The Farmers Fight

MaizieD

^I support the farmers.^

Would you like to support them by paying the true cost of what they produce?

I'd like to know that farmers are not having to give up their livelihood because supermarkets are not paying them the right price for their produce so that they cannot make even a living wage. .

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Relating to:

Would you like to support them by paying the true cost of what they produce

Good question Maizie👍

Mum and I lasted 3 days spud bashing or potato picking. It was really hard back breaking work. We knew the farmer and he gave us a very productive plot and we struggled to keep pace with the tractor. We were allowed gleanings as well.

Casdon

Individual farmers don’t own a high proportion of land in the UK. Analysis done by Farmers Weekly:
www.fwi.co.uk/business/markets-and-trends/land-markets/who-owns-britains-farmland

Kind of paywalled, Casdon.

Can you do a bit of a precis or quote some figures?

I support the farmers.

Would you like to support them by paying the true cost of what they produce?

Individual farmers don’t own a high proportion of land in the UK. Analysis done by Farmers Weekly:
www.fwi.co.uk/business/markets-and-trends/land-markets/who-owns-britains-farmland

I live in a rural area where there are lots of farms. Yes most do have Land Rovers and their daughters might have horse boxes (as someone earlier peevishly said) but my goodness they work hard for it and the Land Rover is their work horse!

I have been in many farmers homes and they are not luxurious and most aren’t even modern. They work extremely long hours in all weathers and they seldom take holidays.

I support the farmers.

MaizieD, I know!

A few years ago we had friends staying and we had those tiny supermarket potatoes with our lunch. When asked "what's for lunch" by one of my adult children I said, joyfully "pig potatoes" and everyone was alarmed!
I'll never forget the reaction.

Happy days.
But it was hard labour to be honest!

Yes it did MaizieD.

We used to call it ‘potato picking’ holiday. In rural Yorkshire, that’s what we children used to do during that week - pick potatoes!

My late dad was a farm labourer and, as a young child (60+ years ago) I used to ‘help’ with hay making and all sorts of things around the farm.

It was a rural idyll; a by-gone age. Life has moved on - so has farming!

merlotgran

David49

There are very few “conglomerate” farmers outside intensive pigs and poultry, most large arable producers are family farms that have taken over neighbouring farms to spread their overheads, usually they pay the owner a share of the profit from the crop quite often there is a loss.

most large arable producers are family farms that have taken over neighbouring farms to spread their overheads

A great many large arable farms do not belong to the families who farm them. They were sold for ‘lease back’ during the eighties to raise capital for modernising and expansion. The C of E and Oxbridge universities being two examples of the farms’ owners.

In which case it’s, cash rich, asset poor.

Oxford University has owned land for a very long time.
My ancestors farmed land owned by Oxford University in the 1800s.

NotSpaghetti

MaizieD I helped occadionally with potatoes as a young woman - then we could go out after and pick up some of the little ones for ourselves and after that the pigs came in and finished off the crop. We always called the little ones "pig potatoes"

But in those days my friend's dairy farm actually had a dairy, did their own bottling etc and then did their own milk round after that.

Now the 'pig potatoes' are sold by the supermarkets, at a price, as 'baby potatoes' 😂

Autumn half term usually coincided with the potato harvest, I recall...

MaizieD I helped occadionally with potatoes as a young woman - then we could go out after and pick up some of the little ones for ourselves and after that the pigs came in and finished off the crop. We always called the little ones "pig potatoes"

But in those days my friend's dairy farm actually had a dairy, did their own bottling etc and then did their own milk round after that.

David49

There are very few “conglomerate” farmers outside intensive pigs and poultry, most large arable producers are family farms that have taken over neighbouring farms to spread their overheads, usually they pay the owner a share of the profit from the crop quite often there is a loss.

most large arable producers are family farms that have taken over neighbouring farms to spread their overheads

A great many large arable farms do not belong to the families who farm them. They were sold for ‘lease back’ during the eighties to raise capital for modernising and expansion. The C of E and Oxbridge universities being two examples of the farms’ owners.

In which case it’s, cash rich, asset poor.

vegansrock

Two tier policing if they don’t treat the farmers and the far right the same as environmental protesters. I’ll be surprised if it isn’t a peaceful protest

They don’t treat the pro Palestinian protesters or the Just Stop Oil protesters the same either so it must be four tier policing.

Ilovecheese

Farmers used to have to pay inheritance tax before 1984. Then people who don't want to contribute to society saw buying land as a good get out. Blame them perhaps, for what has happened.
Surely the right to peaceful protest is either right or wrong, not dependent on who is doing the protesting. Either is is wrong to put people at risk of missing medical appointments etc. or it isn't. Either it is wrong to disrupt the traffic or it isn't. Just stop oil were punished quite severely for just planning to disrupt the traffic. If the farmers are not dealt with equally then that could certainly be called two tier policing

The difference is the Farmers have given notice of their protest, have had numerous discussions with the Met Police on where and when the protest will start and end.

The protest will be spearheaded by children on toy tractors, the various Farming organisations has urged farmers not to bring their farm machinery to the protest. So I can only assume it will be tractors which are road legal joining the march.

Farmers used to have to pay inheritance tax before 1984. Then people who don't want to contribute to society saw buying land as a good get out. Blame them perhaps, for what has happened.
Surely the right to peaceful protest is either right or wrong, not dependent on who is doing the protesting. Either is is wrong to put people at risk of missing medical appointments etc. or it isn't. Either it is wrong to disrupt the traffic or it isn't. Just stop oil were punished quite severely for just planning to disrupt the traffic. If the farmers are not dealt with equally then that could certainly be called two tier policing

All very relevant, Maisie as these are the realities.

What really strikes me reading the posts from different POV is how badly government after government (or all shades) has failed to really discuss farming and food need and policy for a very long time. We've tinkered "round the edges".

The report from the Netherlands I posted up thread is a massive (not to say tedious at times) report and the good stuff like cash support for new small farmers, weather insurance, earth friendly non proactive crops and so on - loads of other stuff -

- its not necessary to read it all except to see just how much concern and discussion has been poured into farming and food concerns by their government compared to the UK.

'grazing small files'? fields

There are very few “conglomerate” farmers outside intensive pigs and poultry, most large arable producers are family farms that have taken over neighbouring farms to spread their overheads, usually they pay the owner a share of the profit from the crop quite often there is a loss.

GrannyGravy13

Wyllow3 I for one am definitely not happy with the thought of more conglomerates buying up smaller farms.

What will be left of the so called British way of life for our GC and GGC?

I'm sorry, GG13, but our 'British way of life' is subject to continual change and has been ever since at least the Industrial Revolution.

Dou your GC and GGC want to be farmers? Or are you just wanting them to be able to experience a romanticised experience of 'farms'?

I'm old enough to remember stooks of corn in the fields at harvest time. And little herds of cows with horns grazing small files with interesting hedgerows. Even some people still using horses around the farm. Also lorry loads of women going off fruit picking in the local orchards, and potato picking later in the season.

Most picturesque.

All gone.

I remember being served by shop assistants and having bustling high streets, too. Now we self scan in the supermarkets and buy everything on line.

We don't live in a museum...

Where do feed and fertilisers come from, I wonder?

GrannyGravy13

What started out as a hobby farm & tax incentive for Jeremy Clarkson has definitely changed over the years. He is passionate about Diddly Squat, fortunately he has other streams of income to support the farm and expand into the farm shop, cafe, etc and now his pub/restaurant using only British sourced produce.

There are many farmers who acknowledge that JC has done more for farming and farmers since his programme has aired than Country File has in all its years on the BBC.

Jeremy Clarkson still doesn't make a living from his farm.

If small farmers are worried about anything what they really need to be protesting about is the fact that the high cost of feed and fertilisers and the pressure from supermarkets to buy from them at prices which barely cover the cost of production, let alone make them any profit are putting them in a position where they can't make a reasonable living. And making farming unattractive to the next generation.

We may want farming to continue in the 'old' way, but, as consumers, we're not prepared to pay the true cost of our food. Not only that, but we have a significant number of our populace who can barely afford food at the price it is now.

GrannyGravy13

MayBee70

I seem to remember the EU paying farmers to keep areas of their land crop free to help local wildlife. It was called set aside I think?

Yes the EU did, the scheme was abolished in 2008.

Set Aside was to prevent overproduction. Remember beef and butter mountains, and a milk lake?

Two tier policing if they don’t treat the farmers and the far right the same as environmental protesters. I’ll be surprised if it isn’t a peaceful protest