News

December 31, 2008

The NFU Has Its Annual Whinge About The Outlook For Farming And Misses The Point Completely

Charles Wyatt

British farmers have long been known as a bunch of whingers and it is a title that they have done little to deserve. It is the National Farmers Union that does the whingeing and it does it at the behest of the big factory farmers. The reason for this is that the cost of membership of the NFU, as Minews discovered as a sheep farmer, depends on acreage and farmers with the biggest acreage tend to get more attention. Thus hill farmers, most of whom cannot afford membership, get only sporadic backing as do dairy farmers as dairy farms tend not be that big. It is the arable farmers with huge acreage and investment in the latest power equipment who really dictate the policies of the Union.

Anyway let Peter Kendall , President of the NFU, have his say in a New Year message and all becomes clear. “The NFU has warned that, at a time when farming is in a stronger position than many other businesses to withstand the impact of the looming recession, there is a real risk that farm output will plummet in the coming year. Demand for food should remain steady, but many farmers across the report some real threats to their businesses. The credit squeeze is making a major dent in producers’...