Interested in your attitudes towards British Farmers...

Oldmacdonald

graham56 wrote:

Never met a poor farmer, the subsidies they recieve are unbelievable, but still they moan on!! Too much rain, not enough rain, too much sun not enough sun; bunch of moaning bu99ers with too much money and not enough time to spend it. If farming is that bad -pack the job in like anyone would do, but no, better to complain than to throw away all that lovely money for sitting on tour jacksey doing nowt!!!

As you can tell i don`t have the time of day for the moaning gits :evil:

A minority of large agribusinesses get large subsidies. The majority do not.

Do you have proof that these subsidies are "unbelievable" ?

It's human nature to moan, and farmers moan about the weather because their business depends on it.
Take the floods in Yorkshire etc. If you lost half your crops, i.e half your income I think you'd be moaning as well!

Bonj - Touche. As soon as I'd posted that I knew you'd reply with some country like that! But my point was nearly all large scale livestock countries have been affected by FMD.

Simon L2

six years working down on the farm toaught me this: farmers are the spoilt brats of our economy. They've flushed huge quantities of nitrate into our rivers and groundwater, they've turned animals into machines, and they want paying vast amounts for it.

I do think that airfreighting veg in from Africa is a disgrace, but, setting that aside, I'd be more than happy to see Europe's farmers have to pay their way.

Ratkilla

I don't have much sympathy for farmers as a whole especially in light of the so called fuel protests back in 2000. And the actions of Brynle Williams and his mob Farmers for Action.
Their original protest was about the price of red diesel and the duty that they had to pay on it. But they failed to mention the fact that farmers claimed back the VAT and were actually paying half of what everyone else was. About 40p per litre as opposed to 80p per litre for the public.
Yet this mob managed to wreak havoc througout the country for the best part of 2 months.
What a bunch of hypocrites.
I don't recall many farmers, if any, rallying around the miners, steelworkers or shipyard workers when their industries were being destroyed back in the 80's.
The farmer's are part of the market just as those mentioned above were and should therefore accept the vagaries of the market. There should be no exception to this rule and no handouts. No other industry sector receives such special treatment. Neither should they.

domd1979

And cancer rates in China are on the increase as a result of chemicals in food / household products.

formerlyknownasbonj wrote:

ransos wrote:

Plus china just spray 'em all with strong chemicals and have done with it. The british are far too bleedin' heart for that.

domd1979

Have to admit I'm not entirely sympathetic with the plight of many farmers. Any farm involved in intensive/factory livestock/dairy production shouldn't get any subsidy, and I wouldn't be sorry if they all closed tomorrow.

Equally, I have sod all sympathy for those that allow fox hunting t*ssers to charge across their land in the name of "sport" and "pest control".

Oldmacdonald

What's wrong with dairy farms?

linfordlunchbox

domd1979 wrote:

Have to admit I'm not entirely sympathetic with the plight of many farmers. Any farm involved in intensive/factory livestock/dairy production shouldn't get any subsidy, and I wouldn't be sorry if they all closed tomorrow.

Equally, I have sod all sympathy for those that allow fox hunting t*ssers to charge across their land in the name of "sport" and "pest control".

Unless you have missed it, they banned hunting with hounds last year.........

ransos

graham56 wrote:

Never met a poor farmer, the subsidies they recieve are unbelievable, but still they moan on!! Too much rain, not enough rain, too much sun not enough sun; bunch of moaning bu99ers with too much money and not enough time to spend it. If farming is that bad -pack the job in like anyone would do, but no, better to complain than to throw away all that lovely money for sitting on tour jacksey doing nowt!!!

As you can tell i don`t have the time of day for the moaning gits :evil:

That may be true for veg farmers, but look at the average income for a hill sheep farmer, and the rate of suicide in that group.

giles kempsell

After 10 years wiorking in the countryside and conservation fields I am starting to see changes in British agriculture, an end to production based subsidies (forced by GATT), cross compliance measures (unless you carry out your work in a more environmentally sensitive way you don't get your payments) and increased access to funds to carry out works for the benefit of wildlife and people.

Interestingly many of the farmers working at the high intensity end of the market do not receive subsidy payments (potatoes and many other vegetables, salad crops, pig production) and it is these that cause the greatest damage.

I have no problem at all paying landowners to carry out these environmental improvements to their land, especially when I can get access to it, for the environmental benefit as the country as a whole.

passout

Farmers should be paid to be Stewards of the countryside. This is already done partly though the EU set aside scheme & in some conservation areas eg National Trust owned land in the Lake District. Quite apart from the market, some body needs to look after & mantain the countryside. Food subsidies should be lessened in order to pay for this service. That way the farmers are happy and we get a well maintained and even 'greener' countryside. Maintaining access - paths & bridleways - should also come into it. The countryside is increasingly more about leisure usage and this, together with environmental concerns, should be reflected in the way farmers are supplemented by government. As outlined above, we shouldn't have to pay more tax for this.

PS Labour is an urban party and doesn't care aboput the countryside.