Why aren't farmers seen as scroungers?

[Cismyass]

If someone is in receipt of benefits they are seen as a scrounger and if their business doesn't make them minimum wage it is seen as unviable. When some farmers receive huge EU subsidies and make very little money themselves through actual farming why are they seen as any different?

I think you’re right op. We are subsidising our farmers so they can compete with foreign producers who can produce food cheaper. We have stopped doing that with cars, steel, coal,etc as it’s uneconomic. We should stop with farmers too.

MamaOoti After the initial shock, this whole thread made me laugh out loud. I'd been feeling a bit low. HolyPieter

they won't be getting any after Brexit so you can just complain about your food bill going up and up instead Food bills should never have been so low in the first place. And that is not down to the farmers, that is down to lots of EU policies!

Here....have two

Come live on a farm for a while and you'll understand. The recent spell of good weather in NI is going to make for a very harsh winter for a lot of farms, lack of silage etc. Making feeding very expensive and the minimal profits even smaller or non existent depending on individual circumstances. And that's just one example. Next time you nip to Tesco remember that.

zsazsa if you had any real clue about farming and how those subsidies came about you would apologise for that post.

Applauding Curiousaboutsamphire

Because it costs more to produce a pint of milk than that pint of milk costs for you to buy in the supermarket. That makes farming an unviable business so everyone would give up which would mean there would be no milk and no one to look after the farmland that covers most of the country. The government is paying the farmers to carry on, via subsidies, not benefits! Essentially, your food is being subsidised so you can buy it cheaper than the cost of producing it, so in an indirect way, you are receiving the subsidy.

Yes OP how dare we subsidise farmers, honestly we just willy nilly hand them these benefits for doing literally nothing

They are custodians of the land and work their nuts off to produce the highest quality meat, milk and cereals. Then have to compete with cheap foreign imports, whose animal welfare in many cases are nowhere near as high.

Another for your collection.

They should just sell the land to developers and live off the millions.
Affordable housing for everyone.

Whether in the EU or not, it is in all of our interest to have farms and keep farming going.

IM going to assume your question is about the unfairness of the application of the word ‘scrounger’, rather than not understanding that farmers provide our food for practically no money.

There’s plenty of acceptable benefit/subsidy taking, apparently. Tax avoidance, offshore accounts, MPs expenses, excessively bonuses. If you’ve already got plenty of money, then taking the taxpayers money is not scrounging. If you’re vulnerable members of society and don’t have loads of money and need a benefit payment to actually live, then that’s scrounging.

Not sure how farmers fit in here, tbh. They generally have been screwed over by the gvt and the supermarkets to the point where’s its almost impossible to make a living. They get shitty press, but I’ve not heard them called scroungers.

Jesus wept. This is a serious question?

Can you live on fresh air then op?
Neat trick. Try farming for a while see what a cushy life it is for all those scroungers?

I really don't think the OP is actually saying farmers are scroungers. She/he is making the point that we demonise one demographic who receives subsidies but not another. Which is maybe a little too simplistic given the example but it's an interesting point. It's essentially putting no value on 'benefit claimants' without understanding why they claim in some cases.

I agree , food prices should never have been so low . It's not right that dairy farmers are running to a substantial loss . Or pork or beef farmers come to that . I live right in the middle of the fens that produce 80 percent of the country's potatoes , root veg , peas and sugar beet among others . My neighbour used to produce peas for a large frozen food producer until they pulled out of a massive joint contract , with 3 days notice . By which point all the farmers had either started sowing , or has thousands of pounds worth of seed waiting to go in . Which they couldn't return or get recompensed for . £15k that cost him

Yeah bastard farming families- lazy buggers aren't they, it's a walk in the park that lark....... Have a wee shit yourself for a time and see how you get on!!

Reported

A wee SHOT I mean! Although there will be a lot of shit for you to deal with!

I live in the country and thee are some very, very rich farmers around here. I see no reason why they should be subsidised at all. The cars
they drive cost mote than a farm labourer earns in a year.

Tenant farmers are struggling to survive but you don't see the land owning farmers helping out.

And the train companies that are subsidiesed by the government.
And Carillion which failed though groaning at the seams with government money.
The banks that were propped up
Oh no. Thats right. They aren't people doing an honest days work

Do you know any farmers? I do because they are my neighbours. Otherwise I wouldn't know any because they are always working. Always.

I have significant issues with the way farming is subsidised and the way supermarkets can manipulate the prices paid. I'm not a fan of farmers having to farm the subsidies to stay solvent.

In no way are farmers scroungers though.

Farmers are bloody hard working and the pressure to be on top of everything at all times is immense. I'm good under pressure but I'd never do that job.

I think there is a difference between small farmers (which I think are most people's impression of farmers) and what I would term 'agri-business'.

Incidentally, one of the reasons why the £350m for the NHS on the infamous bus was a lie was because of the amount of funding for agriculture, which will not disappear post March 2019.

I agree with a PP who said that the subsidy effectively goes to the consumer. Do you know how much silage contractors, sheep feed, vets bills etc cost OP?

They'll be saying goodbye to those subsidies very soon. Then we'll all understand why they were necessary.

Also, weird choice of username op

Oh. And most farm workers can't afford to live where they work because of the town types buying up all those adorable little weekend places. There is ahousing problem in the countryside.