British Farmer's Perfect Explanation Of The Post Brexit Reality!

[@Philosophoholic163]

Usually make silly comments for a laugh, but time to be serious for a change. Stephen touches on a point which does get glossed over far too often, and the issue remains regardless of Brexit; though being in the EU did essentially paper over the cracks of the issue. Our education system, for what it's worth, has focused so much on pushing everyone through to higher education for so long that the traditional trades and manual labour are seen as beneath us. We have essentially devalued these essential jobs (could also comment about the strikes and related issues) over the decades to the point they are undesirable to many. As a society we should acknowledge the importance of these undervalued jobs and workers, pay accordingly, and invest in our future.

[@PanglossDr]

The corollary problem is that to allow unsuitable students achieve degrees, the courses have been dumbed down and, from many institutions, are now devalued.

[@beastiedesigns]

But we find supermarkets, retail and services be one of the main employers in the UK. People are, and will be happy to work in jobs some people look down upon. Bit asking them to toil the fields and pay rent to live on site for a few months of agency work…when it pays the same per hour. Of course nobody would accept those terms. Pay a fair wage, we would see people flock to the fields.

[@specialized500]

Good idea stop the plebs going to university ! Well done !

[@habi0187]

@@beastiedesigns have you ever worked in a field? It's really hard work and literally back breaking. A decent wage would be from my point of few at least double the minimum wage and if the farmers would pay this much most people couldn't afford their products any more. Additionally even this payment wouldn't solve the problem that a lot of the farm work is only seasonal and what would the farm workers do in the rest of the year? In the old days with the smaller farms a lot of the harvesting work was done by the children of the farmers who worked before and after school as well as during their holidays with no payment on the farm. Nobody who is in a right mind wants this times back!

[@tezinho81]

We should definitely bring back the trades where learning on the job can lead to real mastery of multiple techniques for the less academically inclined. Instead agencies and employers conspire to make work precarious and monotonous.

[@VikingHammerX]

Hello I really enjoyed your report and I just wanted to say that I used to be a migrant worker from Romania which is in Eastern Europe and I had many colleagues from Bulgaria and Poland, not only were we underpaid, getting 5 pounds and after 3 years i was getting paid 7 pounds but the farmers were very racist against us and the conditions that they've had set for us we're horrible, one farmer even told me the following "If i were 5 years younger I would've punched you in your face" he told me that after I refused to burn trash IN MY SPARE TIME, trash that did not belong to me. I remember working at my very first farm in Scotland, Dundee at a brocolli and cauliflower farm; you had to move FAST not like how you see people in this video, the people in the video were taking it easy and having fun. I do not exaggerate when I tell you that my back hurt me so very much every single night and I would get wet every day as well because of the watering and mist. It was a horrible part of my life that I wanted to go through due to some family difficulties. Everyone in England was racist and hateful against me even though I showed great respect to everyone; the very first day when I arrived in Scotland I was disrespected by a man that did not even work at the farm but close to it. People in England are indeed laid back and they do not want to do any kind of labour and when they do they quit after 1 week or less. And now what I see are these disgusting farmers that are crying and begging the Eastern Europeans to come back but we won't. Another topic is that of "foreigners stealing jobs"which is absolute nonsense, nobody wants to work, that's the end of it. To close it off I want to add that i've worked at 4 farms in 7 years, the worst one was in North Ireland, in County Down with the P.O. Box being BT30 9LF the name of the farm is H&IJ Gabbie pig farm, look it up. With that out of the way thank you for reading this huge comment and I wish you all a good day.

[@boriskovacic2927]

Spot on comment! Although people are bastards everywhere and if they get a chance to exploit the desperate, they will.

[@mrshankly213]

Englishman here, sorry that my fellow Britons treated you like shit. I hope you have found a good job that pays you enough and doesn't stress you out. Peace out brother

[@VikingHammerX]

@@mrshankly213 it's alright my friend no worries and yes i have my own business now in America. I just wanted to show people that finding someone to work for your farm is more then just that, it's about respect

[@VikingHammerX]

@@boriskovacic2927 that is so true

[@mrshankly213]

@@VikingHammerX Glad to hear you're doing well now buddy

[@gerritvalkering1068]

As someone from The Netherlands, I have repeatedly thanked Brits for voting to leave. It really stimulated our economy. The port of Rotterdam saw even more cargo move through it, as moving it to a British port no longer meant it was in the EU and further exports would be easy. International companies moved operations in greater or lesser degrees, mainly to Dublin, Paris, Brussels and yes, Amsterdam. Sure, exports to the UK have become less profitable, but the cost is mainly borne by the UK. So, thanks

[@adolfmaotsestalin8753]

1 millions maroocans 😂

[@HisameArtwork]

@@adolfmaotsestalin8753 in Romania I've seen bunches of sri lankans, I suspect they've come from UK despite it being in the commonwealth, but no worries our infrastructure is being built, I don't care by who's skin. hope with EU investment they'll build railways as well so we can finally be properly linked to EU. all our real workers went to spain, italy and so on so we're short on abled bodied people.

[@colinpowell4788]

You are welcome. happiness all round. Three cheers for BREXIT

[@youtube-handle-are-a-joke]

There was a French comedian in the 50's who had a sketch that was going like this: I don't like migrants, we had one that settled in our village. So we made his life horrendous until he left the village. Now we're happy because we have no more immigrant in our village. But we don't have anymore bread because he was the baker... The whole Brexit looks like this sketch.

[@franciscoferragni84]

So basically they also need the immigrants lol😂

[@NeilLewis77]

@@franciscoferragni84 which country doesnt. the only country that doesnt have immigrants are tiny island nations. being against immigration is so stupid you would think it be obvious.

[@paulfrost8952]

@@franciscoferragni84freedom of travel and the right to work. I’d have loved to work in all the various EU countries after getting a trade and learning techniques used in other countries.

[@EGR548]

@@franciscoferragni84 Not British immigrants, who do not even learn to speak French

[@franciscoferragni84]

@@EGR548 true

[@Simsung]

I've had the displeasure of working on one of those so-called farms. They are work camps where you are treated like an animal, for a minimum wage. If you had anything to say you'd be punished by not having work assigned (whilst still having to pay for the caravan rent). We were not allowed to talk to each other whilst working, and pee/poo only during our long breaks (we had two 10 minutes and one 15-minute break during the day, of course unpaid). A tractor would pick up all workers at 5:30 am, we'd start picking with the sunrise and finish by LED floodlights at 11pm. Women peed in between the strawberry lines because they were too terrified of going to the toilet. I could tell you many stories about the practices and discrimination that took place, and this is a couple of years ago, in Beaulieu, Brockenhurst. Whilst I feel sorry for the honest farmers, the UK farming industry for many years was extraordinarily vile and maybe it's a positive thing that a revolution is needed. Current farming methods are unsustainable anyway.

[@paulchristensen2854]

This is near and dear to my heart and has great relevance to my personal situation Here is my .25c worth regarding not just Brexit in the UK but farming in all developed economies today Brexit may have just been the wild card that exposed the small/family farmers still struggling to operate in the UK to some hard truths sooner rather than later. This whole labour/market situation is not completely a UK problem it is an agricultural/farming problem in every developed economy on the planet....Brexit brings the problem to the forefront/makes the pain more immediate to the small farmer in the UK though To start....some back ground/context on my situation/circumstances.59 yrs old with 45+ years of full time work [starting at 15] behind me. During this time I have collected up 2 broken backs with a significant stroke between the two during my chosen career in forestry. I am now pensioned off..... ' I now own the small ,used to be dairy farm in Canada that I grew up on.....a 1/4 section[65ha]...a small garden plot when compared to some of the grain farms on the prairies And still well below the national average of 809ac [327ha] average farm size here Now pensioned off after a lifetime of off farm work during the week and on farm work on the weekends with nothing to occupy my time I am wondering what to do with the homestead I inherited I have the same problems.....labour [between a very bad back ,arthritis and a weak right leg/arm I gotta hire most of it now} rising input costs and lowering returns for traditional products produced. The hard facts are ,unless you are farming in a developing country young people in developed economies do not want to do the work......and you know what. I don't blame them. Just because I did not mind a career of working in all weathers 7 days a week doing every size 3 hat size 13 neck job that was ever in front of me doesn't mean that me or anyone else should expect that there is someone else who must be willing to do the same. Then the diminishing returns from the product/commodity produced and sold.Small farmers like myself need to think outside of the box work smarter not harder.But that only goes so far with out some big changes to processes As I see them some but not all available solutions/options are - Direct marketing. Give up selling to chains. If at all possible develop networks [Co-ops?] servicing small grocers.....keep the corporate/stock market profits for yourselves - finding niche markets and fill the niche......stop growing a commodity that everyone else is growing. Grow something special. EG special variety completely different crop with less supply ,organic or all three - What is sold in the UK that is now imported for only part of the year? With some added inputs can you grow it? My father [went to an agricultural university in Denmark] would have spit his dentures out on to the ground with tears of laughter seeing what I have experimented with planting here. 2 different kinds of berry bushes with 3 different varieties of each ,3 varieties of sour cherries 3 varieties of seedless grapes ,Black berry plumcots asian pear All I have planted/experimented with were not supposed to grow here because of climate zone constraints. Climate change is real and it is NOT going away. So best to work with it and not against it. To a greater or lessor degree they all grew. The "farmer" [me] had to up his game and remember what I learned/was passed down from my father/learn some soil sciences/new soil and nutrient management practices. In the last 5 years since my last workplace accident. This has explained to me why all of the new crops I am trying/ experimenting with are not growing as they should or are growing very poorly - if you are going to keep growing a commodity then prepare to embrace AI/robotics. From weeding to picking ripe fruit/veg they are available and are have down in price substantially as competition between manufacturers increases - actually be open to embracing AI/robotics no matter what direction you decide to go because labour and the cost of labour is gong to be a problem regardless - lower input costs. For me this has been the steepest and most rewarding of the learning curve. Last year the NPK&S synthetic fertilizer price here was 1,400$ a metric ton. And that bill was the last effing straw. I remember dad back in the day decrying a spike to 250?.....350? per ton in the 70s. That 1,400$ per ton is comparable to the UKs pricing I believe and it looks as thought the prices will be the same for the near term anyway. We are all feeling the pain. I mainly grow forage crops.....a 9K fertilizer bill makes the 17K returns.....well the net returns become net loss after fertilizer fuel at 2+$ a litre maintenance depreciation etc etc are just gross to say the least Last fall I have embarked on a completely different method for managing my soil. Depending how aggressive I can make the conversion....in 3 maybe 4 years my expected costs for "fertilizers" will be less than 2k a year. With the crop produced worth 34k + in 5 years and not +/- 17K that I get now.This new regime cost me big time to start though...another 8.5K to be exact. But he application of silica last fall was needed regardless of the soil/nutrient program used. As it would have allowed for better uptake of applied fertilizers no matter what regime I used this coming spring....who knew AL counts as low as 5ppm would start ti inhibit plant growth/nutrient up take. Making my tested 900- 1200ppm all but neutering plant growth/cutting off nutrient uptake... a perfect example of you learn something new every day. Do not be scared/too damned proud to reach out for help and ask dumb questions......it has been said that "the only dumb question is the one unasked" - Like everything else on this earth the only constant you can count on is change. Best to work with it and not against it. All postulations aside with a full pension I am able to fund the change to different practices/nutrient soil management as I experiment with new crops and fund them on my own dime as my" retirement hobby". I fully realize that I am like a unicorn in the farming world because of the low/almost non existent debt and secure income that is not tied to profits from agriculture/off farm work. Every developed economy has the same problems of food security. Every farmer in developed countries have the same problems farm labour ,rising and erratic input costs coupled with competition from corporate farms and the distributors they supply. Distributors that set the prices paid for the products produced. Ultimately these determine the cost the consumer pays in the store.....if memory serves veg is up 30+% in the UK . Final food for thought. In my humble opinion farmers in all developed economies ,and particularly acute in the UKs case, farms will need supports to adapt to the changing labour market with AI/robotics new growing practices and the new realities of the interaction between the global and domestic market place. !....wow....that was a lot longer than expected when I started.....if you actually read all this old wind bag had to say thanks for reading and have a great day..

[@thefamilydud2225]

You ought to give over half an acre to permaculture techniques. It’s not easily a marketable solution in the current model, but as humanity comes to grips with the reality of climate change it will become the only viable option, in my humble old guy opinion.

[@paulchristensen2854]

@@thefamilydud2225 As stated in my original comment I am switching over all of my land to "permaculture techniques"

[@thefamilydud2225]

@@paulchristensen2854 Sorry I missed that. But Wow! You will be leaving the world a wonderful legacy. I'm doing the same, albeit on a much smaller holding.

[@solsnail4741]

@@paulchristensen2854 Great post! We do need to return to natural farming like permaculture and increase our self sufficiency wherever we can, no matter how small. Thank you for you and your family's dedication to farming through the years and wishing you all the very best for the future

[@thomaswigfield7623]

I used to work on an organic farm in the Scottish Borders. Because it was completely organic it employed a lot of people compared to the nearest farm which was totally mechanised. The day after the vote to leave the E.U., the farmer was devastated. He knew that his business was ruined. The last I heard the farm has been sold. Yet another business crushed by the insane Tory policy.

[@verystripeyzebra]

@@triumphanttrump1467 you type that without knowing what the product is. Typical dumb brexlet, issuing judgemental pronouncements from a position of complete ignorance. It's dicks like you fucked this country with your childish glib nonsense about " opportunities "

[@billpugh58]

@@triumphanttrump1467 but why would you? It costs more, is more complicated, has more red tape, the transport takes longer, there is more competition, you have to comply with different WTO rules for each country. Typical idiot Brexiter, still pretending their vote wasn’t disastrous! Anyway toddle off and fix brexit, we are all bored of your promises and lies! Byeeeeeee

[@viperscot1]

Yup not got farmworkers any more Shot themselves in the foot

[@djw8133]

A perfect recipe for complete take over by the corporations of private assets. Small businesses fail, sell up and get off the land. In comes big business to provide a solution, greater automation etc, all subsidised by the tax payer in investment relief through tax breaks etc. Just like the Railways, Energy supply, the NHS, and now the food chain too. It's all going to plan!

[@piotrwojdelko1150]

I'm afraid of pesticides and food quality becasue it is so easy and cheap to spray .

[@conors4430]

It’s always interesting when people see immigrants as the competition, not the people being exploited by companies who will pay someone a lower price. Who is the bigger problem, the person who is just trying to make ends meet, or the employer who realises they can pay another person less And they will probably just take it. If you pay someone else less, just because they are from a different part of the world, then you are the problem, not the person just looking for a job.

[@Pepinyo33]

I"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." Lyndon B. Johson knew a thing or two about this. Having said that, I really wish more people had your perspective.

[@beastiedesigns]

@@Pepinyo33 Is even worse when you realise the companies have the money to pay. The agency who supplies the workers is being paid £20+ ph for each worker. They would rather do that, and be able to exploit foreign workers, by not having to provide workers rights such as sick pay or holidays. The myth they can’t afford to pay a decent wage is nonsense. They actively choose to pay in a manner which allows them to bypass basic workers rights.

[@FrancisFjordCupola]

It's sad that people always want to view stuff all black or all white. Immigrants _are_ competition. Just because you might not face them does not mean they are not. And of course, they are exploited. If you learned math at school, you might do 1+1 and see that one of the main reasons they are competition is because they are exploitable.

[@LordBathtub]

The whole system is built to exploit the lowest level workers as much as possible yoh twat

[@yingyang1008]

Yeah, and the way to stop such exploitation is via appropriate immigration legislation

[@vntmv]

I used to work in Boston before 10years. When we was complaining that our extrahours are not counted, the boss just said: „I know how much are the salaries in Romania/Bulgaria“…

[@partnermammoth2562]

yh alot of these guys are racist cunts that will exploit people alot of british people will never stfu about how much they hate immigrants and foreigners saying pointless things like "speak/learn english" or callling them insulting names to make fun of them because they think that they are better just cuz they are native basically. Yet they will happily eat food like kebabs and chinese and indain food and wont say shit when they need a builder or other jobs an immigrant does and will never talk about how thier whole economy runs on immigrants. So many british people just work go to the pub and once a year go to spain and thats it they neglect their kids and didn't study hard then blame hard working immigrants who studied their ass off for thier struggles although there are alot of immigrants that are lazy and take advantage of the system too.

[@alejandrogiha7583]

This farmer is actually pretty smart, he identified a problem and made a theory of its origins dating back years rather than saying ThEiR ArE StEeAlInG ThE JoBs. Sadly the school system convinced him he was dumb and that he couldnt be "whatever he wanted to be". As a result, you got idiots running huge corporations while this guy works in a field. Powerful lesson.

[@HisameArtwork]

ikr, seemed pretty bright to me. if they had better financial planning access and education I think he could have started his own little specialty company that mechanized the farm like many dutch farms have. Grow somethin rare and expensive for UK with automated equipment. And he could have had that family farm with less back breaking work while catering to a wealthy niche that could sustain him. And when whatever plant trend fades switch to a new fancy plant to grow for middle and upper class customers.

[@mandycouchbean]

The silence from the BBC on this issue is deafening !

[@lisastickytuna8668]

I might be stretching here, but whom was chosen by the government for the role of BBC chairman? Oh! A Tory donor and guarantor for Johnson’s £800K loan! Christ, if Johnson manages his own finances so badly, why would he be different with our economy?

[@narinderchander]

People in power don't care about fishing and farming, only their rich donors. These places are gonna get left behind.

[@handarokadath1515]

The News and Current affairs dept of the BBC is simply the propaganda wing of the Tory party now. Stopped paying my license fee about a year ago. ITV, Channel 4 and Sky are more balanced.

[@rockerjim8045]

helps when the ex PM appointed the Chairman

[@lesleysmith8300]

What a surprise not.

[@gazza8524]

Proud yellowbelly (Lincolnshire if nobody gets it); The attitude in my old manor is very anti-immigrant anti-EU. Including businesses I've worked for and with, one relied on a 90/10 split of agency/perm workers. The majority of those agency workers? European, EU member states, Eastern European. Brexit happened, they went back to the EU. Business struggled, production down a huge amount, scrabbling to find perm workers who heard the conditions sucked, the pay sucked, the treatment of workers sucked. Because they got away with treating the agency workers like trash. Fast forward 6 months to the present day, they're gone. Building is being demolished and a once proud landmark of the local area is gone forever, lost to the wind. Because of a direct consequence of Brexit. The funny part? The company advocated so heavily for Brexit, outright banned speaking ill of brexit (and still did to the end of their days) and that everything was going to be better. I guess losing 70% of your sales, near 90% of your actual useful workforce and adding tonnes of cost and red-tape to your export heavy business wasn't the best play.

[@zanizone3617]

I suppose, when you despise your workers so much, you tend to assume that they will cater to your needs no matter what, just because you are "better" than them. I imagine they thought that EU migrant workers would have just struggled through the infinite hassle of immigration and an almost total loss of rights, just for the privilege of being underpaid and mistreated by a proper Englishman.

[@UdumbaraMusic]

I'm no businessman, but even before the referendum any mention of the idea of leaving the EU made me think of the consequences you just listed. It astounds me that not only did they lack the foresight, they didn't even prepare for any of the blatantly obvious problems that would come from it. I can't fathom what they expected would happen, because making such a rash decision and supporting it to that extent when your company is already operating fine while requiring the EU to operate in the first place is genuine insanity. All you'd have to do is look at the names of your workers and who your products/services were going to realise it was a bad idea. Makes me wonder if the company was previously successful on sheer luck alone...

[@tezinho81]

It'd be a heartwarming story of karma if it wasn't for the economic damage of so many other SME businesses who didn't vote for it, going to the wall.

[@timothyphillips7576]

​@@UdumbaraMusicmost small and medium companies have never operated outside of the single market so never realised the difference between exporting to another country and their home market. Now they are benefiting from the trade rules we enjoyed in the 1950,60's and first two years of the 70's that caused our economic collapse in the first place. When you listen to a snake oil salesmen and trust them because they have a posh accent and went to the right school, you deserve everything you get. It's a shame the rest of us have to join them on their journey to hard reality though!

[@congchuatocmay4837]

Let's hope the directors and managers saved enough that they don't need to go to a UK jobs center and deal with the UK "benefits" system. Else the cheesy brexit smile will soon be wiped off their faces.

[@lonevoice]

There is also the cost of housing and cost of living in general. The farmer was referring to times when there were small farms and the workers could afford to live off the wages then but things have changed. Housing costs, whether rental or buying, are now unaffordable on those wage levels and the supermarkets have blocked the feasibility of them increasing so the solution was to bring agency workers in from Poland, Rumania etc. That worked or sorts until Brexit. Now there is a real problem but it is one that was foreseeable.

[@manic2360]

In the West Country, a lot of the rural housing has been turned into second homes and holiday rentals..there is nowhere for the people who wanted to work in agriculture to live.

[@lonevoice]

@@manic2360 Yes, that's part of the problem. Probably more of a problem in the West Country than say Lincolnshire.

[@agt155]

The UKs population has increased by 15 million over the last 20 years, how has that affected the cost of housing?

[@lonevoice]

@@agt155 It is a supply and demand issue. The population size has increased but the housing stock hasn't kept pace. This leads to more competition when purchasing which leads to price increases. This includes a range of other factors such as an increase in second home ownership, buy-to-let surges and foreign investors in property.

[@agt155]

@@lonevoice Are they really "other factors". Increasing demand for houses from an increasing population is what drives buy-to-let and foreign investments in property.

[@Joethetooltech]

At our farmers market there's a few vendors that set up effectively shares of the food produced. The vendor provides a list of what they grow & the buyer says what things they like on the list & commit to buying regularly from that vendor either all at once or weekly for the duration of the season. When you show up to the market, the vendor has a bag/box already made up for you with your name on it. Any extra produce is out for sale. They are usually sold out by the end of the market day. This helps small farmers cover their expenses & the buyer agrees to the terms that if unfortunate times arise whether it be environmental or other that there might not be a much available (sometimes veggies are a little smaller but we make due with what they can provide us). It works out pretty well & we find it's worth it.

[@thumper8684]

I tried agricultural work an I lasted about ten minutes. They were paying 50 pence to fill a packing crate with pea pods. There were two owners there with an attack dog on a leash, to oversee less than a dozen of us. The plot of land was so small, not everybody would be able to fill their box. I put what little I picked into another worker's box and I left. Another guy followed suit straight after me. This was a few decades ago. 50 pence was worth more than it does today. It was still pitiful.

[@huyxiun2085]

Funny thing is that what you did back then, is probably exactly what they were aiming for. "The plot of land was so small, not everybody would be able to fill their box" - Let's "hire" too many on purpose. Anyway we won't have to pay those who leave. The rest who stays, we can work them to death, for even cheaper. - Right, all I hear is a good idea. It works. It just works. You can hate it. But you can't fight it. Well, you can. But that would be the ultimate evil. Not fight against the One True God, money, come on, that would be some communist shit. Btw, isn't it time you get to work and earn some shiny pieces of junk?

[@DutchLabrat]

Two problems that are not unique to the UK: 1. As this gentleman said farmers used to give farmhands a steady permanent job including room and board... now they want temporary hands working for a pittance. 2. Where in the area in this farm could people living on a farm-hand's salary live? And how do you think the locals would react if you built a low-cost social housing project near your farm??? So modern farmers don't offer permanent jobs and don't want to supply staff with a place to live and... by golly now they have no staff.

[@mgntstr]

modern farmers have been regulated to not set their own prices... by golly now they cant afford staff.

[@PeterSedesse]

The US government actually has grants available to build housing for farm workers... and almost none of it gets used because the counties wont give permits to build them.

[@rmo9808]

@@PeterSedesse Local government doesn't want to be seen supporting foreigners/illegals. My grandparents lived near an orchard for years. Local government decided to crack down on "illegals" and surprise surprise that orchard went under.

[@dotanuki3371]

in most of human history, owning arable land meant you were rich. most of people's earnings were spent on essentials. a consumer society relies on spending as little as possible on essentials, so they can spend as much as possible on non-essentials, creating more jobs and products. so now food production pays so little, you can own and work a farm to feed thousands of people, and not afford to feed yourself, let alone any farmhands. I live in a rich north european country, recent events has driven inflation up ~10%, and people are standing in food queues, because they're up to their hairline in debt to feed their consumer lifestyle. what do you think would happen if farmers went back to being rich from food production, being able to feed and board farmhands? poof, there goes the middle class

[@jimbob-robob]

"I want my cheap casual compliant foreign labour back" that's all he's saying really. Shouldn't be applauded just because it might rightfully undermine Brexit...

[@verystripeyzebra]

No. Just no.

[@colinmorgan8624]

The alternative is we ,the consumer,pay more for our food,which I think is the answer.

[@beastiedesigns]

@@colinmorgan8624 Don’t forget the farmer is already paying well above what the worker receives. £20-30 ph. It is the agency that gets the money. Solely due to the farmer/company not wishing to provide worker rights that previous generations fought to secure. They could hire actual staff and pay them that figure, but those pesky workers rights are not worth the hassle.

[@lowbrow]

exactly what it is, wages, natural insurance, pension contributions, maternity leave, gender neutral hiring, and wrongful dismissal claims, that’s why he wants foreigners to do his cabbage picking for him, so he can pay them as little as possible and he can push them around with their insecure contracts

[@peterrenn6341]

@@colinmorgan8624 In the long term I agree. If only we had economic planning which addressed this stuff instead of looking no further ahead than the next election.

[@mrnobody-k3k]

This is the price for trusting Tory and being naive.

[@sharonwashington8150]

Labour can be just as bad depending who is at the Helm!

[@xtbum3339]

@@sharonwashington8150 Just an ignorant yank here, but the masses are generally better off under Labour governments. Open your peepers.

[@sharonwashington8150]

@@xtbum3339 YOU are ignorant! when the leader is a BACK STABBER AND A LIAR TOO!

[@alelectric2767]

So your ok with migrant slave labour. As long as you get your food who cares right.

[@lesleysmith8300]

Couldn't agree more.

[@pgsats]

The greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility, and desires nothing better than to be told what to do. Provided the rulers do not interfere with its material comforts and its cherished beliefs, it is perfectly happy to let itself be ruled. ~Aldous Huxley

[@KanenasAnyparktos]

How come this population was able to control 1/4 of the global population once upon a time???

[@pgsats]

@@KanenasAnyparktos there predecessors once’s a upon a time were able to do it Now it’s a legacy they have inherited that they done nothing for

[@alexander8688]

Unfortunately I think that's mostly true. Human nature hey.🤔

[@pedroleitao5102]

I bought a book on the 5th of January at an online store in the UK, the idea was to give this book to a child for Christmas...... almost 2 months after, the book still hasn't arrived due to delays caused by customs procedures in the UK and Portugal. I will never buy anything from a UK store again... and like me, many other people! Congratulations UK! ; )

[@weediestbroom]

I've worked on farms and the like all my life and the trouble is that farmers don't want to pay a good wage! Most of my mates are labourers, if they were offered the same pay in the fields as on the building site, then they would take it. It's nicer in the fields.

[@thewordofgog]

But the produce price would go up pro rata and people wouldn't be able to afford the produce anyway and if people ain't buying the business goes under. And so it goes...

[@beastiedesigns]

@@thewordofgog The idea that carrots need to be 40p per Kg, or pick any British grown veg, is not really true. The price could increase to 50p and that money could go to the labour that toils the field. Wastage alone is a bigger issue with local produce. Supermarkets throw away tonnes each day and that has to be calculated into the costs. We can’t rely on cheap exploitative agency work to have food so cheap we are willing to let it rot and not care. We have the workers. They deserved to be paid.

[@stephanguitar9778]

@Robert Brennan However would be the correct thing to do. It's time to take on the massive elephant in the British room, ie the cost of housing which is mostly based on restricted supply and mega profit taking in all its forms from land banking builders to banks over lending to push prices higher and the cult of BTL aligned with the evaporation of social housing. Housing should cost no more than 25% of wages, not 60%+ ie far more important than paying double for a cabbage.

[@TheRip72]

@@beastiedesigns We all want a cheap product, whether it is a bag of carrots, a new pair of shoes or a meal in a restaurant, but this attitude is short-sighted. How are they cheaper? Because producer has cut back through cheap labour or redundancies. The work force are my neighbours so by buying cheap I have reduced the wealth of those around me & they have done the same to me.

[@craigsanderson4330]

I never see a poor farmer around my village, they pay minimum wage with no benefits most of the time for hard backbreaking work, claiming poverty while stood in front of their huge house and 3 range rovers.

[@mamaduck9370]

Fortunately, EU subsidies allow farmers in the Republic of Ireland to retain smallholdings, so the environmental and economic impact of large corporate supermarkets doesn't supercede local people.

[@jimthorne304]

That may also be true of France

[@agt155]

Landowners get the subsidies NOT farmers.

[@julianokong-a-san7053]

@@agt155 so true, but is it also possible that some of those landowner also Farm? Meaning farmers get subsidies.

[@dnocturn84]

@@agt155 Interesting. Is it common in the UK (or whatever you're refering to), that farmers aren't the landowners of their fields? Here in my neighborhood in Germany, farmers either own it or "rent" it. But it's a special kind of "rent", so that EU money still goes to the farmers who "rent" it - not to the landowners. I'm a landowner and not a farmer and all of the EU subsidies go to the farmer who's growing crops there, not to me. I only recieve my "rent".

[@derek-press]

@@dnocturn84 Verpachtung

[@ITALJUTE]

1:53 It was not so much about being "not so bright" as it was about being "not so wealthy." Comprehensive schools didn't focus on getting pupils to the highest level. They were actually focused on prepping the next batch of miners, factory workers, and soldiers. They tended to leave it to private schools and grammar schools to develop the bankers, Conservative politicians, and military officers.

[@farmerfreakeasy]

Comprehensive schools were indeed more about dumbing down than they were getting the best out of pupils. But it's not just the education, society at large encourages people to follow their dreams and be who they want to be. No Brit wants to break their back all day, so some rich toff(who probably collects rent money, or lives off dividends, copyright, or some off-shore tax avoidance scheme) can sit down and scoff their meal on their £5000 sofa.

[@arthursmith8771]

Kinda of like the U.S. educational system.

[@NetIncomeBuilder]

And a great shame it was too, since the bankers took the savings of the comprehensive kids and gambled them away, only for the politicians to bail them out with savings of the comprehensive kids. :(

[@elobiretv]

he's talking about kids in the same class room that probably come from a similar background. Stop trying to make everything a class war about money

[@ITALJUTE]

@@elobiretv Stop using straw men to argue with. It makes you sound clueless. Are you clueless? Prove you're not by bringing a proper argument to the table.

[@wibblywobblyidiotvision]

I'm an old fen boy, grew up not far from Boston. I come, as they say, from farming stock, and spent my holidays and weekends driving tractors and generally mucking about outside. We were a smallholding, and it was basically a subsistence existence. Small farms might have one or two labourers full time, but harvest time was always done with seasonal labour. Part of that was local, but even back in the days when the EU was referred to as the EEC and even before, a large part of the labour was from "forrin". Portugese and particularly Italian fruit and veg pickers were common, the latter knowing the area having had family members shipped over as POWs / slave labour during that last little spat with the Germans. Pretty much everyone liked the "eye-ties" and the "dagos", it was usually the same families that came over year on year, they were fun to have around and good workers. Mechanisation removed the need for most of the full time labourers, maybe one old boy kept around to keep little grey fergie running for old time's sake, but the seasonal workers were still needed. Local labour was too expensive, and not plentiful, so where did they look? Overseas. In short, foreign labour was nothing new, these idiots pissed on the locals to have it because it was cheap, and then in a moment of madness voted to get rid of it. Let 'em rot in their field of unharvested cabbages.

[@aaaavss]

I suppose G's is doing not that good at these time. Old Shropshire would hate Brexit...

[@nachosisterwife]

Great comment. Thanks for all that context and history!

[@allways28]

I once saw on some news station that people local to a farm applied for picking jobs and were told they needed to live in dorms on the farm and that accommodation cost is taken out the wages. Even though they lived local and could drive to work/the farm. Needless to say the locals didn’t want to pay rent twice and the dorm was filled with foreign cheap labour

[@hspurr5922]

Myself, partner and people we know were flat out turned down because we're UK citizens and minimum wage for us is more than they can get away with paying immigrants.

[@lisastickytuna8668]

“We got what we voted for! Oh no!” It was not a difficult equation. What did Brexiteers _think_ would happen? Doh.

[@drussell_]

Sunlit uplands full of unicorns. You know, "the rest of the world will bend to our will, do whatever *_we_* want, because *_we_* are the extra-special, exceptional British!!" 🙄

[@audreymcgready4329]

@@drussell_ Scotland didn't vote for this.

[@audreymcgready4329]

@@drussell_ We already had a unicorn on the flag. Not on sunlit uplands.

[@Dont_Believe_them]

Business was so easy in the EU you could run a business without having a clue about markets, labour ect.

[@garethbuckeridge6910]

@@audreymcgready4329 Neither did NI, Gibraltar or London but sadly the different regions werent broken down on the ballot paper it simply stated the UK as a whole. Good luck with your independance.

[@sirmeowthelibrarycat]

😠 I see . . . The people of Boston didn’t want ‘foreigners’ in their town, so they went home. Now Vicky is having to help her farmer brother to harvest cabbages. A job she says she would not have done if the ‘foreigners’ had remained. Well, Vicky, you got what you wanted . . . but not what really happened 🥴! The reporter from TRT would have found a cabbage made more sense than ‘Jolly Vicky’. . . 🤣! PS. Has Sir Knight of Unicorn Wolds met Vicky? Surely she is one of his target voters in support of ‘Make Brexit Work’ and ‘Take Back Control’ and ‘No! No! No!’ 🥴!

[@narinderchander]

She did come across as a conflicted woman. Needs to sort out her head!

[@Asturias14]

How does it feel to be a minority in your own capital?

[@funeralfriend4527]

She probably didn't vote for Brexit, she might be one of those who had common sense. Don't tarnish her with the same brush as the rest of Boston

[@Nickelodeon81]

Ironically, Boston saw a huge increase in foreigners coming in just before Brexit, in order to do it before the withdrawal.

[@narinderchander]

@@funeralfriend4527 She comes across as a good natured woman, just a bit dipsy.

[@mandycouchbean]

Credit to TRT Media for reporting on this issue ! 👍

[@mikebashford8198]

I wonder how many people in the UK watch TRT? It's a Turkish TV station.

[@telebubba5527]

@@mikebashford8198 TRT International. Sometimes on cable, otherwise satellite or via KZbin.

[@bh5037]

BBC would not do it ..!!

[@mattsyson3980]

Of course the supreme irony of Farage's disgusting 'immigration' poster actually showing a procession of Turkish people fleeing a natural disaster (I think it was) with the false claim that they all wanted to come to the UK.

[@earlysda]

Mandy, you did catch the point that this farmer's woes have nothing at all to do with Brexit, didn't you?

[@satyakasindula2913]

I am a son of a farmer from India. My parent and grandparents came to a conclusion around 30 years back that there is no future in farming. Now a village of around 1600 people now hardly 5% farmers kids are still in village.. because they didn’t study rest moved of the village for better opportunities. When I was a kid around 10 people from village lives in Hyderabad. Now a bus full of people lives in USA from same village roughly. What I am trying to say if not today, it will happens in near future due to opportunities and people are looking for better life. My father is also struggling to get in his farm. My sister still helps him in village but two sons and another daughter moved out of India. We can’t attribute everything to Brexit. Times are changing and working life is changing.

[@BusinessWolf1]

I have a different problem with it. The vote was basically half and half. If half your country is against a decision, you would be a fool to make it.

[@NickAskew]

I am the son of a British farmer and my work is not in farming and not even in the UK. My father told me growing up that I should aim to be something other than a farmer and I look at how small farms in the UK have gone and realise he was absolutely right. Most of my holidays were spent helping in the farm, driving tractors, feeding animals, picking the potatoes, etc and we hired in temporary staff from the local town. Then towards the end I started hearing of harvesting firms that would provide the staff and the equipment to smaller farms and my guess is that in other parts of the UK, such firms could ultimately buy up the farms and keep even more of the profit. We have to face the fact that farming is not like it used to be, it is a corporate level industry unlike the smaller farms of my Dad's day. I'm not sentimental about those days, if they can achieve efficiency and can afford to invest in machinery due to scale then so be it. Like most other industries, mechanisation is the future and my current country, The Netherlands, has recognised that an invested a lot in the mechanisation of farming. My prediction is that the large farming corporations will attempt to do the same in the UK.

[@anti-emo4721]

You are right! Farming is glorified too much since it had a deep impact in human history, but today's reality is that it's just like any other production business.

[@jounik]

@@anti-emo4721 And just like any other production business, it's now leaving Britain.

[@anti-emo4721]

@@jounik True! But if UK would actually have free market with EU when it was part of it, allow EU suppliers in their supermarkets, EU would have easily undercut them and those farms would be bankrupt long time ago!

[@MrMesospheric]

The difficulty with accepting the giant corporate farming model is, well, visit a modern dairy farm. It's literally like those nightmarish conveyor-belt depictions you've seen on 'The Simpsons' over the years. The cows even look as dejected as they did on the cartoons. The environmental degradation that accompanies dairy and other intensifications is just despairing to see. Here in my area, lovely coastal grassland that was reasonably lightly grazed has turned into some kind of dustbowl, due to the vast increase in animal numbers. The food system is broken, and arguing for ever-lower wages to maintain profits is not the answer.

[@jeanpierreviergever1417]

Correct, part of the investments of Dutch farmers are through cooperatives that allow also smaller farmers to invest in and use modern equipment.

[@johannsyah5863]

France24 also reported it from Boston, that one guy voted for Brexit because there were so many migrants, particularly from Eastern Europe who refused to speak English. I felt kinda sorry for the French reporter who spoke with this guy.

[@hasse102]

When I saw that I tought about all the brits in Spain and other countries that refuse to learn the local language.

[@bh5037]

so what will happen to those immigrants living on the costa del sol who refuse to speak spanish .,.????

[@radicaledwards3449]

@@bh5037 To use an old english saying, 'If they dont like it they can fuck off'

[@you_can_change_alias]

Funny, because in Eastern Europe, in last decades, english is the well known foreign language.

[@SirAntoniousBlock]

The Turks and other countries desperate to join the EU must be fascinated to find out why a country which had the best deal out of it would want to leave.

[@justincharles2332]

I suppose they can always move to Australia, and send their produce back to the UK - as that deal is so brilliant for Australia! Maybe this is the sort of opportunity Rees-Mogg and co. were referring to...

[@Cl0ckcl0ck]

Until Australia finds out how the UK treats agreements they for whatever reason don't like anymore.

[@martynholden3478]

Be no point they are destroying their farming industry as are other countries of the world under net zero policies

[@tonydoggett7627]

We are shipping sustainable non-BSE Kanga bangers. High in protein, low in fat. 🦘🇦🇺.

[@congchuatocmay4837]

Lord Rees-Mogg to you. That guy is super clever and super cunning to do the wrong thing for the UK. I find that quite interesting as a person outside the UK. I ask myself what is the error of his mind?

[@martynholden3478]

@@congchuatocmay4837 Rees Mogg is not clever he is just an arrogant self centered idiot who thinks no one can see through his lies

[@welingkartr416]

Big businesses are destroying small enterprises, countries, families everywhere. Let's honestly recognise this. I write this as an Indian with possibly nothing in the Brexit deal affecting me or my family (possibly, who knows?). Brexit may have exacerbated problems for some sections or the larger population, but the insidious role of big businesses must be recognised and challenged. As long as we, the common people, swallow what they feed us steadily, we will fight these battles separately, and lose. It is disillusioning to see how people everywhere are becoming depressed, hurt in every possible way, while a few gain so much. India has perhaps doubled or tripled the number of millionaires, but so many are still earning meagre salaries or wages- look at our per capita income! Why should our world be so? What world are we leaving for our descendents - one where everyone slaves for big business, and interests?

[@TheJalipa]

This also explains why so many rural people voted for Brexit. As they saw their jobs down graded by big farming companies that employ EU & other migrant workers They blamed the EU. Even though the economics of these new farms were driven by other factors.

[@SRFriso94]

I don't feel sorry for them. They got exactly what they voted for: less immigration. They could have and should have realized that they relied on immigration for their livelyhoods.

[@rocketsurgeon2135]

Well, actually, immigration is higher now, and most of it comes from outside the EU. The big issue is that the kind of workers that are needed for the most part, are prevented from being issued work visas. Even if farmers manage to get the kind of workers they need on the shortage list, the effort and costs to recruit and arranging visas etc for these workers are prohibitive. Meanwhile, the gates are wide open for highly educated immigrants applying for well-compensated jobs, meaning competition for those jobs is stiff for UK graduates. I assume the idea is that the ones that don't make the cut, take up the low-skill, low-pay jobs that the Tories are protecting so assiduously from competition from abroad.

[@jimthorne304]

Well, yes, although immigration has apparently increased...

[@M.C.K.111]

Once migrants were Europeans, legal, skilled workers, often not permanent residents.. Now there are just no Europeans migrants, illegal, unskilled, often looking more for social support than for a job

[@ludo9234]

Unfortunately it's the illegal immigrants that need to leave. Immigration will destroy the farmland because of the amount of housing thats being built. But unfortunately most carn't see this.

[@Erikjust]

@@rocketsurgeon2135 And that was one of the things that drove most people to vote Brexit. they wanted control of their own borders, basically they wanted to be able to say who got in and who they could kindly tell to sod off. Well as you yourself mentioned... the british government instead of saying okay we are out of the EU. So lets do what we can to make the best of it, actually control the borders etc etc. Well no instead they run around like headless chickens basically doing very little to address the actual problems. All the while migrant continue to flood into the country and the NHS cost and housing prices only go one way UP.

[@mandycouchbean]

We need more like Stephen to speak out ! 👏

[@sirmeowthelibrarycat]

😠 We need him and thousands of Leave farmers to apologise for the part they played in Brexit 😡!

[@mattsyson3980]

It would be interesting to know how much 'take home' pay Stephen and his sister actually make to look at the whole balance sheet for the production of those cabbages. Having invested in the conveyor /tractor/trailer machinery which will obviously serve them for many seasons it skews the business model somewhat. Many farms use contractors for harvesting where the contractors have made the huge investments into good machinery. Like hauliers and their trucks, they are only earning while the trucks are moving with full loads of goods. This also feeds into the fact that the UK is producing less since Brexit so prices are rising because EU based hauliers rightly expect to be paid whether their trucks are full or empty. Delivering food etc TO the UK is all well and good but now there is very little to 'subsidise' the return journey.

[@markbriten6999]

@@mattsyson3980 could that be because there aren't any checks this way but there are on the way back

[@mattsyson3980]

@@markbriten6999 Partly, but also because many in the EU simply can't be bothered to buy stuff from the UK any more. I would buy from the UK (as I used to) but now UK suppliers are too 'messed up' to get the paperwork (and therefore hassle) sorted out. It is easier and cheaper for me to source parts in Texas which arrive in about 2 days rather than 5 days from Leeds. The UK HAS to get the customs documentation sorted out damn quickly if it wishes to trade with anybody. It isn't even 'EU rules, it is actually WTO trade rules that were 'sidestepped' when the UK was an EU member.

[@mattsyson3980]

@@sirmeowthelibrarycat No, we need the deluded Leave voters to realise that life is not all rosy and they have to get off their backsides and do some of the lesser paid jobs.

[@jiversteve]

The people of Lincolnshire were reticent to take on manual farming labour because they didn’t want to work alongside immigrants or god forbid be instructed how to do the jobs by immigrants!

[@jiversteve]

@@anneunfairworld4671 There is a handful of allegations all unfounded. My point was made based on TV documentaries where they tried to encourage local layabouts into full time jobs, and the excuses that they made for being late and not following instructions.

[@RunawayNomad17]

@@jiversteve Pretty sure you're talking about this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKLSXmqoqayqhbc&ab_channel=MarcinKarpinski Worth the watch!

[@jiversteve]

@@RunawayNomad17 Not specifically but it sums my points up well.

[@attackpatterndelta8949]

Interestingly, if they had worked alongside foreign workers and perhaps got to know them a little bit, they may have found that they had more in common with them than they might expect. The short sightedness of the Brexit voter.

[@jiversteve]

@@attackpatterndelta8949 I am not so sure, in my experience,immigrants actually want to work, Brits just say they want to work! That’s the big difference.

[@sygad1]

aaah, the good old days when the cream of the crop just so happened to neatly align with affluence and the rest of us were turfed away from better opportunities as we didn't wear the right tie.

[@jaybazza248]

Sustainable Wages is the real cause here, you can't "find labourers" because you probably pay peanuts

[@donincognito189]

This is what so many Brexiteers didn't understand. Our demand for cheap food (1/3rd of which is usually wasted because it is so cheap) drove down wages and encouraged larger-scale farms who could only keep their costs low by using poorly-paid seasonal workers. British people didn't want to do backbreaking work outside in all weathers so those farms looked to EU workers. Brexit threw a spanner in the works, reducing EU seasonal workers down to a fraction of their previous numbers, resulting in food inflation which is much higher than the headline 10% rate. Meanwhile, British workers still don't fancy picking fruit and veg for minimum wage when they can get paid more driving for Amazon or working in a supermarket.

[@martinconnelly1473]

The seasonal workers could work for lower wages as they did not earn past the personal allowance set by UK tax rules. They came here for a few months, earned some tax free money and went home. Only a small percentage stayed. Boston is very tribal, they don't like people from nearby towns like Sleaford coming to Boston. My wife's uncle lives in Boston and is 90 today. He voted to leave even though we told him it was stupid and will hurt young people more than him he didn't care. He just wanted the Boston of his youth when he knew everyone around him, they all looked the same and spoke the same way as him. To him people who don't speak English (and English like him) are considered to be ignorant, people who are not white are considered to be dirty and just need a good wash. This is what I consider to be a typical older brexiteers. I was amused when a pro-brexiteer from the Liverpool area with a very obvious non-Lincolnshire accent thought he could stand for election as MP for Boston, what an idiot, he clearly does not know the people of Boston.

[@beastiedesigns]

Isn’t that also the reason why people voted for Brexit?. As unrestricted cheap labour was being used by companies simply as they were easier to exploit and you didn’t actually have to hire them, just shipped in and out through an agency. Fire them the same day. You could pay min wage and the labour pool was vast being the whole of the EU. It meant workers were unable to find proper work and that caused millions to see the clear flaw and wish it to end in the hopes this type of exploitative labour ended. Instead of paying a fair wage, they let the food rot.

[@donincognito189]

@@beastiedesigns If they did, I wonder how they feel knowing that exploitative labour hasn't ended? The UK is still using cheap labour, only this time from poorer countries even further away like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Nepal. People are being brought here under restricted visas which, by the UK government's own addmission, makes them more vulnerable to exploitation than other workers. Brexit didn't solve the problem, it just shifted it elsewhere and made it worse.

[@beastiedesigns]

@@donincognito189 Which is the real issue. Yet there aren’t many videos about it here. People voted for Brexit because they wanted the exploitation in the workplace to end. Supply and demand suggested pay would increase and workers rights to finally be negotiable. But of course the big con is that businesses will do anything other than pay the worker and the Tories most certainly, but no doubt Labour also, will do nothing to protect the exploitation of workers. The blame will be a shortage of labour. That UK workers simply wont work. Yet they pay agencies £20-30ph for each worker, simply so they can bypass basic workers rights such as sick pay and the inability to fire someone without good cause. Is actually quite sickening when you think about it.

[@Tugela60]

More expensive food will mean people consume less, that money pot does not get any bigger, which means there is no extra money to pay farm workers more.

[@RickTheClipper]

If I had one cent for every time I want to tell the Brexiteers "I told You so", I'd be very rich now

[@arghjayem]

Yep, all of us who said that would be rich. What’s scary is there are still leave voters who just don’t see it. They can’t seem to see the wool that’s been pulled over their eyes. Why did som many Tory MPs want out of the EU? Financial benefits to themselves and their companies, like Rees-Mogg’s who has made huge amounts of money from Brexit.

[@garethbuckeridge6910]

No you would have 2 cents because Treason May & Bozo caused the problem by failing to negotiate a deal. 🤣

[@Arltratlo]

and share the fortune with many people, who deserve the money!

[@markbriten6999]

@@garethbuckeridge6910 bollocks may had a not awful deal but the right wing Tories and Corbyn left wing voted it down . The deal you're talking about never existed and never would.

[@ai-d2121]

Stupidity rules in Brexit land

[@mtiffany71]

Ever notice how "nOboDy WaNtS tO wOrK AnYMorE" almost always seems to come out of the mouths of people who clearly demonstrate how awful they would be to work for?

[@claudioricci1]

What they mean is ‘English people don’t want to work for the low wages we used to exploit EU citizens with’. Every time I hear someone say ‘people don’t want to work anymore’ I hear ‘people don’t want to be exploited’.

[@buk3695]

How much do you want to pay for an unqualified labourer to work .. 20k? 30k? 40k? Pay them more than doctors?

[@Llortnerof]

@@buk3695 I'd argue the doctors are underpaid too. Cost of living increased faster than wages in general unless you're a manager.

[@buk3695]

@@Llortnerof ok so 60k for the labourer , 150 for the doctor? Everyone is happy right? How much do you think the lettuce will cost?

[@Hattonbank]

@@claudioricci1 If the pay was £20/hr, £800pw, £40,000 per week, you still would not get that many English workers doing those jobs for long. It is more than just the money, it is the hard work and the weather. East Europeans took it in their stride

[@jonathanwetherell3609]

When I started in the food industry there were businesses of all sizes. Now, thanks to the "Big Four" supermarkets, the medium sized ones are no more and the small ones come and go, unless they find a small specialist nich. We now have big manufacturers supplied by big farms to the big supermarkets and these being predominantly non British owned. Small businesses can not grow.

[@dantownsend4246]

Where I live I’ve noticed things like three farmhouses on the same road. Two are abandoned. This is because it is no longer viable for small farms. The farmer in the third house bought out the others to get enough volume to make it economically feasible.

[@MrMesospheric]

Yes, it's happened and continues to happen all over the UK. As supermarkets tightened their grip and Brexit took hold, there was also a generational change in that younger farmers took over from their parents in the past few years. Being young, they tend to accept the new, intensive farming methods. All we see now are ever-larger sheds amounting to factory-sized developments, depleted land and the continual transport of slurry for spreading everywhere, almost 24/7/365.

[@TheEnduringCitizen]

I would be interested to know what sort of pay these farms offer ?? I doubt british workers would work for the same money as the cheap foreign labour. We are at a worrying point in time, where wages have been eroded by inflation and corporate greed like never before....

[@Altair885]

You wouldn't get British workers working on farms anyway! They're much to fragile to actually graft like people used to, that's why there's a gap for foreign workers, because British people are too bone idle to do it.

[@johnclements6614]

They are likely to get a couple of pounds an hour over minimum wage and be expected to work long hours. They will be given an old Butlins caravan to live in which they will have to share with a few others. The problem for British workers is that unless they are on a big farm with varied crops they will only have a couple of months work. The foreign worker can go home if they do not find another farm to work on and will have savings on which to live for months as things are much cheaper in eastern Europe.

[@stephanguitar9778]

Cost of housing and the almost zero avaliablity of it being an unsurmountable issue for min wage workers.

[@TheEnduringCitizen]

@@johnclements6614 That just about sums it up... I think people are too quick to assume that it's just British people are too lazy to do it. You have to look are the bigger picture and question if you could pay your rent and direct debits from work like this. People need stable work and livable wages, I'm sure this farmer was fine all those years ago and you could probably get away with that way of thinking but everything is expensive now. There is a fundamental difference between existing and living, I fear that far too many people are existing in the workforce...paycheck to paycheck with no real way of saving money or ever owning their own home.

[@johnclements6614]

@@TheEnduringCitizen The stability is the main thing. The British worker is likely to be homeless or forced to return to their parents at the end of there few months work. In eastern Europe it is more common to live with your parents so that is not seen as such a problem. They are also more likely to be in groups so it is easier to save money and socialise.

[@oldgreybeard2507]

I know pastoral tenant farmers (a different bucket of fish to landowners) who are extremely worried about how they are going to compete with New Zealand and Australia with their economies of scale. The british public needs to decide if they want bucolic countryside with dry stone walls and gambiling lambs etc or bracken covered hillsides owned by merchant bankers who ride around their estates like Lords of the manor

[@raj_kumar0]

@oldgreybeard unfortunately the powers that be have already decided and it is the end of the British countryside

[@skunclep1938]

I’m afraid the public has already decided, several times, by voting in the Tories for nearly 10 years & of course Brexit. Those tenant farmers were likely to have voted for this too. If they really wanted the public to support tenant farmers, they shouldn’t have supported the Tories.

[@narinderchander]

It's the latter!

[@martynholden3478]

Australia and New Zealand are actually destroying their farming industries along with many other countries of the world under Net Zero policies

[@smck9798]

To be fair if you can't compete on agriculture with countries that are the same size as you or smaller without access to subsidies on the other side of the planet there is a problem. What we need to do is get to grips with how to make our agriculture sector competitive. We forced that on Australia and New Zealand by joining the EU and removing their major export and import market overnight and it was better for them even if it was painful. Turn abouts fair enough and we need to get to grips with it and work out what we actually need to do to compete and access those markets which as they are on the opposite side of the planet and have the opposite seasons should under ideal circumstances make for a shifting balance of import and export that should net out pretty well. I get the complaints, and it won't be easy, but if we can't get that market to at least net out evenly then there's really something wrong with how we do things.

[@Marszczak]

It’s not a problem! It’s a success - you have been trying so hard and finally you made it. Congratulations!!!

[@davidross8668]

In my opinion, brexit has nothing to do with it. People have become lazy and it takes a special person to want to work the land. The general public have devalued quality food and don't want to spend money on it, they would rather spend $$$ on a new phone or equipment. Farms close because the public want CHEAP FOOD and small farms can't compete with that. Blaming brexit is just an excuse, trying to be as self sufficient as a country is admirable and the EU should have seen this decision as a show of strength. No one complains about the USA decision for independence so why shouldn't we be the same?

[@DarkFire515]

If only there had been warnings that brexit would cause these issues! Oh, wait...

[@sammybeutlin2763]

At least you can fight for freedome. All EU countrys could vote their chancelor out, but it wouldnt matter that much because of the EU. EU is anti-democracy, a step into slavery. GB needs to use its freedome and can help their farmers in charging them less taxes. I agree, that Brexit was a good deal for the British economy, but it is awful for the citizens of all EU countrys. It is kinda a dictatorship of companies, because companies can easily corrupt the EU politicians, even more easier than in the countrys.

[@eucitizen78]

@@sammybeutlin2763 EU is anti-democracy, a step into slavery?? What bubble you are living in? You know what. You deserve what you got but you will never understand why it is going down, poor lad

[@dirkdupont5004]

I wonder if that Turkish broadcaster ended with: So dear children, this is an example of the English expression: "turkeys voting for Christmas". Back to the studio.

[@spitefulwar]

Rural UK voted for Brexit. It hurts them to now realize that they were misled but then again they guranteed Bojo a landslide victory shortly thereafter so... they made their own bed.

[@stephanguitar9778]

And ours too.

[@stephanguitar9778]

@Tendross Toodross So am I and it has affected me, especially aligned with the worst and most destructive government ever.

[@rocketsurgeon2135]

@@tendrosstoodross2976 The value of the pound has dropped 20%, the cost of imported goods have gone up by 10-15% _on top of_ the price increases due to other factors, like Ukraine, Covid etc. Not even in rural NI will you have escaped all these effects of Brexit, even if the impact will have been smaller and NI's unique situation has helped the local economy.

[@thunderbug8640]

​@@tendrosstoodross2976 You’re not bothered you’re paying more for less?

[@Interitus1]

@@tendrosstoodross2976 we can tell this is a lie. No one is fine with decreased buying power of the pound. You're just to arrogant or ignorant to admit you voted for something that screwed you.

[@1050cc]

Some teachers somewhere were not up to the job. They missed THIS one ! He should have been persuaded that whatever he chose to do, he was one of the sharp ones in the class !!!

[@MarioNobre65]

I'm writing an article called "How Consumerism is Starving us to Death" and your video has fallen like a glove. When it's ready I'm going to forward you. Cheers from Brazil.

[@antonioross9006]

Most of these turkeys voted for Christmas and knocked the stuffing out of their own industry. It's the same with the fishing industry (minus the 'paxo') It's hard to have sympathy for those who don't/didn't understand the hard economics of their decisions, both on themselves and on the rest of us who did.

[@writerinprogress]

I think those in the fishing industry listened too much to clowns like Jeremy Clarkson, posh upper-class lout who unleashes gob before engaging brain whenever he wants to show off how 'edgy' he is.

[@alkaholic4848]

The funny thing is most of the people that voted for Brexit are the ones that are suffering the most. I'll be honest, that kinda makes me feel a bit better.

[@Skylark_Jones]

If I was a family member I'd be helping out - because I would likely be living in the area where the farm is for a start! The farmer in the video says most kids "not too bright" (as he perceives it) now don't want to work in the field because they've set their sights on higher education or moving away: you cannot blame them for that: everybody wants the best for their kids as they see fit. I saw a video last year where a farmer said the problem for him was that where he lived **there weren't enough people in the community** to do the work** because it was a small village, so he had to rely on every family member he could get to do it. It's all well and good governments telling the British they're "lazy", it isn't so simple when you dig deeper into what is happening and why: there are all kinds of issues at play including logistics. Besides, if this family voted for Brexit, then more fool them.

[@sugarfree1894]

Twenty years before Brexit, when Blair got in, he globalized the food supply chain and many farms had to convert to leisure/amenity/holiday trade. It was one of the first things he did on becoming PM, calling the NFU in for a meeting to lay out how it was going to be; many were not happy about it. Farming, that basic link between land and food, is always at the sharp end.

[@miakeogh6844]

SugarFree just like to point out the tories have been in power for,13, thirteen years now !

[@hspurr5922]

It is wrong about English people not wanting to work on farms. Both myself and my partner separately and others we know all English born and bred applied to work through the gov sites and supermarket controlled sites. They refused outright because they have to pay UK citizens minimum wage, which is more than immigrants. Disgraceful that the wrong message is spread that the English are too lazy and that the immigrants are being knowingly paid too little.

[@brushdogart]

The thing I find interesting is that while this farmer is using a fairly nice conveyor belt to bin his vegetables he is still harvesting them by hand. The green, leafy vegetables he is growing are not delicate, they could be easily harvested by specialized mechanical equipment if he was willing to slightly change the way he plants his fields and harvest a few less each year. But because farmers are not interested in switching to mechanized harvesting there has been no real funding to research it.

[@poucine832]

It's a question of investissements. Would the price of a mecanized machine be worth it ? Maybe the small farmers should form coopérative where they group together to buy the machines they need to reduce costs

[@brushdogart]

@@poucine832 That's what they did back in the day to buy the first tractors so it's not impossible.

[@roddychristodoulou9111]

Poor Stephen who admitted to us he wasn't the brightest in school also admitted to voting for brexit . I'm sorry I have no sympathy with people that fall for Tory lies .

[@lordchaa1598]

Same thing is happening here in the US. Family farms are all gone and everything was bought up by big corps. We have factory farms in the Midwest that are bigger then England itself. How can small time farmers compete. I have a 500 acre multigenerational farm and it’s impossible to compete against farms that have hundreds of thousands of acres. It’s gotten to the point that most neighboring farms no longer farm at all. They’re making more money from the government paying them not to farm their land.

[@pizzaki582]

same in Australia, we have a small farm of 12 acres we grow crops and it's our basic income, but we are now fighting developers/council and utilities to continue on farming. we have to travel to get farm supplies because all the farming supply shops have closed or moved on. When I was a kid I always saw tractors driving up and down the road... apart from our neighbor who sold and leases the land from the developer we are the last ones. there were about 30-40 family farm's in the area... all have disappeared and been sold to developers for the bottom price.

[@dawggonevidz9140]

but remember, greed is good, corporations and capitalism are your salvation, perpetual growth is real and anything else other than economic slavery just isn't real FreedomTM.

[@lordchaa1598]

@@dawggonevidz9140 , I’m not unhappy with my little cut out here, but I can’t argue with anything you’re saying. I get by, but I don’t have a family of my own to worry about, just myself and my extended family here on the farm. Unbridled capitalism was and never will be sustainable. We have what’s here and nothing more, no amount of economics or theory will change that.

[@midoevil7]

This is just a naive question, but why small family farms are not making some sort of union entity/corporate/clan to compete? You can get some benefits of the the bug corps that way, better prices for supplies, time-share equipment , split common costs , etc. You can even hire a financial gurus like big companies to plan things for you all

[@pizzaki582]

@@midoevil7 This is my experience and my thought's on that coming from now a defunct farming area that is just urban houses but was a community of small farmers in the 90's. for some completely weird reason, alot of the farmers saw their neighbors as a threat and a competitor. I could tell you endless stories of strange and wacky things our neighbors have done to one another. The presumable thinking of the time was that you compete against the farmer, and the farmer goes broke buying land from the broke farmer. sabotage and fights were not uncommon in the area. We use to have a road stall where we would sell our produce that we grew. Our Neighbour would go to the wholesale market, buy what we were growing from the market and sell it at a lost. And alot of farmer's who were doing this kind of practice had trust fund's and other income sources.. Our Farm was finally able to make some profit once majority of the "farmer's" sold out to the bank's or land banker's in 00's. Right before the development boom was gonna happen and lost out again with selling at criminally low prices. but end of the day, it was their on fault. we all could of gotten along like you said and could of shared resources/customer's and made a decent living instead of competing against each other and selling below cost. but this community was a stab u in back type of community.

[@Ulnvtcydr]

It might have been better for the staff but those agency workers are treated like dirt, underpaid and always at risk of having no work offered to them for weeks on end. I don't deny brexit has shrunk the pool of people available for slave labour though.

[@davidty2006]

Only time agency work is better than actual is apparently the fucking NHS.

[@Paul-eb4jp]

It's usually minimum wage work which a lot of eastern Europeans were happy to do for shortish stints where they'd work hard for a few months before heading off home with something behind them, they'd be replaced with others looking to do the same. I knew a Polish girl who did several minimum wage jobs in bars and cafes, she now runs her own place and seems to be doing well, it worked really well for a lot of people.

[@donincognito189]

Seasonal workers from the EU came to the UK willingly before Brexit, it's not like they were rounded up against their will and transported here with no right to return home. Of course, there were cases of exploitation by unscrupulous employers but many did this work by choice. Now the UK is bringing workers in from some of the poorest countries in the world like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan under restricted visas, who the UK Government admits "may be more vulnerable and open to exploitation than other workers". If you regard seasonal workers as slave labour then the UK is simply obtaining those slaves from outside the EU, often with fewer rights and safeguards. A Brexit dividend?

[@verystripeyzebra]

Hmmm you haven't thoughtbit through have you. Now we are recruiting from places like Nepal, with visas tied to the employer, making them ripe for exploitation.

[@garethbuckeridge6910]

@@donincognito189 It's not just the greedy farmers though. We recently say P&O ferries dismiss their home grown workforce and attempted to replace them with a cheaper non-UK workforce. No doubt this was the brainchild of the share holders who wanted bigger bonuses, just like the supermarkets skrewing the prices down low.

[@piersgibran9612]

I watched this with mixed emotions. Yes, farming and agriculture are suffering due to the loss of cheaper immigrant labour. But is it right to look at an industry that only supports itself by relying on those who are willing to work for next to nothing in terms relative to leading a decent life here? It could be read as ‘if we have to pay people a rate that makes the job attractive and financially worthwhile then we would go bust’ - the inverse of this is ‘we need to exploit people to work for less than the job entails to survive’… I’m from a hospitality background. The pandemic and Brexit were disaster out for us. Over 35 years I’ve seen the Albanians, then the Poles and then the Spanish prop up our industry. Their work ethic is on the whole incredible, and they had a willingness to work (hard) for very low pay. Brexit changed that, and then the pandemic saw lots of hospitality workers find furlough jobs in supermarkets/retail/ admin etc and the reality is - en made they all went ‘why the hell am I working 14 hour days, for minimum wage, every Christmas, bank holiday and every other ‘occasion’ for less money, and finishing at midnight, being screamed at or working under unbearable stress, when I can just do this for the same or better money?’…a huge number never came back. If an industry cannot afford to pay its workers a wage that makes a decent standard of living possible, and a pay that reflects the conditions of work then that industry is not on a sustainable footing. And crying that you can no longer exploit cheap labour is no defence. Who would spend their time toiling hard labour in a farm, in the elements, with variable job security, benefits etc when they could earn more doing a 9-5 in a stable, warm business?

[@petewhittington7356]

If the EU was simply a single market there is now doubt the UK would still be in. However the EU was no longer the "Common Market" it had evolved into a giant socialist super state dictating all kinds of policies onto the nation state members. This dictation of policy became untenable to the UK. In Italy, and Greece they too are very much anti the policy intrusion of the EU. The French of course in the most part just ignored the EU dictats that the people didn't believe applied to them. Germany is in a quandary over the issue. but there is about 1/3 who want to leave in the lower house of their parliament. To summarise Common Market, yes a good thing. European Union will not work and should be ditched.

[@sammylong3704]

The cities are having the same issue with small businesses too. Local grocers, butchers, cafes ect, are all losing business to larger companies that they cannot com

[@KanenasAnyparktos]

Take your belongings and straight to the commonwealth

[@Wordavee1]

My grandfather had a market garden, in the 50's, when tattie picking time came round, a half dozen of the local women would come out to the fields, a tractor with a rotating machine would drive along and throw up the potatoes, and that would pick them up by hand. Imagine that happening today!!

[@dickhelling3529]

Yes, part of my schoolyears (late 60s) were in an agricultural town in North-East Scotland, and there the autumn school holiday was universally called 'the tattie holidays', and many of my classmates spent the holiday picking potatoes.

[@johnclements6614]

As the farmer here said the supermarkets want larger volumes of product. They want everything to look the same and not change every couple of weeks like would happen in a green grocer buy half their stuff or more from a variety of local farms. Now there are bigger farms that require more labour and there is not enough local labour to cope with the peaks.

[@jimthorne304]

When I was living in Shropshire in the 1980's there were numerous ads for potato pickers. That's not apparently the case now.

[@MrMesospheric]

We also went out as kids to help at harvest time. It's where I learned about farmers and their general tight-fistedness. A few would give you a good lunch, but most wouldn't even thank you at the end of the day. They were just selfish, ignorant bastards, really.

[@lloydbelle3406]

Brexit really is a fantastic learning opportunity for us all (I exclude nobody). I've learnt so much about the farming and fishing industries post Brexit. It's shame that fishermen didn't understand their own industry regarding the ramifications of leaving the EU market, and to a lesser extent the farmers too...

[@Americaninparis2012]

I recently saw a documentary about a specific fishing town and how everybody was impacted. The one story that was really interesting was about a young fisherman that was getting retraining to do something other than fishing. When Brexit happened, the money for his education disappeared and he later found out that the funding was coming from EU. He voted to leave because he believed UK only paid to be in EU but got nothing from EU. That's a real kick to the balls if you ask me.

[@kolerick]

@@Americaninparis2012 yep... though, one could argue that the EU is at fault... for not promoting locally the benefits they were providing... and letting the local politician claim all the clout (local being the very local or on the scale of the country). Bar THAT oversight from the EU, it's totally on the "locals" heads... also, it's a very learning experience for other Europeans... it will take them a while to get more X-xit momentum, thanks to the British "experiment"...

[@Americaninparis2012]

@Kolerick Bloodmoon that's so true. in one sense, I understand giving the local government the credit for benefits and programs offered, but it surprised me that people were unaware of money being repatriated back to the individual nations. Also, the Brexiteers flat-out lied about every aspect of EU participation, so there's that.

[@lloydbelle3406]

@@kolerick I saw a documentary that highlighted the contrary to your point - Wales. Wales received EU development funding for roadways, railway station, university expansion etc. All funding was highly publicised via posters. Drivers on new roads or passing EU funded premises could not miss where the money was coming from; yet despite this Wales voted Leave....

[@kolerick]

@@lloydbelle3406 because the locals politicians are quick to claim everything that's good and abandon at EU's doorstep everything that's bad, including things that the EU has no hand in... and everyone is in the habit of trusting the local guy more than the technocrat sitting in Brussels... don't worry, we have the same kind of local politicians on the continent and they're also spouting the same BS when it help them, so it's not like British are so specials in this aspect of being "bollocksed"...

[@kevinlane7555]

This has been going on for years all over the world...Population shifting away from rural areas, people seeing manual labor as beneath them, and the economies of scale of big producers putting the little guys out of business

[@finnderp9977]

Part time, on demand, seasonal, low paid job...

[@hspurr5922]

But many people want to move rural and don't see farm work as beneath them. The problem is UK citizens must be paid UK minimum wage, which is more than you can get away with by underpaying immigrants. I've applied, my partner applied separately, friends and people we know have applied- all turned down. English people can't work on farms because it's more profitable to deprive immigrants of hard earned wages.

[@williamcreighton1417]

Leave the EU in haste....repent at leisure. Brexut was the dumbest idea ever. Period.

[@marcovtjev]

There are also other factors, like moving to higher value products, that are often more labour intensive than bulk products like wheat. Around here traditionally it was asparagus, which is mostly all hand harvested.

[@johnclements6614]

Yes small farmers like this will switch to grain and other low labour products. But they may be too small to buy a combine etc so employ a contractor. Then they decide to just rent or sell their fields and just keep the farm house.

[@stuebear78]

Thank you as always max your videos are the best

[@alisdairmclean8605]

No sympathy: they voted for it: they got it.

[@movingpicutres99]

They voted for it but when family farms are sold to conglomerates everyone else loses.

[@alisdairmclean8605]

@@movingpicutres99 In case you hadn't noticed everyone is already suffering from Brexit, except the few very rich tax dodgers.

[@NoahNobody]

I lived in the city when I lived in the UK. It would have been an absolute dream to live out in the countryside in a place like this. The only thing that stopped me was money. I heard the accommodation was extremely expensive and in short supply and the jobs were few. So I never pursued it. I wonder if that is still the case.

[@MixedMartialHelp]

City living is more expensive but there is also more opportunity for work. It's all expensive now but for example when I was paying £500 per month rent on a 2 bedroom house, I had my own front and rear garden. I wouldn't have a clean 1 bed flat to rent for that in the city, now its even worse. The same house I used to rent for £500 then £550 is on the market for £850 per month!

[@MixedMartialHelp]

@unidentified aye that's my point. 850 rural, Dublin is another expensive city with almost double the cost for less than half the living space.

[@hspurr5922]

Unfortunately yes. Myself, my partner and others I know applied for farm jobs but were turned down because UK citizen minimum wage is more than immigrants can be paid. So no people living in rural areas, no farm workers, just exploiting profit from underpaying immigrants.

[@duncansmith7562]

nothing to do with Brexit. let the market decide. if the unemployed earn enough to survive without doing farm work, good for them. if prices go up, so be it. there are plenty of advanced economies that do well without armies of immigrant laborers.

[@mattsyson3980]

I think this video and discussion (below/above!) is gradually teasing out some of the complicated aspects to food production in lincolnshire and elsewhere. the fact that farmers come in all sorts of 'flavours as some Own their land, some rent it and it is also possible to refer to someone who labours on a farm as a 'farmer' and of course the situations are all totally different. The MSM tends to refer to farmers as being large landowners swanning around in a new Range Rover making huge profits by selling to supermarkets where the majority may well earn less than minimum wage if you calculated the hours they HAVE to put in at various points in the farming cycle (Harvest etc). Of course Brexiteer/Leave voters don't bother looking at the whole picture or make any effort to understand the lives of others. Stephen (and his sister) in the video seem pretty well 'balanced' in that they know the reality of the situation and have understood why it has happened. Greed of some landowners, bullying by Supermarkets and I suppose fickle end customers who expect polished carrots and soil free produce like the supermarket adverts show. The government enabled the problems by not ensuring that EVERY worker actually receives at least minimum wage and that they are actually integrated into the local community (or proper provisions for seasonal migration) There will always be abuse and friction if you treat a significant number of people in an area as 'special cases' and enable bullies and manipulators.

[@MrMesospheric]

The point about tenant farmers is often overlooked. The owners of the farms are often landed gentry and own vast tracts of land from which they quite aggressively demand maximum income through their management offices. This plays its part in the whole economic equation of farming and food prices.

[@ailsathedog]

I'm still amazed by the number of comments assuming all farmers voted for Brexit and they got what they deserved. There was a marginal difference between farmers and the population as a whole when it came to how they voted. Many, especially those that understood the implications, voted to remain including many of the farmers in the Boston area who knew that the townsfolk of Boston would not step up to fill the gap despite having whinged for years about the foreingers knicking their jobs.

[@partnermammoth2562]

so these dickheads hate so much immigrants despite knowing that they entirely rely on them and that immigrants proped up their economy and business looks like they still got what they deserved no?

[@iaincowe6320]

Farmers ultimately isolated themselves from the local community. They no longer wanted to hire local because locals had rights to work for a decent wage and in decent conditions. They began hiring small numbers from abroad and then went full metal jacket on it. They became soulless strangers in an ever desolate land. Back in the day everyone knew the local farmers. Farmers were the backbone and major employer for any rural communities across the UK. The truth is they got greedy. The vast majority would have voted Brexit shooting themselves in the foot once again. Now isolated not just from the community, but also isolated from there newfound cheap as chips source of employment. On the farm I work at on a part time basis we had 12 full time employees. Hiring up to 30 through the planting and harvest months We now have 3, and hire very few who now hail from Thailand, Bangladesh, Philippines etc Farmers did this to themselves.

[@verystripeyzebra]

Did they get greedy? Or was it the supermarkets.

[@iaincowe6320]

@@verystripeyzebra Most small farms are small farms. There is no way around it. Small Farms were convinced that they didnt have to foster the likes of a community and were promised a global window to sell their goods. To hell with the local community and to hell with constraints. They were offered a big juicy worm and were hooked. They were never forced to bite. Now in the thrall of global markets the small farm struggles without its community backing. A community backing it turned its back on. As for supermarkets being greedy. Its true, they are. But they are not farmers. Farmers have the power to change it. But they won't.

[@carl6131]

I worked on a farm for a couple of years and it can be hard work, but how you feel afterward was fantastic though. I could look behind me and see the field I'd just worked. We had sheep, gooseberries, strawberries, hay, potatoes and horses. I don't think many in their 20s now would even consider it. Especially working from dusk till dawn

[@anuragfreak]

It's all about cheap labour. it doesn't matter whether it is USA, Europe, china or south east Asia. Only automation can stop the need of cheap labour.

[@petervlcko4858]

I have spent out of last 10 years of my live 8 in UK until corona started and left pretty much in 07/2020. I have to say that admire UK as a country and some people say that Brits are little cold and not so open like people from south. But I never felt bad there and people treat me well. I am from Slovakia, EU and I worked in kitchen, constructions sites labour and other jobs, security officer, some other physically demanding jobs. I am happy that I have been in UK because it seems to me that work there, at least for me, was rewarding and I learn more to be there then I would if I stayed in my country. I hope that situation get better for those who stayed there and that Brits find the way how to deal with current situation because I feel better in UK then in my country. I wish UK all the best even so I am little sad that that left EU. Anyway I craving some good chips and cottage pies, coleslaw and other delicious food, big bowls for pound and ales aw man. Have a nice one.😊

[@chrismcg69]

It's very difficult to feel sorry for these muppets for voting for brexit. However, we all suffer because of this. Words escape me.

[@lesleyrobertson5465]

These Brexitears have made my life and my kids worse off. Taken away part of our identity and freedom. I have nothing but disdain for them.

[@derek-press]

@@lesleyrobertson5465 grow up

[@lesleyrobertson5465]

@@derek-press I am grown up and professional unlike yourself

[@derek-press]

@@lesleyrobertson5465 what ever you say

[@derek-press]

@@lesleyrobertson5465 we (Brexit ) have no"disdain" as you call it for people who found it very convenient to ship in hundreds of thousands of cheap labour ,so that you did not have to go and harvest cabbage or stack shelves or wash cars

[@gorgosanma]

In my country this is less of a problem. This is because yes, we have big producers that deliver meat and vegetables for the supermarkets, but buying from them is kinda frown upon. Much more popular are small grocery stores that have their own providers, generally from small-medium farms.

[@sanjayshetty1533]

Which country do u belong to?

[@gorgosanma]

@@sanjayshetty1533 Argentina, a country that sucks in general but there are very few things that are done alright.

[@hectorbalmaseda7690]

@@gorgosanma sinceridad ante todo

[@gorgosanma]

@@hectorbalmaseda7690 no vamos a pintar las cosas de color de rosa jaja

[@hectorbalmaseda7690]

@@gorgosanma ja,ja,ja ¡¡¡ tío grande !!!

[@jameshutton3960]

So the farmers' solution is to reestablish a class system where you should never try and be better? The issue isn't to do with schooling is down to people needing permanent employee to be able to survive. It's why Ll low paid jobs are experiencing shortages of staff.

[@HarryP457]

There's another side to the acquision of small farms by large corporations. A large group of small farms will most probably grow a variety of crops while one large farm tends to just grow one. You end up with large areas of mono culture and if a disease gets into a crop it can wipe out huge areas while with small farms it might only be a couple of smaller fields. Local communities also lose access to field ripened produce due to the lack of variety of crops being grown and are forced into supermarket buying. With the exception a few small market gardners these communities have little access to the fresh produce they used to rely on.

[@verttikoo2052]

So nice to see happy farmers who got what they voted for 🥳

[@lukesutton4135]

That's very white liberal of you to completely miss the description and speak down on slave workers. Go eat your money, pig

[@verttikoo2052]

@@lukesutton4135 UK is so progressive nation 🥳 Slaves and all 🥳

[@verttikoo2052]

@@lukesutton4135 UK has so many exciting things when they don’t have democracy 🥳

[@corneliussulla9963]

Ask a Dutch farmer how great the other option is.

[@verttikoo2052]

@@corneliussulla9963 Only UK farmers are happy farmers 🥳

[@EvilGrin]

Yeah, but accepting everyone is different, has different goals in life and varying levels of talent and skill means that the industry cannot use people as an exchangable ressourse anymore. Suddenly you'd have to be all serious with questions like "where do you see yourself in 5 years" and "what is your greatest weakness", when all it was about before was really just about you being able to conform to expectations long enough to make a profit from your work. I'd work on a farm, but they'd fire me on the first day for taking breaks when I want them, smoking weed at work and generally not working until I fall over unconcious. Also, watch the video again and look for every technology in that video that made one or more farm hands superfluous. If two people can do this job, what do you need ten farm hands for? Only more people you have to pay, which makes your product too expensive to compete with the cheap mass production of the companies. I know a lot of farmers, due to my family originating from rural farming communities. All of them paid as much as possible for their sons and daughters to get the highest possible education to prevent them from having to do back breaking labour all day long for the rest of their lives. My father was a scaffolder all his life, and he threatened my with violence should I not study hard and get a better job then his. We all want our children to have a better life, so in the end we're guilty ourselves when they do as we wish.

[@sidneypedroso3415]

But farmers voted for this

[@phillipmadden8587]

It’s not just Britain that problem occurs everywhere we are in Australia, NZ has the same issue. Supermarkets dictate the price. To compete you have to have large volumes and low margins. There are no farm subsidies and you compete or perish.

[@he1ar1]

Local farmers cant get local staff because the people who live in the village escaped the city for the country. Last farmer in my family was my great grandad. The farm was sold off because the business was not sustainable. My grandparents were driven out of the village that they grew up because no one wanted to build hosing. The local blacksmith closed, the petrol station, closed; everything closed.

[@jimbob-robob]

He's wrong about locals won't do the work. I won't have it. It's just now another casual gig work job with awful pay and conditions. The same people work in other shittty tough places too because they have to like Amazon. But it's more regular that's all. Fix those problems and TRAIN THEM UP you'll see more locals...

[@johnrussell3961]

We have they lowest unemployment since 1970. We have as shortage of workers. They only inactive people are pensioners.

[@Altair885]

No, he's right. Most young girls and lads don't want to be out in the fields all winds and weathers getting filthy. They want to be indoors not having to use too many muscles or thinking about what they're having to do.

[@davidwhatever9041]

when their is a labour shortage why in earth would you think people would choose the shittyist jobs on the market. there are only 4 options available, close the schools and work the children, cancel pensions and work the pensioners, welcome foreign nationals to do the work or as the only economist who supported brexit, minford, put it let farming, fishing and car manufacturing die..

[@johnrussell3961]

@@davidwhatever9041 . The economy will have to shrink to match the number of Brits who can work. Growth after Brexit was never going to happen.. At the moment they are blaming Putin for the economy shrinking.

[@nicfab1]

@@Altair885 well if they were paid extra for getting filthy and unhealthy instead of sitting in a comfy chair, got benefits, pensions, job security, maybe they would reconsider? He isn't owed subservient uneducated slaves, he has to offer attractive job opportunities with a future, or he doesn't deserve to not go bankrupt. He has to provide justification for why his business is good enough for the workers to deserve to exist

[@ITALJUTE]

5:10 I genuinely don't have any sympathy for these people because, not only did they bring it on themselves, but they brought the house down around all of our heads at the same time. My sympathy bucket is empty and my empathy is for the half of the country that voted to remain in the EU.

[@eileencorcoran3057]

English won't do it ...

[@mrbearbear83]

They better

[@Ulnvtcydr]

Pay more then.

[@MegaKapo12]

@@Ulnvtcydr wouldn't do it anyway.

[@Ulnvtcydr]

@@MegaKapo12 All depends on the way they pay. If it was per cabbage picked etc you'd gett some good grafters in, per hour pay would attract lazier types.

[@mrbearbear83]

@@Ulnvtcydr they get minimum wage. A good worker doing it by volume can make huge money

[@ditnooitweer]

Over here in the Neterlands we had/have the same situation, lots of middle and Eastern Europeans working in the fields, and on the weekend there were drunk poles everywhere. But nobody complained as they knew, they wouldn't do their jobs and somebody has to. That logic step has eluded the brexiteers obviously.

[@banzakidimye348]

Yeah. When studying at College, I spent each holiday period working on a farm in Kent. There were about 30 permanant farm hands. That was back in the 1980's. lastyear I drove past the farm and dropped by to say "hello". Now, there is only 1 full-time farm hand. All the work is now done by "contractors" who employs people from who-knows-where.

[@mrshankly213]

"The wouldn't find enough English to do this sort of work now" I lived near Boston some years ago and applied for a job as a cauliflower cutterer. Didn't get it because I didn't have experience. What the fucking hell? How much experience does it require to remove a cauliflower from the ground? especially for someone who has worked as a chef and has chopped up thousands of cauliflowers? The real reason was, I wasn't cheap labour from Eastern Europe that could be paid peanuts.

[@reluctantsocialist2670]

Also, your assessment that this farm is the lifeblood of the local community is way off base. I grew up around these kind of farms and while you can go and buy stuff from them (some, they won't all even sell to local people) it all goes to big business that sends lorries down tiny country roads to pick it up. They like to paint themselves as pillars of the community for sympathy, but it's a lie, almost all farms in the UK are supplying big business, even family farms. It's like the seas fishing we were sold over Brexit, less than 10% of the UK fishing fleet ins't owned by the same 5-6 billionaire families, yet we were told that family businesses would increase their quotas only for those small businesses to have their quotas eaten into by the billionaire families when they were rewritten after Brexit.

[@kenwalker5384]

This destruction of the rural way has been going on longer than brexit. We used to have an extensive travelling community, who would follow the harvests, from south to north, as the year progressed. These were destroyed in the eighties and early nineties with the closure of traveller sites where they could park up. Gone, a way of life, and a mobile motivated workforce!

[@rocketsurgeon2135]

Yep, another self-inflicted gunshot wound to the feet of the UK. Oh, I'm sure the traveler community caused issues at times, but if you go to one of the less affluent areas of London, Manchester, Liverpool etc, you couldn't swing a cat around without hitting several issues. (Hopefully one of which is a big, burly cat lover wanting to provide you a couple quick hands-on lessons about why mistreating cats, or other animals, isn't cool.)

[@jimthorne304]

I believe the withdrawal of unemployment benefit from 'seasonal workers' may be one reason why it's difficult to recruit British workers for seasonal work.

[@jaymz010]

It’s what the British people wanted. Who am I to argue with the will of the British people?………😏😖😝😆😅

[@hannofranz7973]

The fact that the sister is just helping out in what used to be once family businesses says it all.

[@gigaus0]

To put it in different terms: Labor markets in the UK have stayed the same or expanded, while the labor population shrunk because of an increase in the quality of education and living expected in a still growing and progressing country. People got more chances at a better life. And that in itself became a problem ironically. To fix the problem, the jobs turned to the rest of Europe to fill those labor gaps, with people looking to just do simple work or possibly immigrate. And thus, the Tories 'fixed' the latter part by stopping people outside the UK from working those jobs. The only way it'll get 'fixed' more is either let the jobs evaporate and rejig the statistics so it looks like they have less vacant jobs, or start forcing people to 'want' to work these jobs, like what we see in the US. By basically punishing people for living better lives and not wanting to do this.