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?

Yeah, why don't they just buy cheap food from Aldi like the rest of us, scum bags 🙄

If farm subsidies were holding down food prices, that doesn't mean the food is any cheaper, it just means that some taxpayers are paying part of the bills for other peoples food.

I don't mind richer taxpayers paying for poorer peoples food, but i should be done transparently via the benefits system, not by giving the illusion that food is cheaper than it is with artificially low shop prices.

If poor third world countries subsidises their agriculture, I don't know how a country like England would fare. I reckon you don't need one generation to transition from self-reliant to going full blown importing staples. Once you change the consumers habits and taste, you're done for.

zsazsa

Yup, other industries also work hard but haven't been given the lifeline of subsidy. I wonder why? Something to do with vested interest perhaps.

It is pretty obvious to me that the OP isn't having a dig at farmers - not the only people who work incredibly hard btw - but the fact we subsidise lots of businesses (train companies being a really good example) but they don't get demonised the way benefit recipients do. Perfectly reasonable question. People who have large areas of land (family wealth) also get huge subsidies from the EU - that is after all who subsidies farmers. Ian Duncan Smith receives subsidies and he's one of the fuckers who has demonised and is responsible for the deaths of the disabled and poor in this country.

Can't believe so many people totally misunderstood what the OP was asking!
She was making the point that benefit claimants are often demonised for needing the tax payers help but Farmers aren't. Shes wasn't saying Farmers should be demonised or shouldn't receive subsidies!

OP, as pp said, its all about perceptions.

well just be prepared to actually pay the full cost of food then, increased taxes to pay for benefits.

Because if food prices were realistic Job seekers £56 would not feed you for a week espcailly when a single loaf of cheap bread would be about £2.50 pint of milk should be about £3-4, tin of beans should be £2 etc and 500 grams of chicken should cost about £8 or £9......

But hey farmers should not be subsedased we just need to pay more taxes so we can give poor people more money to buy the basics...

Samphire. Well said.
I live in a rural area surrounded by farms so I see the farmers going about their work.
They don't earn their living sat on their arses in a nice warm office 9 to 5, or on a TV screen talking to the latest so called celebrity about their latest set of plastic tits.
The most important thing we all need is food, and it's the farmers who produce it for us, if we have to give them grants to enable them to sell us this food at a reasonable price then that Is OK by me.
The suicide rate amongst the farming communities is very high, that should tell you something.

They are. There's a lot of prejudice against them in general, including for receiving subsidies.

"Why aren't people who don't pay enough tax, or who use tax credits being paid to their workers to prop up their business or increase their profits, seen as scroungers?" would be a better question.

Scrounging use of infrastructure you don't pay to maintain when you're more than wealthy enough to, and scrounging time and labour from your employees, are every bit as much scrounging as lying to stay on the dole is. And is happening on a much larger scale, and is far more costly to the ordinary taxpayer.

And subsidies, where they contribute to food production, are - as far as I can tell - essentially the same principle as tax credits, but they're being paid on behalf of supermarkets and consumers. They're mostly not for farmers. Just like housing benefit that ends up going to private landlords benefits private landlords, not tenants. And that's not me passing judgement either way. It's just important to recognise who benefits and how if you're going to talk about government help.

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.

I'm not aware if there is a subsidy that specifically aims to keep the price of milk down, I hope not. I am aware that there are complaints about the price farmers get for milk, possibly due to a buyer cartel. If that's a reason farmers are struggling, then government needs to intervene by ensuring competition.

It's not true that milk will vanish from the shelves without a subsidy. As dairy farms shut down, buyers will be forced to pay more. This will mean better prices for the remaining producers, who may or may not be in the UK.

Calm down farmers or family of farmers. You're so busy being offended that you haven't bothered to understand the post. Would you be so up in arms to defend people relying on state benefits to survive day-to-day life. I expect not.

Then, missy maybe OP should come back and rephrase her question...

... but everything I have posted would still stand. Farmers should not be seen as scroungers as they have been treated very badly for decades, not least by people who persist in believing they have any control over the subsidies they are forced to accept or the price their produce is sold for.

@CuriousaboutSamphire yeah so have the poor and disabled. And nurses and carers. With the exception of nurses at times, very few people care about them.

I do know of a land/business owner who ran a B and B and stables and bought a few goats so that he could get some grant or other - I think there is quite a bit of that that goes on

Farmers are greedy and very terratorial about their wealth. I agree with op

Google Farmers suicide UK.

If I travel 5 miles in any direction, the evidence of the hard work of farmers is in front of me. They are on the go constantly, especially right now given the early harvest

I didn't know that farmer's also get tax exemptions including exemption from inheritance tax. I wonder how long that'll last once we are out of the EU.

As dairy farms shut down, buyers will be forced to pay more. This will mean better prices for the remaining producers, who may or may not be in the UK. Except this has not happened.

Between 2005 and 2016 we lost 5000 more dairy farms... the remaining farmers didn't earn more, if they got an increase to their quota it was at the same price... this might help!

sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/explaining-britains-dairy-crisis/

@User183737

how do you find farmers greedy?

@Vicky1990 according to the ONS the highest rate in suicide by profession are building trades. Do you care about them too?

Why stop at farmers?

Perhaps police, nurses and teachers are also benefit scrounges, because their income comes entirely from the public purse too?

kirin point out to me where I have said anything about poor people, disabled people, nurses etc.

Defending farmers does not equal denigrating or ignoring anyone else!