Flying the flag is no turn-on

As someone who has stood in local town centres and at shows
helping the NFU promote UK agriculture, people are not
neccesarily turned on by Union Flags.

What they like is a consistent product they can trust.

If the tractor logo helps to build this, then it is all to
the good.

When shopping last week in the local supermarket, the
tractor was everwhere – all over the meat and fresh produce.

It looked different and was eye-catching – not the same old
flags-and-bunting approach that seems to get nowhere with
the majority of consumers.

How many of todays leading manufacturers of goods do you see
laden with the Union Flag?

I dont mean to sound unpatriotic but, alas, it is a fact of
life.

The last time, as I recall, a major company did this was
British Leyland – and look what happened to that!

I am all for hearing what the grassroots say, but when the
grassroots, in this case, only make such a small percentage
of the population, perhaps they should have a look at what
is going on in the rest of society and the country as a
whole.

What the farming industry needs is unity and the ability to
present itself well as a credible force within British
industry and the rest of the world.

There is a future for the British countryside but, to win
it, we need to evolve into a consumer-friendly industry that
can deliver exactly what is required, coupled with effective
and constuctive lobbying of those in power, and this may at
some time involve protest action.

After all, if the FFAs track record on the ability to
negotiate contructively is anything to go by, the doors of
power would be shut hard to any farmer trying to offer any
sort of opinion to those in positions of influence.

The future, as I see it, does not involve a small group of
self-opinionated, attention-seeking, so-called leaders
providing a misleading vision of hope to those smaller, less
vocal people who like myself are trying damn hard to run a
small farm business.

It is time to stop supporting the ego trip martyrs and start
getting behind those who have over the years worked hard to
forge channels of comunication with those that can make a
difference.

This wont happen overnight; it will be a long struggle to
solve the current problems, but it can happen and, if done
the right way, it can give young people like myself the
potential for a future in the countryside.



Email:henry_boot@hotmail.com