UK British farmers want basic income to cope with post-Brexit struggles - Schemes to replace EU subsidies will not plug gap left by loss of EU subsidies for most farmers

Campaigners from BI4Farmers have said that they were ‘basically kept afloat’ by EU subsidies before Brexit. Photograph: Jon Lewis/Alamy

Farmers are calling for the government to grant them a universal basic income, saying the post-Brexit agriculture subsidy scheme has left many poorer.

Delays to the sustainable farming schemes put in place after the UK left the European Union, to replace the common agricultural policy (CAP), have meant that in England many farmers have been left out of pocket. The new regime initially suffered from low subscription rates, and the government has underspent hundreds of millions from the £2.4bn farming budget each year due to lack of sign-up.

Scotland and Wales have different farming schemes, and Northern Ireland has not yet set up its new scheme due to Stormont not having sat for two years. In Wales, there have been protests over plans to ask farmers to set aside 20% of their farms for nature and tree planting.

Government projections and independent analysis have shown that the new nature payments schemes will not plug the gap left by the lack of EU subsidies for most farmers. The nature schemes were never meant to replace the CAP payments exactly, and instead are aimed at paying farmers to provide public goods.

Now, at least 100 farmers have signed up to a new campaign group, BI4Farmers, to ask for a universal basic income (UBI) for all farmers in Britain.

The campaigners said that farmers across the UK were “basically kept afloat” by EU subsidies and now risk going out of business. Analysis by the organic farming group Riverford has found that half of farmers surveyed said they may go out of business due to post-Brexit trade deals, uncertainty over farming payment schemes and rising costs.

Jo Poulton, the BI4Farmers coordinator, said: “British farmers are overworked and underpaid but the Brexit process presents an ideal opportunity to change this.

“A basic income for farmers would guarantee an adequate income, improving access to time off and reasonable working hours and making entering a career in farming affordable for new entrants.”

Sustainable farming groups have also shared their support for a UBI for farmers to enable to them to experiment with nature friendly farming methods such as using fewer pesticides without sacrificing their income.

Will White, sustainable farming campaign coordinator at Sustain, said: “Universal basic income could be an important safety net for farm workers and small new entrant growers, providing financial security that liberates them to pursue agro-ecological practices without the looming pressure of financial survival.

“When paired with better funding for environmental land management schemes, UBI has the potential to significantly bolster the agricultural sector’s overall resilience. Looking into radical yet promising solutions like this is essential. We support a deeper exploration of how basic income policies could work in the UK context and are watching this campaign with interest.”

Ruth West, a cofounder of the Oxford Real Farming Conference, added: “Concerned citizens, farmers in dire straits, policymakers and all those who care about a fairer food system should get onboard and help move this practical, doable plan to the next phase.

“BI4Farmers presents us with a golden opportunity for a sustainable farming future. It’s an opportunity we must not miss.”

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[Pee Cola]

This reminds me of the first season of Clarkson's Farm, where Jezza made the princely sum of £144 in profit from agricultural activities over 12 months.

To be fair, he acknowledged he's in a much better position than many British farmers on account of having healthy off-farm income. But it was thought-provoking stuff nonetheless.

Without farmers and modern agricultural practices, civilization is fucked. Or at the very least the human headcount would need to be slashed dramatically in order for everyone to be fed.

 

[Skeletonized Cow]

Without farmers and modern agricultural practices, civilization is fucked. Or at the very least the human headcount would need to be slashed dramatically in order for everyone to be fed.

The Marxists' ideological hatred of the farmer will be their downfall every single time. It is unfortunate that they do so much damage before their defeat though.

 

[Teghern]

It's nice to have this romanticised image of a yeoman family managing sheep herds and raising crops to sell at market but that shit just isn't viable.
And it never was, modern day factory farms have their forerunners in Roman imperial era latifundia. Feudal subsistence farming and American frontier settling are historic aberrations from the mean of societies; even ancient Mesopotamia had the irrigation canals coordinated by priests and I don't need to tell you about Chinese systems.
What I'm saying is the time of farmers as an independent demographic in and of themselves is rapidly passing and that sticking an IV drip in them is doomed.

This is of course wholly separate from homesteading where you actually try and be self sufficient but nowhere in Britain does this IMO, even the permaculture fags near me only stay "viable" because of outside grants, it's an entirely false economy and needs winding down and replacing with a modern (preferably not too commie) solution.

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

This reminds me of the first season of Clarkson's Farm, where Jezza made the princely sum of £144 in profit from agricultural activities over 12 months.

To be fair, he acknowledged he's in a much better position than many British farmers on account of having healthy off-farm income. But it was thought-provoking stuff nonetheless.

There's a reason that farming organisation gave him an award for the show, it's publicising some of their problems better than any politicians are.

 

[kcbbq]

There's a reason that farming organisation gave him an award for the show, it's publicising some of their problems better than any politicians are.

The only thing the show really missed is the catch-22 that weather is. It showed how bad weather is an obvious enemy, but in modern farming really, really good weather is almost worse, because just as your field gets to be its most expensive in both time and money investment, bumper crops tank prices and you lose your shirt.

The same issues exist for US farmers, but the USDA has (usually) been pretty sane as far as government agencies go. At least until they started putting urbanites who know nothing about farming at the top as has gotten depressingly common in the last few years, even in agriculture heavy states.

 

[Dante Alighieri]

They should just get the fuck out and let the commies have their civilization-ending way.

 

[Clem Fandango]

If anyone is going to qualify for basic income, I think "people who make food" probably have the best case.

I know in some countries they fix this by the government guaranteeing a price for certain foods, but that just distorts the market by the incentivisation of growing certain crops. Maybe it's better to just provide farmers with a basic income and then they can grow what they want, or what crop is best suited for their farm?

 

[frozen_runner]

And just like that I lost all feeling of support for the farmers. Damn.

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

The only thing the show really missed is the catch-22 that weather is. It showed how bad weather is an obvious enemy, but in modern farming really, really good weather is almost worse, because just as your field gets to be its most expensive in both time and money investment, bumper crops tank prices and you lose your shirt.

True, I still think it managed to do the necessary duty of showing that farming, even if you put aside the hard work and vast amounts of funding to do, ultimately can come down to a coin flip on many given days. It's hard to explain that to normal people in a way that sinks in and I think he does a good job at least of making that slightly embed.

 

[Halfnium Bomb]

What I'm saying is the time of farmers as an independent demographic in and of themselves is rapidly passing and that sticking an IV drip in them is doomed.

What system do you suggest then?

 

[Tetra]

When Pro-EU tards basically admit that they would rather be ruled by brussels than their own more local government, I often can't help but laugh at their slave mentality. But the fact that their more close and local government failed at subsidizing one of the two most important part of any sovereign country, that being food and energy makes me laugh even more. Of course it is to be expected that an empire would make their client dependent upon those things but after Brexit I really would expect them to subsidize those two things as a beginning and then fight it out over the price of luxury goods. There is like no will to be independent at all over there, even from the ruling government. What a disaster. Free market cultists really have to be hanged. I mean for fucks sake how do you not take back control over those two things after independence

 

[6MillionCoofs]

This reminds me of the first season of Clarkson's Farm, where Jezza made the princely sum of £144 in profit from agricultural activities over 12 months.

To be fair, he acknowledged he's in a much better position than many British farmers on account of having healthy off-farm income. But it was thought-provoking stuff nonetheless.

Without farmers and modern agricultural practices, civilization is fucked. Or at the very least the human headcount would need to be slashed dramatically in order for everyone to be fed.

He also later goes on to realise that the thing stopping farmers the most is bs regulations on what you can’t do. Which requires you to get paid money to cover the money you don’t make because the pests you can’t kill murdered your crop.

Because the people making the rules know nothing about farming.

 

[Milkshake Sniffer]

Farming is in an appalling state but that doesn't mean UBI is the answer or will even improve matters. People invoke Clarkson but how much of Clarkson's woes were a consequence of regulation (essentially EU regulation that the UK still maintains)? A constant theme in that show was the constraints and impact of bureaucracy.

We don't have the headlines of EU wine lakes and butter mountains that we had a few decades ago but we still have a disfunctional market rigged to reduce food production in the interests of biodiversity and other social interests. There's actually a statutory duty on all English public authorities to further the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity in England (section 40 NERC 2006). Think for a moment of what a retarded virtue signal that is. It's far worse than your typical virtue signal though as this has real and devastating consequences. For example: Dredge watercourses as was the practice or centuries to prevent/minimise flooding? Can't do that; it harms the habitat. Much better to have flooding, shed some crocodile tears over the TV footage of flooded homes, blame muh climate change and push for more govt control and taxation.

Can UK farming exist in something approaching a free market? Don't know. Neither do you and neither does anyone else. It's current state is the consequence of half a century of extreme governmental control; including direct market control. It's a crazy idea but maybe addressing the root cause might be beneficial as opposed to layering another level of government control and market manipulation on top of the existing failed system.

The UK has direct experience of long term subsidising failing government controlled industries; steel, mining, cars amongst others. (Fishing was different as its death sentence was executed by design as part of the UK entry into the EEC (as was). That was one of the many lies sold to the UK public at the time and exposed decades later.) The consistent theme is that it was never sustainable (in the true sense of the word), dragged the rest of the economy down and never ended well.

 

[draggs]

Of course it's Brexit's fault!

Then why are farmers in EU member countries like

Holland
Belgium
Spain
Germany
France
Poland
etc.

Also protesting at how inflation and government policy have reduced their profits to nothing, or forced them to produce at a loss?

Independent farming is quite viable when your costs don't go up 10% a year for 2-3 years in a row because of inflation and onerous government regulation, and imports undercutting you aren't flooding your market. This is deliberate policy. Huge agrofirms are easier for the government to control to save us from globul warmuns or whatever. Coercive control is no longer necessary, the government and the huge corporations have a symbiotic alliance. No matter what the industry is, we basically have a fascist economic system now in Europe and increasingly in the US (although we mutts still have a long way to catch up to where Europe is). The government strangles the medium and small competition to the huge corporations, giving them more and more market share, and the huge corporations go along with whatever flights of fancy the government has, their profits assured by the government's anti-competitive policies

Of course this eventually hollows out the vitality of your economy, but they've made it clear they don't care

 

[6MillionCoofs]

@Milkshake Sniffer

People invoke Clarkson but how much of Clarkson's woes were a consequence of regulation (essentially EU regulation that the UK still maintains)? A constant theme in that show was the constraints and impact of bureaucracy.

The majority of the issues he faced were regulations which is why when you saw that talk with the Council everyone was pissed. Because it was clear the people making the rules had no fucking clue what they were talking about. And were fucking good ideas or the chance at farms and local areas being sucsessful as a result.

 

[WhiskeyJack]

UBI would only make the inflation worse and it would likely lead to even more idiots moving into the industry to grift free gibs.

Over (and incompetent) regulation policies are the root cause here, same for most industries that have been dying off the last 50+ years.

 

[Übertroon]

Government regulation and the death of local grocers killed farming, not brexit or climate change obviously

 

[Comicsgeist]

And just like that I lost all feeling of support for the farmers. Damn.

I'd much rather give UBI to small sustainable farmers who get up at 5 in the morning to milk cows, work 365 days of the year and garentee our food security, than give UBI to troons to sit on their arse all day and play Mario Cart like California is suggesting.

 

[Megaton Punch]

"British farmers" want this, you say? Like, all of them? That's quite the claim. Let's run the numbers.

Now, at least 100 farmers have signed up to a new campaign group, BI4Farmers, to ask for a universal basic income (UBI) for all farmers in Britain.

>not even one thousandth of farmers want something
>this makes it a universal and serious problem caused by (what else) anti-EU apostasy

This is just globalist propaganda. It's not even subtle propaganda.