Blog: Farmers don't need intermediaries to have their voice heard

She writes:

Last week I had the privilege to represent the NFU together with Minette at the General Assembly of the World Farmers Organisation (WFO) hosted by the Zambian NFU in Livingstone. We had a very packed agenda, lots of interesting speakers from around the world lined up and high level authorities and the President of Zambia himself even made an appearance!

The most interesting thing was to have the opportunity to discuss and share experiences with farmers from across the world. There were a staggering 80 countries and 500 people present. 

We say that each farm is different but having farmers from all around the world in the same room you realise that we all face the same challenges and share the same goals: feeding the growing world population and getting fair returns from the market.

Tobacco drying in Zambia

Talking to various farmers from other countries you realise that we farm in a privileged part of the world. Farmers in South Africa are fighting the worst case of rural crime: farmers' being murdered. Farmers in Zambia are trying to negotiate preferential interest rates with the bankers when the average interest rate is about 25%. In the UK farmers are going through tough times too; the latest TIFF figures show that in 2015 farmers' income fell by 30% compared to the previous year and we were able to share this with colleagues from around the globe.

Chatting to the representative of the Norwegian cooperatives, it appears that farmers in Norway are experiencing lower commodity prices too despite their more price support oriented system. 

Being in close contact with so many farmers spread all over the world with a common agenda made me truly appreciate the work that the WFO is doing on our behalf. Its latest success was getting a seat on behalf of farmers at the FAO Food Security Committee, something that has taken four years of intense lobbying!

I asked Minette to sum up her time in Zambia and she told me: “I think it's hugely important that the worlds farmers, who represent only 3% of the total global population have a shared strategic vision for tackling food security, future water resource and climate change. All countries face many varied and different challenges, but we all share the same ambition for our farmers to be seen as the solution to feeding the growing population as well as the vital role they play in caring for the world’s treasured landscape.”

I would have to wholeheartedly agree with her on this, and would encourage all UK farmers to realise they are not alone in their current difficulties.