To tell you how fucked UK agriculture is?

[eatsleepfarmrepeat]

God I just feel beaten this evening, I’m a farmers wife, I work in a professional role which pays well (thank god) we have two young children and I’m just DONE.

My husband is on his arse. This years harvest is so relentless, wet weather means it’s a real smash and grab operation, the heavy machines are running on wet ground and we’re just burning diesel trying to dry wet crops.

I’ve just escorted the combine from the field up to the yard (because it’s raining, again) and for about the fifth time this harvest I’ve been flashed at and given the wanker sign. I mean, I get it, it’s a big bit of kit, it takes up the whole road but honestly escorting is the only way to get them home safely and how the fuck do you get it from A to B without it going on the road? We’re not waggoning class As or having some recreational rave, we’re just making food.

We grow cereals which are either milling wheat for bread (which will be problematic this year due to the drop in proteins and the unfavourable harvest because of the weather) feed wheat for animal feed, oil seed rape for biodiesel and barley, for beer. The new green agenda means our subsidies are being replaced by taking good arable land (which makes up 24% of the country) out of production. This is why there is a shortage of eggs, the commodity price is being pushed and egg producers are not being paid the cost of production by supermarkets so they are importing, from countries which are not held to the same (necessary) animal welfare standards which the UK industry operate under.
we produce high welfare free range chickens. They retail for £10+ but our contract with supermarkets has them in at £3.24 per bird - imagine trying to operate on those margins with food and energy bills being what they are. In addition the UK market is absolutely flooded with Thai imports of cheap shit mean which again falls far below our own mandatory animal welfare standards - we just cannot compete.

ironically a lot of our feed wheat will probs go to vivirgo/e sos for energy crops. Literally thousands of litres of diesel burned producing something to go into a power plant and be sold as green energy for the lithium heavy teslas of Britain.

in the last decade we have planted 100acres of woodland, created four new wildlife ponds on the farm and drilled artichoke and wildflower shelter belts to enhance wildlife and pollinators on the farm.

I keep thinking we would be a million times happier (and better off) if we just sold out of the partnership and started again, get out of this shit, spiralling industry where the general public seem to think we’re trying to kill them and simultaneously fuck the countryside at the same time, go have a nice life where my husband isn’t hampered by stress and the never ending pressure of his arsehole father who got fat in the 70s where they used shit hot chemicals and decimated any balance of wildlife. This year is hard but with the commodity prices falling again against an increasing fuel and labour and fertiliser bill I just wonder what the fuck we are doing it for. Any trade off with the lovely holistic life the kids have is countered by stressed out parents.

we’re an island. We need food security, and we’re being paid to fallow productive acres which is already having a knock on effect to other food markets. Why are we so short sighted? We can afford to be virtuous with our farmland as a nation by offsetting but the outcome is that we’re outsourcing our footprint to these poorer nations like Thailand who are picking up our production slack and selling their chicken into our country at a criminally low value. It’s batshit.

I hear you. I'm so sorry.
What could the average person do to help our farmers?

I remember a graphic being shared years ago that claimed that Britain wasn't 'full' because 91.3% of land was 'natural'. Completely neglecting to mention that only 0.2% is proper wilderness, the other 91.1% being composed of the farmland that feeds us, forestry that provides timber, and private gardens (which should really be counted as part of housing).

We’re also in mid lincolnshire.
I think a lot of the logic behind those who don’t support/sympathise with British agriculture is because they still think we’re backed by those heady subsidies and we’re definitely not. We live in an absolute beautiful house which was bought by my husbands ancestors many years ago, but it’s now falling down around our ears. Sometimes I think people see what is a lovely house and think it equates to a privileged lifestyle.
I know food is divisive, we’re in the middle of a cost of living crisis and people can’t afford to feed their families. Supermarkets have always used staples like eggs, milk and bread as a loss leader but it boils my piss they pay their dairy farmers so little and they can sell imported pineapples for 80p when they’ve flown half way around the world.
Ah, it’s one of those days. My 6 year old cried at bedtime because daddy wasn’t there for bedtime (it isn’t unusual at this time of year obviously) but I just think the mental toll of this shitty endless wet harvest is really starting to get to me and my husband. This time last year we were done and dusted and on to autumn cultivations and here we are, 550acres of wheat still in the field, lodged flat to the ground due to the rain, getting wetter and more rotten by the hour.

Reading your post makes me so cross on your behalf. I never buy meat or eggs from the supermarket for this reason. ideally I’ll buy direct from the farm, but the butchers at the very least.
It’s cumbersome but I’d honestly rather go without than eat substandard meat.

Definitely worse. The common agricultural policy is an EU policy which directly linked subsidies, we don’t have that post brexit which is why the government has redesigned to suit the green deal, which IMO is very short sighted in terms of food production but also a direct impact on our ability to continue to grow food, which was subsidised so that the end consumer has access to affordable food.

Sorry you're having a tough time OP. Wet harvests are the worst.

The terrifying thing is while this govt had no grasp of the need for food security, the Labour party is worse and wants to build houses over every bit of farmland they can lay their hands on.

They are each as stupid and shortsighted as the other.

OP , I do feel for you . I remember one year we were surrounded by fields of peas , and then it absolutely poured down for about 3 solid weeks , and made the ground so sodden you couldn’t get any machinery on the field . The crops were ruined , and for weeks after all you could smell was rotting peas. I think that was the last year they grew peas near us , and now alternate between wheat , potatoes and sugar beet . At least beet doesn’t care if it rains .

Did you feel much sympathy for local people in Lincolnshire with low wages and high unemployment for years while the local farms employed pretty much 'slave labour' from Eastern Europe.

Don't buy from supermarkets. If you can buy direct from the farmer then that's ideal, but otherwise buy from independent shops who don't have the bargaining power of the supermarkets and therefore will be paying a fairer price to the farmer.

It's pricey, but you're only really paying what the goods are really worth.

We have one combine, we farm our own cereals and contract for three others, that combine does 1700 acres a year, far more than your average combine could expect to do in a season.
The combine cost about 250k, it is a necessary piece of equipment to have on a cereal farm; the same with the tractors - you can’t farm commercially in the UK without the kit to do it with. So yeah, probs topping £1mil of kit, all financed on depreciation; on an overdraft, with two staff because that’s what we need to run the job - other than signing up to a CFA and giving up any control of how our land is farmed, what exactly would you suggest as an alternative?
we’re certainly not waggoning range rovers through the farm though, my husbands hilux must have 200+k on the clock.

And then I read on here that I am being naive/selfish/stupid for not living near amenities and that realising that my husband is required for the brunt of the work is misogyny in action- and I wasn't even the OP.

I do think there is the perception that farmers are rich but I assume it's just a few that are very wealthy.

Really feeling for you OP.
I’m usually upbeat but getting so pessimistic about the bunch of money grabbers who have been running this country down to line their own pockets for over a decade. I work for the NHS and they’ve been deliberately running us into the ground for private contracts. What do you think the reason is for their mismanagement of agriculture? Is it nefarious or incompetence?

Sorry OP, I was meant to send but got distracted. I've been bed bound due to an accident so have spent far too long on MN/FB

OP - your message is really informative reading. What can be done to ease the burden on farmers? What sort of campaign would you advocate to those in Government that general public could get behind? I’m frustrated and angry in equal parts for you. Thanks for doing a thankless hard relentless job though words of praise are uttered easily. What can general populace in U.K. to support and consolidate farming? Plus back fair remuneration?

We farm on a much smaller scale all livestock.
I do have a lot of sympathy for the arable farmers but I’m also relieved the feed prices are dropping this year as it a very difficult year last year. No rain great for arable but we were feeding fodder in summer because we had no grass and the hard feed was expensive. At least this year we’ve got fodder in and the hard feed is a bit cheaper.
The subsidy system needs a major overall, you only get subsidies if you have entitlements and we don’t have any. You can buy them but the system is changing soon. So we are working at a disadvantage to those with subsidies constantly. There needs to be a fairer way to support all farmers and not supermarket profits.
My dc see daddy morning and evening when they help feed up. They’re 2 and 5. As daddy has to go out to work elsewhere in the day.
Harvest is to arable farmers is what lambing is the sheep farmers. I hate lambing.

Be mindful of what you buy.

eat local produce in season as much as is possible for your household

read labels and understand where what you are buying has come from, and, if it's something that can be produced in the UK but hasn't been, think about why the seller has chosen to import it from elsewhere in favour of British produce.

Many farmers are asset rich, buildings, equipment and land, but very cash poor. Feed prices always seem to increase, animal stock price decreases. Even rules such as the changes to red diesel use hit farmers economically.

cheap foreign labour markets were an issue well before my time but the exploitation of foreign labour at the detriment of local employment is something I wholeheartedly deplore, yes.
we’ve come full circle since brexit thoufh and the response is that manual labour is not something locals wish to take up.

we’re not veg, we’re cereal and beet but the issue is similar - we have good, skilled aged staff who are paid above average but probably not what their skill set is deserving of, because the industry is on its arse. If it balances it, my husband’s average wage this harvest on an hourly basis will balance at less than £5. There is no big cash flash unless you’re signing solar deals which is, again, short sighted in the grain belly of the country.

What can we do to help OP?

also can someone recommend where to get fair price meat from? I want to stop buying from supermarket but not sure our butchers would be paying farmers a fair price? Where can I go to ensure it’s definitely fair price

Slave labour? There is a minimum wage.

When we put out an advert for workers nobody wants to work so hard for such low pay. It's catch 22, people don't want to work in a job that's such hard work for low pay, but farmers profits are shit so you can not afford to pay a decent wage.

It scares me to my bones the way agriculture is being neglected and demonised. It’s beyond necessary for the survival of man kind, yet no one seems to be taking it seriously. I took a last minute week of annual leave this week to drive a tractor to help my friends catch up since it’s been so wet… they’re surviving this harvest on the good will of pals with free time because there’s no way they could afford to pay another tractor / person right now. Everyone is rallying round but it’s an absolute losing battle.

there’s no other profession like it… these guys are flat out and it’s still not enough.

YANBU and I really feel for you, it must be so stressful. I absolutely love farming (watch every programme going about it) and think farmers are disgustingly under paid in this country. We now buy all our meat and milk from our local farm and all our meals are lovely. Sending you luck and sunshine!

I’ve been wondering about how the weather’s affecting things. I wish we had functioning news media informing people of the important things.

”Cheap food” complainers really need to look at modern economics of the world of work though.

I know. Sending solidarity! It’s been a brutal summer. I hope for some drying weather for you.

People have absolutely no idea where their food comes from and what it takes to get it to them. Buying direct is great but it’s not a full solution-many farmers can’t run a whole other business when they’re flat out just trying to grow the stuff in the first place.

If you have any wiggle room in your budget, take routes to market seriously. I met some dairy farmers who supply M+S recently and (to simplify) they were happy with the way they were treated.

We don’t pay enough for food and clothing and we pay far, far too much for housing. Imagine how much healthier the country would be if we weren’t siloing all the wealth in property-we’d be dynamic, innovative, fun. Farming would be a good job.