Making rural life inclusive

While recent initiatives on women in agriculture and raising awareness of mental health issues in rural areas have seen the farming industry take steps towards being actively inclusive, a new initiative wants to ensure the same acceptance is extended to the LGBTQ+ community.

And Agrespect, an organisation set up with the aim of helping lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and people of all orientations understand that there should be no barrier to a fulfilling life and career in the countryside,has been asking major farming organisations to sign up to their anti-discriminatory pledge.

Set up by farmers, the group said it wants to show that while homophobic, biphobic and transphobic opinions still exist in some rural communities, they don’t define all views in the farming sector.

More than 20 companies have so far signed the Agrespect pledge to stand against prejudice in agriculture – including Barclays, Mcdonalds, Sainsbury’s and agricultural machinery manufacturers Fendt and Massey Fergusson.

Other partners include Harper Adams University, LEAF, the National Federation of Young Farmers, the Royal Agricultural University and the Soil Association.

And this week the list was joined by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when secretary of state Michael Gove signed the pledge during a meeting with rural leaders.

“We want rural organisations, colleges and businesses to be welcoming places for LGBTQ+ people,” said Lincolnshire flower grower Matt Naylor, one of the farmers behind the organisation and its website

He said that agriculture and the rural economy were going through a period of massive change and rural areas needed to attract and retain the very brightest and best people.

Claiming that diversity led to a better and more imaginative working and learning environment, Naylor said the more perspectives the industry explored, the more productive outcomes were likely to be generated.