Opinion: Farming should project a positive image
© Adobe Stock For 193 years, the Garrick Club in London has stood as a bastion of patriarchy.
Set in the heart of theatreland in Old Covent Garden, this exclusive club for private members has recently struggled to keep its privacy out of the news.
Several high profile members have resigned, with more threatening to leave until it finally relented this week and voted to allow women to become members.
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About the author
To the outside world – certainly the one in which I live – the Garrick’s stance is outdated and out of step with the average person.
Talking of stepping back in time, I also found the recent NFU press release about its farmer survey results old-fashioned.
It smacked of the 1990s, when British farming did its level best to only tell pessimistic stories of doom. It wasn’t a proud time for British farming.
“NFU survey shows collapse in farmer confidence”, shouted the headline. “The confidence of English and Welsh farmers is at an all-time low,” it read, adding:
“Because of this lack of confidence, production intentions have also plummeted.”
Negative language
Don’t get me wrong – the winter of 2023-24 has been a shocker. Unrelenting, dark, damp and dour. But it wasn’t the content, it was the negativity of the language that was outdated.
Was this the NFU press team’s attempt at pricking the conscience of the Tory and Labour Party election manifesto writers? A plea to wean more money out of Treasury wonks by playing the sympathy card?
That is not the British farming industry of 2024 that I am familiar with. And I don’t believe this is the “voice of British farming”.
Farming’s relationship with the media is at an all-time high. We are a good news story of resilience, adaptability and positivity in the face of adversity.
Fuelled by journalists, broadcasters, production companies and celebrity farmers – and their audiences’ inquisitiveness about all things rural – we couldn’t ask for more glowing and regular publicity.
As British people attempt to reach net zero, to regenerate their world, reconnect in green spaces and eat healthily, farmers are top of the planet-saving charts (as long as you don’t farm next to a rainforest or the River Wye).
The survey results were to be expected. Rising input prices and the reduction of the Basic Payment Scheme aren’t positive things. But let’s not fanfare negativity.
I recently met with Daniel Zeichner, the shadow Defra minister. He recognised the positive role of farming in society.
But he also quite rightly highlighted that any clamour for greater funding under a Labour government is a difficult ask when there is a current underspend on the budget.
Like the Garrick Club, we have to move with the times and be seen to be in step with the rest of society.
SFI take up
The poor uptake of the Sustainable Farming Incentive is a good example. With only 18,000 schemes set up, why the resistance?
Claims that the bureaucracy is overwhelming and overcomplicated come across as moany when there is funding available to receive advice to help with applications.
And when the weather is so challenging, why ignore risk-free funding for so many farming activities?
Farmers want to produce food, but this is 2024 and we need to adapt to opportunities and the will of the country.
Our greatest asset is the huge fanbase of customers for both food and biodiversity on our doorstep. Let’s not lose their support by broadcasting negativity.