65 YEARS FARMING SERVICE…
65 YEARS FARMING SERVICE…
The millennium is an exciting time of change – in farming
and every other industry. Its a time for looking forward.
A time, also, for looking back and remembering.
Tim Relf takes stock of FWs 65-year history
GENERATIONS have grown up with farmers weekly. It all started in 1934 – June 22 to be precise – when the first issue rolled off the presses.
It was at a time of depression – in agriculture and elsewhere. War was only a few years away. The milk industry was facing a big shake-up and beef prices were suffering in the face of a world glut.
Margaret Kempe from Uppingham described her reaction to the new magazine in a letter to the editor: "We admire your much-needed optimism, straight dealing and your practical suggestions. We feel less stranded already."
And reducing isolation is something the magazine has been trying to do ever since. John Creasey, librarian at Readings Rural History Centre, says it has always been a vital vehicle of debate and enabled people, often spread over large geographical areas, to communicate and exchange ideas. "Farmers who are isolated can keep in touch and find out how things are in their industry."
It is a consideration that is relevant in good and bad times alike. Sadly, the past few years have been more bad than good with agriculture brought to its knees by the BSE crisis, a strong sterling and the collapse of world markets.
A postal subscription back in 1934 would have cost you 7s 6d. Now it is £75, but there have been numerous changes since then – the shift to a more manageable size and the change from black-and-white to colour, to name but two.
Nowadays, you cant go far in the countryside without seeing a copy. Some people call it The Weekly, some, simply, FW. One or two have even been known to refer to it as the Yellow Peril. But talk to farmers, advisers, dealers, salesmen or auctioneers and theyll tell you its what they read.
Notts farmer Gary Clarke is one of nearly 300,000 people who do just that. "I pop into the local newsagent on Friday to get it. I glance at it all – but its particularly the arable that Im interested in. I have a whizz through it on Friday dinner time then read it properly over the weekend."
His seven-year-old son, Oliver, is also already a regular reader. "Im just learning to read. I like the pictures of tractors and the machines."
Not that everyone likes what they read, of course. Sometimes a magazines role can make it unpopular. As E G Gooch, president of the National Union of Agricultural Workers, said of the first few issues 65 years ago: "I may not agree with all the conclusions reached by you or your contributors but a paper with a bold and vigorous policy appeals to me." He also praised its "all-embracing" coverage.
Nowadays farmers weekly has two sister magazines, Crops and Poultry World. Crops, established over a decade ago, is a specialist journal for the arable industry. It is published fortnightly and its 32,000-plus circulation includes many advisers and distributors as well as farmers. Poultry World is the only journal covering all poultry interests. With a circulation of more than 6000, its coverage includes management, practical features, market trends, new products and reports from big exhibitions and conferences.
One of the most exciting developments in recent years has been the launch of farmers weekly on-line website, FWi. Available 24 hours a day, FWi has a worldwide geographical coverage and is updated throughout the day.
Computer technology – in journalism, as in farming – moves on apace as the millennium arrives. farmers weekly, like farmers, has no intention of being left behind.
FW FACTS
Circulation 93,422
(ABC Jul 97-Jun 98)
Coverage UK national plus Eire
Readership 261,582
Readers per copy 2.8