February 3, 2024 - 8:00am
From Ireland to Poland, farmers are out on the streets. Most recently, tractors have been blocking the boulevards of Brussels and Berlin in a continent-wide expression of agricultural outrage. Yet there is one curious exception. British tractors, and the farmers who pilot them, remain in the fields.
It would be tempting to assume the relative passivity of the British farmer must be a boon of Brexit, but it doesn’t take long to unearth the unhappiness and anxiety that characterises UK agriculture. Our streets are not clear of John Deeres because the post-Brexit countryside is a land of milk and honey. Recent polling suggests that 49% of UK fruit and veg-growers and 32% of UK dairy farmers fear their businesses won’t survive to the end of 2025.
So why are British farmers not protesting? The answer may lie as much in psychology and politics as in policy and economics. European farmers seem to experience these pressures as a more immediate, existential threat. Their farms tend to be smaller than UK farms, with two-thirds of the UK farmed by enterprises of over 50 hectares in size while two-thirds of the EU is farmed by businesses a tenth that size. When plugged into a supply chain much bigger than themselves, smallness can magnify the feeling of menace.
And there is much to menace European farmers and heighten their sense of alarm. The Ukraine war has inflicted high fuel costs across the continent, but it is the Eastern European farmers at the landfall of a tsunami of Ukrainian grain imports. German farmers are objecting to taxes on red diesel, while Dutch farmers have been in the grip of a nitrogen crisis for five years. So as the EU introduces a raft of new (and some might say, essential) environmental demands, the pressure became too much to bear and the protests began.
In the UK, the protest conversation among farmers tends to draw out two themes: a fear of far-Right or populist “infiltration” or “exploitation”, and low confidence that the British public would support or even tolerate farmer demonstrations.
The former concern can be interpreted in a couple of ways. Many European countries have an insurgent populist party willing to speak up for farmers, which gives them a voice. Whether or not these parties are far-Right, the charge of exploitation or infiltration misses the mark. Farming has always formed a part of the populist platform: the US Populist Party grew out of the Farmer’s Alliance, the Finns Party came from the Finnish Rural Party, and Italy’s Lega Nord and Poland’s Law and Justice have long maintained links to farmers and farmers’ unions.
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SubscribeThe closest the UK has come to the European farmer-style disputes has been the lorry driver fuel protests which did lead to concessions, and didn’t seem to create too much of a public opinion backlash (unlike say XR). In addition, farming has always had a voice in the Tories, as many MPs constituencies are rural, with land owners making up a large contribution to the local associations. Perhaps UK farmers aren’t as desperate as the Continentals yet.
There is no reason for farmers to protest and demonstrate in the UK, that’s why they aren’t doing so.
But don’t ever expect a positive response from a farmer if you ask how things are – you’ll never get a contented reply, even if they are doing well, because there will always be something to moan about. Unfortunately that is the nature of their business, they can do everything right yet some other force beyond their control could undermine their position.
You are right in that assertion, it is the consumer who should be protesting and demonstrating our lack of opportunity to access cheaper food !
“…some other force beyond their control could undermine their position”
How about the weather? The vagaries of the British climate may well induce (as it does with most of the general population) a degree of stoicism that their continental cousins may lack.
Absolutely, a storm could ruin a crop right before harvest and destroy 6 months work. Farming has very high rates of suicide for various reasons, but also high impact emotional disasters – that’s true worldwide.
Of course it’s true that a sudden weather event could have a disastrous impact (who wouldn’t realise that?) but what i’m referring to is the more mundane day by day exigencies of climate which helps form the British character.
So for instance, the Dustbowl era in the US was disastrous, but occurred over an extended period. Also, anyone who’s read Emile Zola’s novel “Earth” will understand the psychology of French farmers.
There is a war on farming in Britain just as much as across Europe – it is driven by some twisted understanding of climate change and the need for Net Zero – a policy that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. The thinking is that Britain doesn’t need farmers as much as in the past as food can be imported and the land turned over to more ‘beneficial’ use. In its absurd lack of forward thinking and full consideration of the possible or even likely consequences of this policy, the logic behind it is akin to that which spurred the calamitous Great Leap Forward.
None of the current protests have anything to do with climate change or net zero. The war you speak of however is a war against pollution, in which the polluter must reform – how is that unreasonable?
I thought CO2 was pollution, I saw the visual evidence in a BBC documentary. CO2 is an evil black smokey gas that comes out of chimneys, it looks highly toxic and poisonous.
You are correct is has become an ideological war against farmers. Look at the nonsense in the recent Channel 4 beef farming hit piece. Fortunately alternative media allows farmers to respond, checkout the HarrysFarm deconstruction of the C4 hateful nonsense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3X-_Bqs_0k
You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
Precisely!
In fact since the 1950’s the munificence of the British taxpayer in regard to Farm Subsidies has been truly astonishing !
Certainly enough to put three boys through public school, maintain a Chalet in the Alps, keep a boat at Cowes and sustain an astronomically expensive ‘trophy’ wife!
Dives in Omnia indeed!*
(*Riches in everything.)
Farmers are also able to build residential dwellings without planning permission, special exemptions from inheritance tax and lower taxation on windfall planning gains when they can sell land for housebuilding.
I’ve never seen a satisfactory explanation for why they need all this special – very favourable – treatment. Which really amounts to more taxpayer subsidies.
That said, I think the article makes the fair point that British farmers have adapted to change better than most European farmers and are (I’m told) more efficient.
But, as with anything, handing out subsisides never makes businesses more efficient.
Para 2- U boats and we are an island.
And yet we haven’t had a U boat problem for 80 years … isn’t it mighty expensive insurance for a non-existent risk ?
We’ve always been an island and not always needed to “protect” farmers. One of the greatest days in our history was the Repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. Arguably – and sadly – reversed in joining the Common Market in 1973.
New Zealand (also an island) abolished farming subsidies in the 1980s. They’ve thrived.
I’m not intending to be anti-farmer. As another commnet notes, UK farmers have been very successful in developing new side businesses (holiday lets, campsites, farm shops, etc).
I think you are correct in saying British Farmers would not get the support the farmers in mainland Europe do.
Europe has always been a continent of mercantilists, in Britain we are supporters of free markets where the greatest benefit comes to the consumer not the producer.
Perhaps you should have considered how New Zealand farming works, they abolished all farm subsidies in 1984 and it has been a story of great success ever since.
A French friend of mine asked me why British farmers weren’t protesting like their continental brethren and I was completely stumped for an answer, muttering something about how the UK doesn’t have the same protesting culture as France.
Another thing that occurred to me was that British farmers have had Jeremy Clarkson publicising their woes on Netflix. If the purpose of protesting is to drum up attention for your problems and grievances then a popular Netflix series that is watched globally performs exactly the same task.
I was recently at a wedding and got chatting to two Americans over lunch who were really into Clarkson’s Farm and had righteous anger about the plight of British farmers. There was something quite comical about two people from Denver getting irate about local councils in the Cotswolds, but I doubt dumping manure in Westminster could have had anywhere near the same effect.
A bit of perspective. Farming is an essential American industry. Americans have an almost mystic level of reverence for farmers. The settler farmer who goes into the unknown and carves a farm out of the wilderness is part of the American mythos. Agriculture remains an important economic activity, far more so than in most of Europe. It’s one of the few areas exports exceed imports. On a more practical note, the farm lobby in America is massively powerful and supported by corporate giants like Monsanto, Dow Chemical, and others. It’s fair to say that after the military-industrial complex, the farm lobby is probably the next most influential interest group in the country. American farmers already have a seat near the head of the table and always have. Most of the environmental policies that get dumped on European farmers would be politically DOA in Washington and most statehouses outside California, where they do have occasional farmer protests. Environmental bills probably won’t even get introduced to Congress until the farm lobby is satisfied. So, as funny as it is, I’m not surprised Americans reacted this way. A lot of Americans would be shocked and appalled that ANY country treated their farmers so badly.
Yet USA farming is no longer producing high production,mass cheap food,or not in the shops where poor city people want it.
Of course the market is being skewed and controlled and food production is being implemented as a political weapon but we are not supposed to know that.
Well there’s too much monoculture farming these days. Given that so much is exported that’s not horribly surprising. Soybeans and field corn are huge cash crops but mostly used for animal feed or export. The farmers are just following market conditions to stay in business like everybody else. Not sure prices of food in the cities is a good measure of anything. I can’t imagine food availability at a wholesale level is much different in Chicago than fifty miles outside the city. It’s other factors like rent, utilities, taxes, regulations, even shoplifting, that jack up the prices. Some of it is the policies of liberal governments and some of it is just population density. I can’t help thinking people weren’t meant to live piled on top of each other like that, millions to a square mile. I can’t muster a whole lot of sympathy for people that keep voting the same epic fail liberals into power over and over again.
I suggest UK farming is split into 2 classes. (1) The upper farming class is part of the British Establishment, feels no compulsion to protest and they are too busy surfing the Government websites deciding which set-aside eco subsidy pays the most for growing weeds (2) the lower class farmers are too poor to afford the fuel or time to drive to London and protest.
Clarkson’s Farm is at the junior end of upper class farming but he is a rebel after a good story who can afford to mock the absurdity of the whole system.
Clarkson’s Farm is on Amazon.
Listening to the French farmers on French TV several points stand out. Firstly they claim that the Council of Europe has decided that food should be sourced from large farms in other countries (EU and non EU!) so it has introduced a ton of measures which are probably intended to send French farmers down the road of the coal miners in the UK by making them unviable and obsolescent. The triggers for all this are deals for importing bulk lamb, milk and other foods from south America (MercoSur) and others. Lower prices, cheap and badly regulated imports – and loads of shipping CO2! Green? My a..e! In exchange, big business can no doubt export arms, cars, etc. Macron, often described in France as a big business technocrat has long supported this, but has now dropped a Uie to support the farmers. Big chat with Auntie Ursula and the trade deal is delayed (sort of) a while and a few other promises. Is he also hoping to be EU President at the forthcoming Euro elections?
The other point which made me sit up was that apparently there are inadequate checks on goods entering France from Spain, Ukraine (chlorinated chickens, no less, some say!) and others. These goods are often shipped to France for resale, with labels saying sourced in EU/France or no labels at all (Spanish tomatoes)! So the EU turns a blind eye (aye?) to some countries, but when it comes to N Ireland and the UK – nitpicking is fine!
So from the farmers’ point of view – not just French but also Italian, Belgian and others who were complaining with their tractors last week, there’s even some talk of Frexit etc, but essentially not all farmers want the same thing but the EU road seems to be being cleared for big industrial monocultural businesses to thrive at the expense of small local farming. The French farmers see this as destroying the French farm and food culture. Time will tell…
Of course it is because of Brexit. If the British farmer is unhappy he has political means of redress. Farmers in the undemocratic EU he has no such option.
It is always better to be a sovereign nation.
‘The end is Nigh’ !!
The coming economic crash looming as it did in 1939 is about to burst – then the farmers will be appreciated. Now times are soft – food comes from foreign lands, and from factories, and plastic wrapped at grocers – Farmers are anachronisms and likely causing Global Warming so deserve all they get in the political mind.
But that will change. Be ready to grow turnips and cabbages in your tiny back garden again – and then the farmers will be appreciated.
The best image of the coming years is Amos Starkadder addressing the ‘Quivering Brethren as he describes what is in store for them..
” Ye miserable, crawling, worms!”
”Have you come out of your doomed houses to hear what is coming to ye?”
”Have ye come to hear me tell you of the great crimson licking flames of Hellfire coming to Ye?”
Iii they all cry back in their quivering fear…..
so best watch the link to see what is coming – and realize the farmers are going be be a very great asset…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1_Oip7mL7k
One advantage of British farmers is that they live on a crowded island with many farms near population centres. So they have better opportunities to diversify and create additional income. Examples include campsites, holiday homes, farm shops, and fishing lakes. Although these have bureaucratic challenges, they are enough to keep them solvent.
The NFU advises its members that, in many cases, they will be better off farming solar panels than livestock and arables.
An agricultural supplies company (WYN) announced its results last week, which indicated farming was ordering less than previously. It was suggested that solar energy units are about to consume enormous areas of arable land in areas of outstanding beauty, the Fens being one example. Farms are also putting up more wind turbines. The farmers are following the money at a time when our population is rapidly growing and we only produce 50% of our own food. That may be a factor why farmers are not demonstrating like the rest of Europe. EU farmers have 165 pages of regulations on chicken farming and their farms can be divided into zone, each accountable to a different bureaucracy. This is happening while Macron has a luxurious gala with Swedish royalty.
See the Speccie for another view of the same question.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-britains-farmers-arent-revolting/
“The Ukraine war has inflicted high fuel costs across the continent”. Russia still sells cheap energy, it is Mr Biden’s sanctions that have caused this economic damage to Europe. Mt Biden always makes things worse.
Its coming, 1000 farmers meet in Welshpool to discuss protesting https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid036cRA74TnX2gQZDj3RMJpBEZ3UmB7wxVdahNG3LSCjcUiBQiB82nih5HhhWqeQpUXl&id=100064688980825
Haven’t read it yet. Will later. I think the reason British farmers are mostly not in the protest mode is that most of them vote Tory. In Europe most farming is still done on small,”inefficient”,loss-making family farms because when the French + Germans,but in particular the French set up the European Union,they made the rules to suit them. Their club,their rules. The French VALUED their populace. They didn’t want a depopulated countryside. The charm of France and why so many Brits want to live there is because they really fought and defied economics to keep their social structure. And us Brits say why is life so idyllic in la France when it’s so destroyed here. Because they chose to keep it that way. Im not saying there isn’t profitable commercial.farming in France,and of course there is plenty in all of Europe but its still very my much based on the family unit. In Britain,so far as I’ve observed most farmers who still are small family farms,they vote Tory (got one in the family since a marriage),the farmers who are tenants, well they may be renting their land from a financial institution or a great estate,one that is still functioning. So these farmers would be very unwise to
engage in this sort of protest as that would definitely be breaking their tenancy agreement. After WW2 the farmers of Europe were encouraged to go down the USA route of farming style but Europe resisted. We are lucky our farmers did not go the whole hog as now it seems USA high production mass cheap food isn’t working any more. Now to read the actual article.