Live debate tonight: Is farming better in or out of the EU?
©Vedran Vukoja Finally, after all the political wrangling, in-fighting and campaigning, the EU referendum is here. But is farming better in or out of the EU?
To debate the issue before heading to the polls tomorrow, Farmers Weekly is joining forces with debating group AgrichatUK tonight from 8.00-9.30pm, with a special panel of guests.
The discussion will be run on Twitter using the hashtag #AgrichatUK, with the @AgrichatUK account tweeting a series of questions to be debated.
See also: NFU calls emergency post-EU referendum meeting
Farmers, agricultural professionals and anyone else interested in farming are invited to take part – all you need is a Twitter account (see instructions below if you don’t have one).
Special guests
A panel of guests will be available to answer questions and add their thoughts. They include:
- Michael Haverty, senior agricultural economist, The Andersons Centre
- Alan Matthews, emeritus professor of European agricultural policy in the economics department at Trinity College Dublin and former president of the European Association of Agricultural Economists.
- Duff Burrell, former National Beef Association chairman and keen Brexiter
- Phil Clarke, executive editor (news and business), Farmers Weekly
The debate will be hosted by Farmers Weekly deputy business editor Jez Fredenburgh using the @AgrichatUK account.
How to take part
Sign in to your Twitter account just before 8pm (see below on setting one up) and use the Twitter search bar to search for the hashtag “#AgrichatUK”.
Select “live” or “all”– this will show you all of the tweets that include the hashtag as they come in.
Look out for the debate questions coming in from @AgrichatUK – these will have a question number at the beginning.
Join in with your thoughts and questions by tweeting – but ALWAYS include the hashtag #AgrichatUK (don’t forget the “UK” at the end). This allows all participants to see your tweets in this discussion.
How to set up a Twitter account
- Go to the Twitter registration page. It will ask you for your full name. This can be your real name, or anything you want within the allowed number of characters. You can change this anytime.
- You will need to give your phone number or email. You can only use a mobile or email address once per account, so if you already have a Twitter account you will need to use another. Twitter normally confirms a new account by sending a text to a valid mobile number.
- Choose a password.
- Choose your account name. This will end up as @ followed by your choice and is the name people use to reply to you on Twitter.
AgrichatUK runs weekly Twitter debates on farming and other rural topics every Thursday at 8pm using the #AgrichatUK hashtag. It was set up by a farmer and three other agricultural professionals and now has more than 20,400 followers.