I have no sympathy for farmers

T

Trug

Well-known member
Having been unemployed myself I know how hard it is to make ends meet. I also know that there is nothing that can be done about the weather or Covid, but I have absolutely no sympathy for these people. They cannot say that they weren't warned. I fully respect and admire the hard work they put into their industry and it is a job I could never have done. But I believe that they have been played for fools and can't complain when what they were promised hasn't materialised.
www.theguardian.com

Farm incomes fall by 20% in a year due to weather, Covid and Brexit

Increased hardship for small farmers as close to a billion pounds wiped off UK’s farming economy in 2020
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Do you feel sorry for other victims of conmen?

The septuagenarian widow robbed by a builder who promises to fix her perfectly serviceable roof?

The lonely bloke who thinks he is helping an orphan in Africa?

You should feel sorry for them, the fishermen and everyone else who believed the lies. The blame should lie not with the victims but with the perpetrators and the enablers not with the victims.
 
Trug said:
Having been unemployed myself I know how hard it is to make ends meet. I also know that there is nothing that can be done about the weather or Covid, but I have absolutely no sympathy for these people. They cannot say that they weren't warned. I fully respect and admire the hard work they put into their industry and it is a job I could never have done. But I believe that they have been played for fools and can't complain when what they were promised hasn't materialised.
www.theguardian.com

Farm incomes fall by 20% in a year due to weather, Covid and Brexit

Increased hardship for small farmers as close to a billion pounds wiped off UK’s farming economy in 2020
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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Farmers get paid massive benefits for owning land. Its called set aside, and other E U handouts which our government has promised to match for the near future anyway.
The establishment newspapers make people believe that its the Schroedinger immigrants that are the problem. Mopping up the benefits whilst simoultaneously stealing our workers jobs !
 
Muttley said:
Do you feel sorry for other victims of conmen?

The septuagenarian widow robbed by a builder who promises to fix her perfectly serviceable roof?

The lonely bloke who thinks he is helping an orphan in Africa?

You should feel sorry for them, the fishermen and everyone else who believed the lies. The blame should lie not with the victims but with the perpetrators and the enablers not with the victims.
Click to expand...
Yes, and I do.
 
Farmers - represents an enormous spectrum of people and its very difficult to generalise - some are multimillionaires and some live on the bread line

For the whole sector there has been a lot of subsidies that many other sectors don't get. The idea was to protect our food supply after WW2 shock of be starved out by U Boats and then after 1972 been able to access lots of EEC/EU subsidies such as guaranteed prices and markets for what they produced. Some farmers receive 50% of their income as subsidies, but others it less than 10% It does make me chuckle when farmers criticise subsidised industries say through the Conservative Party, when a lot of UK farms could not survive without subsidies. Many UK food products can be raised/grown more cheaply overseas.
 
Farming is a complex business and like all markets during Covid farmers are suffering from both supply side and demand side issues caused by lockdowns. Combine that with the lowest projected wheat crop in 20 years and a similar problem with oilseed rape (partly due to the Cabbage Stem Flea beetle) and farmers are looking at a poor year. I believe next year looks better and wheat prices are now rising due to the shortages this year. Some farmers oilseed rape fields are virtually wiped out because the pest is resistant to the pesticides farmers are allowed to use.

As for Brexit, the UK government could have replaced EU subsidies had it wished to, but evidently they want to focus on environment protection with their new Environmental Land Management policy. i.e. paying farmers not to protect heritage farm properties and creating buffer zones around hedgerows etc. They're halving EU subsidies by 2024 and phasing them out completely by 2028.

Check out Harrys Farm on Youtube. He often covers farming business issues. Harry's Garage is also worth a watch.
 
Redwurzel said:
Farmers - represents an enormous spectrum of people and its very difficult to generalise - some are multimillionaires and some live on the bread line

For the whole sector there has been a lot of subsidies that many other sectors don't get. The idea was to protect our food supply after WW2 shock of be starved out by U Boats and then after 1972 been able to access lots of EEC/EU subsidies such as guaranteed prices and markets for what they produced. Some farmers receive 50% of their income as subsidies, but others it less than 10% It does make me chuckle when farmers criticise subsidised industries say through the Conservative Party, when a lot of UK farms could not survive without subsidies. Many UK food products can be raised/grown more cheaply overseas.
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It cant be right that someone who owns no land gets the lowest benefits in Europe when they are out of work.
The landed Gentry get loads of benefits for owning lots of land. Why doesnt the government make them sell the land, like common people have to do when Gran goes into a care home !
 
Brexit is racist and here 's why.
Discrimination on the basis of where someone was born.
John Lennon was spot on with his line "imagine there's no countries or religion too."
As a country we've got nasty and small minded thanks in part to the tabloid press. Things may have to get worse before people realise we could be more inclusive and more glass half full about our neighbours.
 
Borothruandthru said:
It cant be right that someone who owns no land gets the lowest benefits in Europe when they are out of work.
The landed Gentry get loads of benefits for owning lots of land. Why doesnt the government make them sell the land, like common people have to do when Gran goes into a care home !
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The laws of this country were set up to protect wealth, they always have done that and always will, barring revolution which, let's face it, ain't going to happen.
 
br14 said:
Farming is a complex business and like all markets during Covid farmers are suffering from both supply side and demand side issues caused by lockdowns. Combine that with the lowest projected wheat crop in 20 years and a similar problem with oilseed rape (partly due to the Cabbage Stem Flea beetle) and farmers are looking at a poor year. I believe next year looks better and wheat prices are now rising due to the shortages this year. Some farmers oilseed rape fields are virtually wiped out because the pest is resistant to the pesticides farmers are allowed to use.

As for Brexit, the UK government could have replaced EU subsidies had it wished to, but evidently they want to focus on environment protection with their new Environmental Land Management policy. i.e. paying farmers not to protect heritage farm properties and creating buffer zones around hedgerows etc. They're halving EU subsidies by 2024 and phasing them out completely by 2028.

Check out Harrys Farm on Youtube. He often covers farming business issues. Harry's Garage is also worth a watch.
Click to expand...
Demand side is being affected, and will continue to be affected, by economic policies making more people worse off. Until the farmers stop supporting these policies they'll get no sympathy from me.
 
Muttley said:
Do you feel sorry for other victims of conmen?

The septuagenarian widow robbed by a builder who promises to fix her perfectly serviceable roof?

The lonely bloke who thinks he is helping an orphan in Africa?

You should feel sorry for them, the fishermen and everyone else who believed the lies. The blame should lie not with the victims but with the perpetrators and the enablers not with the victims.
Click to expand...

depends really. Was the widow told by many people, many times that the builder was a robber? Was it pointed out to her many times the evidence that the builder had a proven track record of being a robber?

Did her neighbours beg her not to let the builder in, as it was also likely he'd be nipping round to rob their houses too while they were out at work. Did she not care if it would affect her neighbours too and let the builder do it anyway?

that's a more accurate analogy I think.

Worth saying I'm sure not every farmer voted for brexit. I really feel for those who didn't and have been dragged down by the rest. I'm not without sympathy for those who did, but they have to take some responsibility
 
festa5 said:
depends really. Was the widow told by many people, many times that the builder was a robber? Was it pointed out to her many times the evidence that the builder had a proven track record of being a robber?

Did her neighbours beg her not to let the builder in, as it was also likely he'd be nipping round to rob their houses too while they were out at work. Did she not care if it would affect her neighbours too and let the builder do it anyway?

that's a more accurate analogy I think.

Worth saying I'm sure not every farmer voted for brexit. I really feel for those who didn't and have been dragged down by the rest. I'm not without sympathy for those who did, but they have to take some responsibility
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Good summary
 
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