Thread by @herdyshepherd1

List of things I am happy to protest about as a farmer:

1. Goverment trade deals being deeply unfair - nothing should come in to this country that is produced beneath our production/welfare/eco standards

2. Goverment support for U.K. ag being withdrawn and not replaced quickly enough with a fair green transition package - some bits of what’s now available are good, but need to roll out to ALL farmers

3. Exporting our food footprint unnecessarily to other places and other people - where we have less control and where the acreage needed may well be higher and more likely to be pristine habitat

We need to take this seriously - food production itself matters

4. Supermarket/wholesaler monopolies and excessive buyer control and bullying - screwing down prices beneath the cost of sustainable production

5. Offsetting imposed on agriculture as a green washing scam - I’m all for us doing progressive green stuff but governments and corporations are scamming this

Go after the fossil fuels and the emitters

6. Hell, I’d even protest for farming and food production to get the respect it deserves in our culture and media - it’s at the heart of any progressive society

And gets bashed every twenty seconds - sometimes we deserve it, often it’s just fashionable nonsense

7. And I’d protest against any idea that says we need less farmers - I believe we need way more farmers and much more democratic food production with way more of us engaged in it - a vast diverse group of us

Small family farms may have to change but I think they really matter

There are so many good reasons to support British farmers both for what they do now - but especially for how they can deliver needed solutions

Everyone else can believe whatever they like - I’d fight for all these things and have always wanted to

8. It should actually be illegal to sell farm products beneath the cost of production - by supermarkets

We need representatives in the supply chain that can be appealed to for justice on this

Things I’m not gonna have any part of

Climate change denial
Anti immigration
Racism
Alignment with far right lunatics
Conspiracy theories - though they seem to be matter of opinion :-)
Anything pro Putin
Anything that undermines Ukraine’s right to defend itself

Which is not to say that each of those things don’t merit discussion or allow a range of opinions (except racism which is solely for dickheads)

But they shouldn’t be anywhere near farmer protests or in the mix