Aug

11

A reply (of sorts) from the NFU

Filed Under NFU | 3 Comments

A couple of months ago I submitted the following email to the National* Farmers Union after amonth went by with no response I re-submitted it, then re-submitted it again a couple of weeks later. Obviously the NFU did not want to answer my questions.

* national in this instance refers to England & Wales. Scotland have their own farmers union the NFU Scotland.

Dear NFU

I’m not a member but I am deeply concerned about an issue that affects your members.

Firstly there is the unfair way that goods produced in England are presented in the supermarkets.

Scottish produced goods are nearly all shown with the Saltire on the packaging but English produced goods are packaged with the Union Flag rather than the Cross of St George. As both nations are still part of the “United Kingdom” I find it baffling that this is the case.

The Campaign for an English Parliament have done some research and they think they have uncovered the reason why.

http://www.thecep.org.uk/wordpress/2008/06/20/from-the-horses-mouth/

At the same time it’s just been announced that eight supermarkets have signed up to a special deal to promote Scottish goods.

http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Eight-supermarkets-sign-up-to.5405151.jp#4167625

Whist this may be good for Scottish farmers it’s not going to be good for your members the English and Welsh farming community.

Does the NFU have a view on these matters?

With your permission I would like to post your reply on my personal campaign website http://www.fairflags.org.uk

Well finally this morning I got a reply by telephone.

The chap I was speaking to did say he personally had some sympathy with the points about unfair labelling but that the NFU was backing the Red Tractor scheme. He also mentioned that the EU are working on a new labelling system (which I suspect will revolve around the bogus and undemocratic “regions” system).

Despite the NFU representing English and Welsh farmers they don’t seem to see the need for English produce to be marked as such despite the fact that Scottish produce is clearly labelled Scottish.

When I suggested that English farmers would get a better deal if England had it’s own parliament (like the Welsh have their own assembly or the Scots have their own parliament) he said it was unlikely that the NFU would support something that would never happen…

I asked the NFU representitive several times for a written answer to the mail I sent, but this was refused.

If anyone from the NFU could take a few minutes to answer these questions in writing I would really appreciate it.

Feel free to ask the NFU your own questions – but don’t expect a quick or conclusive answer.

Based on what I’ve heard today, if I was an English farmer I would be starting my own union – an exclusively English one.