fish and crustaceans molluscs, as well as repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles.
David your comment is incredibly offensive to Scottish gransnet people.

That’s another good post from foxie at 11.43 yesterday. It’s an accurate summary of the impact of Brexit and the policies of the last government. These contribute to the difficulties facing farmers today
It’s worth remembering many farmers voted Brexit and Conservative

To be fair to the farmers, Iam, it was 50/50 on Brexit.

Oh, and thanks for clarifying about your group's opposition to planned developments. 😀

Brexit was a nightmare to the shellfish industry in Scotland Iam.

Most shellfish went to the EU quickly and easily. It's much more difficult now. I haven't kept up with any changes to the industry but I know it was devastating.

HousePlantQueen

Maizie? Posh? Were you watching the same programme as I was?

Do you anything about know her background?

“David your comment is incredibly offensive to Scottish gransnet people.”

Then stop complaining how badly you are treated by the English, if Scots want independance vote for it, but they don’t really they just want to complain.

You list tobacco as an export I must have missed tobacco growing in Scotland

You are still offensive. Food, beverages, tobacco is a heading. The details followed.

paddyann54

David Scotland is nota region its a country.A country that has exported MORE than we imported since records began,We have a positive balance of payments despite our budget being cut by Westminster and now £6Billion LESS than it was a few years ago.We also have vast natural resources that WM pilfersand assumes they are theirs not to mention our billions they raise in taxes from the likes of Scotch whisky and gin .A wee bit of research would be beneficial then if you know the FACTs about Scotland you might…just might be qualified to discuss us

David49 is perfectly correct in referring to Scotland as a region in the context of the CAP and the EU.

During the United Kingdom's membership of the EU, the term 'region' also included England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are formally referred to as countries by the British government.

You may refer to Scotland as a country, but Scotland is not an independent country.
Should it ever gain independence and apply to rejoin the EU, then it would be again regarded as a region by the EU.

Grandmabatty

You are still offensive. Food, beverages, tobacco is a heading. The details followed.

Why include tobacco then?
🤔

foxie48

Small farms were protected to a large extent by membership of the EU, France, Greece etc have lots of small farms so policy took that into account and subsidies were generous. After Brexit the Conservative govt continued with subsidies but they have not kept pace with inflation and farmers have been particularly hard hit by the rise in the price of oil because it affects them in lots of different ways, not just diesel. Liz Truss, who was head of Defra between 2014-16 was particularly against subsidies and believed that market forces should reign! I find it somewhat ironic that Conservatives have leapt to the defence of the "small farmer" they certainly didn't help them when they were in govt for 14 years. I think it would be easy to imagine a pretty cynical reason for the interest!
Small farmers need income and despite every farmer that I know having diversified (holiday lets, camping sites, fishing lake, meat and veg boxes etc) they are still struggling to make a living. In this area farmers are retiring and selling their land off but retaining the farmhouse. Their children don't want to scrape a living relying on subsidies. We used to have lots of dairy farms, now there is just one. This is a problem that has been going on for a long time it has not just erupted.

a long and interesting post, Foxie. Just interested in asking becuause of concerns about food production, whether the land that the small dairy farms were on in your are, is still used for food production by larger units. In terms of the UK feeding itself its the crucial one, or has the land been bought for investment non farming?

Allira

HousePlantQueen

Maizie? Posh? Were you watching the same programme as I was?

Do you anything about know her background?

She does a podcast called That’s a First which I’m going to start listening to. She’s become my new favourite comedian. I think she’s great.