Editor’s view: Facing hard truths about young farmer culture

I love the farming community. I love farmers. I spend my life advocating for you and I’m incredibly proud to do it.

But as a staunch friend, I have a duty to be honest with you. Even when – perhaps especially when – it is uncomfortable.

So I will say it straight: young farmers, you have a problem. And the problem is the way some of you are treating the women in your community.

My attention was initially drawn to this issue by the T-shirts on display at the DIY AGM in Blackpool earlier this month.

The slogans being worn in front of the general public, some of which are detailed in my analysis, will, I’m sure, leave most of you feeling shocked.

As several people have put it to me: we’ve come a long way from “farmers do it in wellies”.

But after spending time listening to young women in the industry, as well as numerous adults involved in their safeguarding, it began to seem that the problem runs much deeper than slogans on T-shirts.

What I found was that girls attending such events have learned to expect that they will be grabbed and groped. It has become part and parcel of the culture.

The kind of incidents that were described to me as commonplace are, in fact, classed as sexual assault, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Worse still, several of the women said while they would have an issue with this behaviour outside young farmers’ events, they did not see it as problematic at these events, because they had a “different set of rules”.

Two girls told me the rules at a young farmers’ event are that “there are no rules”.

It has to be said, this wasn’t a universally held view and there seems to be a big variation in experience depending upon location.

But it is still astonishing that many farming women expect the men in their communities to display a lower standard of behaviour than other men.

They are not being held accountable in the same way.

It is hard to believe that this behaviour, at industry entry-level, will not have long-lasting consequences.

It will surely affect how both men and women view the world, their workplace and their relationships.

One girl told me it had taken years to build her confidence back up after being used as “a toy” by drunk men at young farmers’ events.

For those of you thinking at this point that I’m chief constable of the fun police, I ask you: would these events be any less enjoyable if the girls weren’t groped and didn’t have their skirts pulled up or tops pulled down without their consent?

I don’t believe any right-thinking person could answer that question with a “yes”.

My fear is that something horrific is going to have to happen at one of these events before we see real change on this.

But my hope is that if we unite as a community, men and women standing together, we can stamp this behaviour out and reinstate pride in the fantastic organisations that involve and support young farmers.