It’s becoming very obvious to me that farmers are fast-losing control over their own destiny.
So what do I mean by this? The past week has provided two leading representatives from the international poultry sector with an opportunity to reflect on the impact that non governmental organisations (NGOs) are having on the development of farm policies around the world.
The men in question were Moy Park’s Jason Winstay and Aviagen’s Tim Burnside. Both spoke at the 2023 Poultry Industry Education Trust annual conference.
The event was held last week at the Loughry campus of the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE).
The two speakers, essentially confirmed that NGOs are now running the welfare and environmental policies espoused by a range of organisations, including the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN).
Making all of this happen is an almost limitless supply of NGO funding from not-for-profit organisations, such as Open Philanthropy.
Farmers fast-losing control
For the record, Winstay and Burnside seemed to refer to these organisations in the same way that James Bond would talk about Spectre – danger lurks around every corner, they are all out to get us – stuff like that.
But who is the real enemy here? Tim Burnside spent 20min extolling the virtues of modern poultry breeding.
As far as he was concerned, modern science is fairly and squarely in the corner of the international poultry industry.
He also admitted that his industry has failed miserably in tackling the ‘seeming misinformation’ peddled by NGOs. And this should come as no surprise to anyone.
Consider the facts – Open Philanthropy has targeted $60 million in the form of EU-based NGOs working within the fields of animal welfare and environmental protection.
In response, the EU poultry sector has made available a mere €600,000 in a similar context. No wonder the poultry and other farming sectors find themselves behind the ‘eight ball’ when it comes to dealing with policy-making organisations, such as the EU.
But the most insightful commentary of the day was given by Jason Winstay. When asked about Moy Park’s commitment to countering the claims of NGOs, he said that a lot more could and should be done.
For the record, Moy Park is a multi-billion euro/pound business.
But then came the real kicker. Winstay went on to confirm that Moy Park’s activities in this regard would be very much guided by the perspectives of the supermarkets. And tackling the likes of NGOs on social media is an absolute no-no.
No control
So there you have it – farming policy, on the ground, is now being driven by NGOs and the food retailers.
These are the same ‘guys or gals in suits’ who, I would strongly suggest, have never milked or calved a cow in their lives.
So where does this leave the farm organisations, including the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU)? In a bit of a pickle, I would suggest.
But they have got to start somewhere. In my opinion, the first challenge that has to be addressed is the chasm that now exists between out rural and urban communities.
It used to be that most people living in our towns and cities were only one generation divorced from the rural way of life. This is no longer the case.
Modern consumers know next to nothing about modern farming practices. I would suggest that such ignorance plays totally into the hands of those pressure groups with one sole objective – out to destroy modern agriculture and all that it stands for.
It seems more than likely that tackling this issue will become of absolute priority for our farming organisations over the coming years.