The need for a collaborative approach to the UK Farming and Food Security Problem

Watching the stories unfold around UK Farming and Food Security is as frustrating as it is concerning for these following significant reasons:

The Government isn’t going to change course on its overall relationship with UK Farms and Farming. Even if some media friendly concessions are made. Much like two of the UK Supermarket chains this week making public announcements that they support our Farmers over the Inheritance Tax issue, whilst at the same time taking no action to create genuine change that would help Farmers to receive an income that reflects the role that they have as a Key player in the Food Chain.
Farmers are committed to ‘changing unchangeable minds’. Because of the way that the Agricultural Marketplace and the systems feeding in and out of it have been deliberately manipulated over a period exceeding 50 years.
There is an industry-wide dependency upon subsidies and contract production/trading arrangements that effectively surrendered the control of UK Farms and Farming to the establishment (primarily EU ‘modelling’) and big business, which has resulted in a cultural deprogramming of some of the most creative and entrepreneurial mindsets to exist within the SME, operational business world.
A situational bias exists within the UK Farming community, UK agricultural academia, UK Farming advocacy organisations and the industry media and commentariat, where the solutions to the problems that many freely elucidate and the outcomes that they desire are only considered within or relating to the structure of the existing economic paradigm and cultural deference that the general UK population has to the Public Sector, NGOs, Government, Politicians and public figures, or those in ‘a position of responsibility’ or influence.
The reluctance or objection to ‘going a different way’ that adheres to UK legal requirements, but is itself not led or reliant upon government, the public sector or any industry bodies that are heavily influenced by them, is based purely upon the idea that Farmers themselves taking responsibility for investing in either the diversification of their own enterprises or collectively with other local or like businesses, will offer unacceptable levels of financial risk. Whereas waiting for the government, public sector, industry bodies and those businesses like Supermarkets to ‘wake up’ and ‘invest to save UK Farming’ will not.
The latent pool of knowledge, experience and understanding that exists within the Farming community, throughout agricultural academia and the supporting sectors, has the ability to offer industry changing outcomes that would quickly return Farming and Food Production to the central role within UK Communities that it traditionally had, and still should. Based on the reality that Food is as essential as Air to breathe and Water to drink for every person, each and every day.
Those members of the wider Farming community with platforms and voices to be heard remain focused on promoting the issues, solutions and outcomes as their own view and experience enables them to see them. Too often overlooking the reality that there are profound threads of commonality between every one of them which are all too often being overlooked, as the default position is for everyone to focus on what is ‘right’, only for them.
This was the situation a year ago. A year before that and so on. IHT has just focused the imagination of more people than before. But could prove counterproductive.

It doesn’t stop there. But going into further reams of detail will not help anyone who is not open to the collaborative, community approach that has now become necessary for UK Farming to evolve and regenerate itself into a model of working and operation that will not just allow it to survive. But actually thrive.

As an experienced business leader who spent 12 years in frontline politics after being a local government officer and senior charity manager, then embarking on a research and thought journey that took me to complete a PGCert in Sustainable Ag and Food Security at the RAU, I have a perspective on what is happening that doesn’t conform to stereotype to say the very least.

Whilst I have written extensively about the Food Security situation, attempted to broaden others perspectives on how the Food Chain really works, suggested a way to use the issues with Red Tractor to launch a new Food Quality and Provenance Assurance Scheme to begin a revolution in UK Farming and focused on the role of Local Food Chains with the Community in the Future, I have been doing so purely with the intent of opening a door.

The door I am referring to opens to the room of collaboration and discourse where using everything as we are doing it and know it, is left behind. Because this all represents the past, and what whoever or whatever is really driving all the problems that UK Farming faces wants to happen and intends to be in place.

Although I made my misgivings clear about the aims and approach of No Farmers No Food from the start and have seen nothing yet to suggest that they are anything other than a problem awareness raising vehicle, I keep a close eye. Hoping that something will change and a touchpaper or catalyst might appear that will at least begin to bring the different ideas, views and suggested solutions together in a way that opens every mind to learning from each other’s views and most importantly, leaves the egos behind.

In a tweet yesterday, No Farmers No Food, talked up the value of marketing boards as many will remember them with the inference or suggestion that they could be of great help to UK Farming, if they were to exist now.

It was one of the rare occasions when I felt that I wanted to respond, seeing that there are principles that could be highly beneficial in the fight to save UK Farms and Food Security today, depending upon the approach taken and what the model of such organisations would be and how they would operate today.

I haven’t focused on ‘marketing boards’ in anything like the historic sense. In no small part as their demise arguably led and fed into many of the problems that the industry faces today. Because the platform they offered was not protected as it should have been by government and the public sector, and was in no small way exploited by a range of different profit driven organisatons for the levels of financial gain which have led to the crippling financial straightjacket that UK Farming now finds itself in.

However, Hector Wetherell McNeill from the George Boole Foundation Limited replied and and linked a paper to my tweet that they have recently published titled ‘Agricultural Commodity Marketing Boards’, which you will find if you follow this link HERE.

I’m grateful that Hector responded as he has done. As whilst I would suggest there is a broader picture to consider that I have touched upon in the points above, and I don’t believe that marketing boards are in and of themselves a solution to the mess that UK Farming is now in, there are a number of very valuable points and suggestions made that could be massively helpful within a cooperative operational business or some kind that has a system of governance that runs locally and outside the influence of any of the usual suspects that quickly come to mind.

I would certainly be supportive of the discussion group idea that the proposal discusses and feel sure that the communication technology that is now readily available could be used to create a discussion and ideas sharing platform that could prove to be game-changing indeed.

I will end here by saying only that there are no politicians and no political party that exists today that can or will be able to make the changes to the UK Farming industry that only Farmers and the businesses that are aligned with the sector can and have the power to do so themselves.

The only thing that is really stopping UK Farming from making the changes that are now needed is the recognition that the power to make those changes rests only with UK Farmers themselves.

Many thanks again to Hector and best wishes to you all.

Adam

Real Collaboration vs Policy Collaboration: The Choice That Will Shape the Future of Farming, Local Food Systems, and Food Security

The need for a collaborative approach to UK Farming PDF_Vers1_25Mar25 Download

Will Farmers advocates, membership representatives and activists make Inheritance Tax the hill that the future of U.K. Food Security dies on?

Uncomfortable to read as it may be, the well-known membership and advocacy organisations that supposedly enjoy ‘real’ influence on government and the other layers of ‘The Food Chain Onion’, and purportedly represent their members interests before anything else, are actually just players in an establishment game.

The officers and leaders amongst them value the access or relationships that they have with government departments, politicians and representatives above everything and to a level where they will not do anything that will risk those relationships.

When the wishes of the advocacy and membership organisations are aligned with what the government of the time is doing, we can be sure that industry representatives will walk away with what appear to be some great wins.

Just as they will appear to do so when the aims aren’t aligned and the politicians will make some sort of concession so that they can misrepresent and link to other issues that they will not rescind on.

This may regrettably yet prove to be the case with Inheritance Tax and linking it to UK Food Security. Just so that a narrative can be created that the UK Food Security issue has been solved with the intent that it heaps together all the issues Politicians and Government Departments don’t want to deal with, and builds the spurious narrative that ‘The Food Security problem is now solved’.

Although we can all be sure that representatives of these Organisations make very reasoned representations to those they meet and communicate with, they also take any reassurances and promises they obtain at face value.

They regrettably fall back on the way of thinking that ‘It’s just the way it is’ and that it is better and more beneficial to be ‘in the tent’ than to do anything that would risk their position, and might stop them from being allowed back in. As many smaller less well known organisations will have tried to their cost.

Advocacy isn’t working and isn’t going to work, because you cannot reason with those who are unreasonable

In many cases without even understanding why they are being unreasonable, our politicians and the officers and public sector representatives that surround them only see reason in doing and pursuing the public policies and actions that they believe to be best for everyone, whilst actually only doing what’s best for them.

Populist ‘activism’ and their current approaches

In the case of activist ‘organisation’ No Farmers No Food, whose yellow branding with the black silhouette tractor is capturing support, they are certainly well-meaning and led by good intention.

However, like the advocacy and membership organisations that are in The Food Chain mix, they are also missing the point that the best people to solve the problem aren’t the same ones that caused it.

And the problem we are all facing is much bigger than lots of talking and protesting about whatever gets traction in the media and appears to stick.

The priority of UK Politics today simply isn’t UK Farming and Food Security

In respect of Government and the Politicians we are dealing with, the faces and the branding might have changed in July. But the motives and the direction that drives them is very much the same as those who were in Power before.

As I write and publish in November 2024, there is nobody and no political movement or party out there in the Public realm that has the ability, system-wide understanding or the properly reasoned intent to tackle and change any of the problems we face, when the next General Election in the UK comes. Whether its within months OR in 5 years’ time.

This is a very serious problem for us all.

Understanding Who Controls Our Food Controls Our Future –Everything You Need to Know

The Local Economy & Governance System | Online Text

The need for a collaborative approach to UK Farming PDF_Vers1_25Mar25 Download

Food From Farms Guaranteed_PDF_Vers2_13Mar25 Download

Farmers Advocates and IHT 18Nov24 PDF_Vers1_26Nov25 Download

Why UK Food Security depends on supporting UK Farmers

The seemingly constant talk about the Farmers’ Protest March that is being held in London on Tuesday 19th March certainly appears to have captured many of our thoughts.

The Farmers Inheritance Tax changes that were introduced in the 2024 Budget in October are certainly set to have a BIG impact upon UK Farming as we know it.

But whilst it’s easy to argue that Farmers should be subject to the same taxes as everyone else, we must all remember that we need at least 2x healthy meals a day to survive, and that Food and our access to it is therefore just as important as the air that we breathe and the water that we drink.

Food Production and UK Farms that are supplying fresh, nutritious, Locally Produced Food are as such a Public Good.

Their existence is essential for this reason and there must be support for Farmers – just like all different kinds of businesses have that are focused only on profit – so that they can stay that way.

The change in the Budget tells us that Politicians don’t see the future role of our Farms that way.

So, it is important that all of us – whether we are Consumers, Farmers or both – understand what is really going on across the UK Food Chain that is making Politicians believe that the direction of Food Production and UK Food Security is not only safe, but also good for everyone and fundamentally OK.

The link below will take you to the full online text of Who Controls Our Food Controls Our Future, which is also a Free to Download PDF and an e-book for Kindle (£1.99 in the UK from Amazon) which runs through the complexity and layers of The Food Chain, and the truths that are hidden in plain sight, from our everyday view.

There’s a lot to consider, no matter what we already know or the particular or perhaps ‘informed’ perspectives that we all have. So please do find the time if you can to have a look through, as you are likely to have a lot more questions of your own about why we are not giving priority to UK Food Production and the importance of Our Farms when you do.

Thank you for your interest and support.

#food #FoodSecurity #FarmersProtest #farmers #farming #foodchain

To download a FREE PDF Copy of Who Controls Our Food Controls Our Future, Please CLICK HERE. Alternatively, if you would like to download the Book for Kindle at £1.99 (UK Price), please follow the link through to Amazon that follows immediately below:

The last thing we need is a Farmers Revolt. But the U.K. DOES need a Farmer-led Food Chain Revolution, ASAP

With the Farmer’s March planned for this coming Tuesday, talk of all sorts of militancy and acts of rebellion from our Farmer’s have added to the chorus, with postulations and threats suggesting that a ‘Farmer Revolt’ could be on the way that will bring everything to a standstill, if the Farm Inheritance Tax changes aren’t overturned and the Farmers are seen to have got their way.

As covered in my blog yesterday, there really is no question that the Policy should be overturned. Because it will do damage to UK Farms, Farming and UK Food Security that we may very soon find ourselves unable to repair or restore to the correct place.

However, threatening or even talking up a ‘Revolt’ of any kind, could easily lead to consequences that nobody who is emotionally entrenched in this debate will have in mind. And they will certainly not expect.

It is vital we understand that Farmers are not dealing with real Leaders in our Government. These ‘politicians’ are not going to respond in ways that reflect anything other than who they are, why they are there and what they see as being the most important considerations for them – No matter how grounded the alternative and logic of the pro-Farming arguments levelled against them and their policies might be.

The culturally conditioned deference that we have for people because of job titles, roles, celebrity or even the number of people who follow, like and subscribe to them on social media, means that we automatically apply credibility to whatever they do.

We do so, without realising that we do so because we believe that they act, behave and approach everything in the same way we are, or that we believe we would do so, if we should find ourselves in exactly the same position as they are.

This ‘understanding’ works brilliantly until we disagree. But then we fall into the trap of believing and applying the same rationality for how they will behave, if we find ourselves on what we perceive to be the opposite side, whatever the reason might be.

There is much more to everything that this Government and the Government before it has done, is doing and will continue to do, if the political classes continue unhindered as things currently suggest that they will be.

The Budget move and the very clear statement made this week by former Blair Advisor John McTernan speaks Labour’s truth for the future they see for UK Farming.

The actions and words during the 2024 Budget and all of the interviews and messaging that has followed since, tell us that this really is the direction of travel that is ‘baked in’ for this Government.

It means these people really see no value in UK Farming as it is right now. Even though they may not be sharing what they anticipate the future of UK Food Production will be.

One thing we can be sure of however, is that our politicians are very smallminded and fearful. No matter what the drivers behind all of this really are.

If anyone genuinely believes that militancy and obstructive action will yield anything other than direct impact to anyone and everything effected on the days of the events themselves in this climate, they really should re-read the room.

Small, minded politicians are led by their own fears in everything they do. Cause they a big public problem that makes bad headlines for them and they will not hesitate to use every power at their disposal to end even the remotest possibility that Farmers could act this way or do the same to them again.

Its not communism or even the stupidity of incompetent politicians within the Political Party in power that led to this. WE keep electing people as public representatives who are fundamentally just the same.

They are coin-operated, do not understand what they are even supposed to be doing and will always look to whoever is complaining about what they are doing as the ideal direction to apportion blame.

However, even MORE importantly than the incompetence of our politicians; there are 39 days until Christmas – or less than 6 weeks.

For better or worse, the Supermarket aisles are filled up with everything for what has sadly become an annual 3-month festival of consumerism that the British Public have now bought into.

The last thing that Farmers should contemplate doing this week is deliberately leveraging themselves into the middle of this equation, pissing off precisely all of the people they most need to be aligned with.

The Food Revolution we do need is one that places Food Production right back at the heart of Our Local Communities. With Farmers leading and playing their part from the very front.

The destinies of Our Farmers, Our Communities and Our People are intricately entwined. Because of just how important Food is to each of us for survival and the role at the centre of life that Food plays, that we have been deliberately encouraged to overlook or forget.

We must not allow the establishment to diminish the role of UK Food Security any further. Irrespective of whether the reason for all they have done is just stupidity or maligned intent.

However, we also need to be clear that for as long as we have the same kinds of People running the Country, speaking with the same voices and influencing people just because of the platforms they have, they and only they remain the ones who legitimately get to set and control the national agenda. No matter how damaging to all of us it really is.

They will continue to do so, until an agenda that legitimately sits outside of their control exists and grows to benefit all of us and take their place.

The need for a collaborative approach to UK Farming PDF_Vers1_25Mar25 Download

Food From Farms Guaranteed_PDF_Vers2_13Mar25 Download

Dear Farmers: PLEASE don’t mess with the Law of Unintended Consequences on Tuesday. A well-organised March in London will be enough to show how miffed you are

Watching developments since the 2024 Budget on the 30^th of October has seen, debate, support and plans for the Farmers March in London evolve – which we have every reason to believe is being planned as well and responsibly as a protest can, by The Farming Forum.

However, as we near the 19^th of November, suggestions of holding back food supplies to supermarkets, refusing to accommodate sewage sludge and bringing the country to a standstill threaten to take the whole crisis that U.K. Farming and our Food Security are experiencing, in a direction that could make this hidden Food Crisis considerably worse.

The growing strength of feeling really does risk giving those directly involved that Farmers have the power to solve every problem in one hit. And that they should therefore take it.

However, issues surrounding changes to Farmers Inheritance Tax do not stand alone in isolation. The breadth and depth of issues about how the entire UK Food Chain is being misused are both highly complex and considerably bigger than many farmers even realise.

And whilst any Farmer or Supporter may believe that headlines and commentary suggest the Government is ‘now on the run’ and will make concessions or change their mind if pushed hard enough, militancy of any kind at this stage, is more likely to lead to even worse outcomes for the industry than the drastic improvements and turnarounds that those banging drums and driving tractors may have on their current wish list.

Former Labour Advisor, John McTernan has told everyone, very loudly and very openly in an interview that that the U.K. does not need Small Farmers.

Whilst Starmer has attempted to ‘disown’ this suggestion, and whether our politicians are stupid and are doing stupid things or not, we would all be foolish to not accept and work with the reality that the people running this country until perhaps 2029, no longer see value in the UKs Small Farms.

We must all be very clear that if the Government believes that ‘Small Farms aren’t necessary, when they are not talking about Farms that are actually that small, the Government is not going to do anything to reward an industry for causing them problems, when they already have a picture of the future that surely resembles many if not all Small Farms being closed down.

We shouldn’t doubt that the Inheritance Tax move itself was a very big ‘tell’.

Politicians have now reached the stage in an ongoing process of UK Farming viability removal, where they no longer believe it necessary to show any care for Farmers.

With the belief that the only helpful thing I can do is to share what I know and understand, I sat down to write Who Controls Our Food Controls Our Future with the aim that anyone genuinely interested would have the option of a quick walk through the entire background of the hidden Food Crisis.

I had been writing about our politicians and why they no longer care, and had a jaw dropping moment when the very serious warning from the political classes which is the McTernan comment was so very quickly shared after the 30^th October Budget.

Right now, the direction of travel for U.K. Farming as we know it is terminal. 3^rd party interests right across the Food Chain – NOT just the politicians themselves – believe in a future where the Food we eat will either be a source of guaranteed profit for corporate giants or just another governance tool for societal control.

Such aims require that Food Production cannot be left in even the most isolated pair of hands. Because any form of independence in the Food Chain will be a massive threat.

The evidence is there and no longer even hiding in plain sight.

Politicians across our political sphere today do not fear losing Small Farmers. But they will be very fearful of even a moment of social unrest and are unlikely to respond well to any acts that create problems for them that might suggest to the Public that they are not in control.

Much like the follow-up to the unrest in Southport in the Summer this Government is likely to work like they are on steroids to achieve anything they believe necessary to stop Farmers from ever having the opportunity to make them look bad again.

We ALL need to realise that the dystopian nightmare is already here.

We just haven’t stood back to view the whole wood yet, rather than each of our different trees.

We all need to wake up quickly and begin playing a very different game, before it really is too late.

The next step, could regrettably come very quickly following any action or events that aren’t thought through properly. And such actions – even if only involving just a few, would be akin to the whole Farming Industry shooting itself in the foot.

Not only do People across the UK need OUR Farming industry to survive. WE ALL need UK Farmers to take back all of the control that they have lost, putting Food and Food Production back at the very heart of our Local Communities, as just the start.

No help and certainly nothing good will come now from anyone or any organisation that profits in any way from where UK Farming is heading today. Other than lip service, contractual devices, sops and incentives that will keep Farmers doing what those interests want Farmers to do and keep Farmers believing that things will get better at some unknown point in the future.

Meanwhile these interests will continue to rinse every last penny that they can from ALL of us, whilst systematically destroying the ability of Farmers, People and Communities to have Food Chain Independence at any level and of any kind.

Please don’t fall into the trap of giving any of them even the slightest reason to make things worse for Farmers, whilst they still can.

Otherwise, what is left of UK Farming may not be able to recover.

Food From Farms Guaranteed_PDF_Vers2_13Mar25 Download

The need for a collaborative approach to UK Farming PDF_Vers1_25Mar25 Download