Earlier in the year, Farmers Weekly started an initiative which we called The Big Debate. The idea was to take a controversial farming subject, set out the arguments surrounding the issue and then let readers decide the final verdict.
The first question we asked was about wind turbines but now we’ve come up with our second. We’re asking farmers: Have the past 50 years left a good or bad legacy for UK farming?
I admit that it is not an easy question to answer. When I first read Matthew Naylor’s article which argues that the past 50 years have left a bad legacy for UK farming I found myself agreeing. But then I read former NFU president Lord Plumb’s countering article and found myself agreeing with him too.
This could mean that I’m not very decisive. But what I’d prefer to think it that it is because the issue is not clear cut and there are pluses and minuses on both sides.
Lord Plumb’s argument that the farming industry is far more stable than it was in the early half of the 20th century is right. Whatever the problems facing the industry today, are they as acute as the challenges facing producers in the 1920s and 1930s?
Yet Matthew is also right in his assertion that subsides have hampered the industry as much as they have helped it. It is worth asking what’s the one subject that gets farmers going more than any other? Red tape. And what’s the one thing driving red tape more than any other? Subsidies.
But just because coming to a decision is difficult doesn’t mean that I can’t answer the question (I tried that approach in a maths exam once and it didn’t get me very far).
There are shades of grey on almost every issue. And what we’re asking here is – on balance and taking everything into consideration – is it a good or bad legacy. (Let's face it if we added a third option that said ‘A bit of both’ it would probably get 100% against it and be pretty meaningless.)
So what is my conclusion?
Well, over the years I have come to the conclusion that a positive mental attitude is a very valuable thing. And I can't help feel that siding with Matthew and voting for a bad legacy is a bit defeatist. So, as a fellow optimist, I am siding with Lord Plumb.
Comments (1)
Dear Sirs,
The state of the agriculture in England as elswhere in Europe is suffering from the deeds of politicians. They have been buying cheap votes from the chattering classes just to iron the rural community down deep in the ground.
The politicians have no responsibility what so ever, when they eventually fall down from the pedistal or leave office, most of them are hardly rememberd except for the odd ones that have cheeted with other peoples money. Until this is changed there is not much hope.
Comment left on November 30, 2007 6:52 PM
Posted on November 30, 2007 18:52