Haddock back to slam union
25 February 2000
Haddock back to slam union
OUTSPOKEN farmers leader Richard Haddock is back in storming form just three weeks after being comprehensively rejected for senior office by the NFU.
Despite pledging his loyalty to the union at its annual conference early this February, Mr Haddock openly criticised NFU officials after a farmers meeting.
Ordinary farmers are angry that the NFU has told them not to talk prices down by being depressed and gloomy, he claimed in Gloucestershire.
“I intend to challenge senior NFU staff to have a go at running these farm businesses, and then they will start talking about the real world,” said Mr Haddock.
Growing bitterness about the farming crisis would lead to an eruption of unprecedented direct action before the end of next month, he predicted.
He added: “I am hearing of good, business-like farmers being told by their banks they cant have enough credit to run their businesses properly.
Producers from all sectors are ready to fight for their future and “desperate to see action and, the more I travel, the more anger I see building up.”