Richard Haddock is right to say that there can be few people in this country who are now unaware of the dairy crisis (Western Morning News, February 3). He is also right to say that the recent media coverage has raised the profile of the issues dairy farmers are currently facing. Where he is absolutely wrong is to say that the NFU has been invisible on this issue.
The media coverage did not happen by chance. The NFU was the organisation which arranged in advance for dairy farmers affected by the crisis to tell their story to the media. The NFU’s officeholders and members were featured on all national broadcast media encouraging millions of people to back British dairy farmers. The NFU was the organisation which offered and arranged interviews with every single BBC local radio station. When we say the NFU we mean its staff, officeholders and the membership.
Interest on this scale and its positive tone is an essential basis for getting the British public to continue backing British dairy farmers and for politicians, retailers and processors to take the situation seriously. To say that the NFU has been invisible therefore flies in the face of the facts.
However, I do not want to waste time and energy by getting caught up in anybody’s personal campaign against the NFU and its officeholders. Now is the time for farming to show unity. We are at our weakest when we are fighting between ourselves and at our strongest when we show a united voice behind one common goal – for retailers and politicians to be visibly Backing British Farming.
We know farmers have public support; those taking political and commercial decisions should be doing the same. The NFU – its staff, officeholders and membership – are fighting for British dairy farming. We are taking our messages loudly to the media, to retailers, to politicians and to processors that they need to commit to helping to create a profitable and sustainable future for our dairy farmers – who are valued more than ever by the British public.
While we cannot, and do not, expect everyone to agree with or support everything the NFU does, is it really too much to expect those who have the luxury of column inches in this newspaper to use their voices to constructively promote British farming rather than attack the people who are working hard to do that?
Andy Robertson,
NFU Director General