Sending a message

Last month we took a world tour of farmer protests, discussing the causes and the catalysts. This month, we look at the third “c” of the protests… conspiracy.

In the latter part of February, there was a series of protests in Wales against the latest government proposals for

You would expect to find headlines talking of farmers unifying, speaking truth to power, gaining public support

agricultural funding. The least popular of these was a requirement to return 10 per cent of farmland to woodland and manage a further 10 per cent as “habitat”— a blunt instrument of a policy proposal where a scalpel is required.

At the front and centre of these demonstrations has been the latest protest group here in the UK: No Farmers No Food. On a recent car journey across East Anglia, I saw numerous yellow signs bearing the slogan in villages, on motorway bridges and on farm gates. The farming press, countryside media and mainstream publications have been digging into the organisers behind this group.

On 23rd February, a group of farmers protested under the No Farmers No Food banner at the seat of the Welsh government, the Senedd, in a highly publicised event. Rishi Sunak also attended to show his support—or, some might say cynically, to criticise the Labour-led Welsh government in an election year.

You would expect then, to find headlines talking of farmers unifying, speaking truth to power, gaining public support and raising awareness of their plight. Not so for the Observer, which led with “Sunak Stands with Net Zero and Climate Conspiracy Group at Farming Protest”. Seemingly more column inches (or, truthfully, social media feeds) were dedicated to the founder of the group, James Melville, than to the cause itself.