The most dangerous seven words in............

I watched the BBC programme Countryfile this weekend. As had become a habit. It slipped but I do find it mostly interesting. It often seems to focus on the environment with a side order of agriculture. At the moment it’s focussing on farmers. Young and old and how they are faring in the world of farming at the moment. Here’s a link to the programme website - give it a watch if you have some spare time. Anyway, what am I going on about? My TV habits aren’t high on your top ten things to find out about I’m sure. I think it was on this programme (some time ago) that I first heard a saying, a very good one, that has stayed with me and makes me think about its application in a wide variety of settings. I think it was whilst interviewing a youngish farmer that I first heard the phrase “The most dangerous seven words in farming”. (It’s equally true of any and every industry, process, policy, way of being). And those words are?

“That’s the way we’ve always done it”.

It can, if you think for just a moment, be used for almost any setting you like. So what? Well, following on from my 2nd post about industrial agriculture and, agriculture in general, it does seem that there is something of a misfit in the agricultural world. I’m not here to make enemies in the farming world or with the Countryfile programme, just to state an opinion and observations. In this week’s programme, broadcast on Sunday the 20th July 2025, I heard a word many times. Tradition or traditional. No matter who the presenters were speaking to, young or old, they kept talking about heritage and traditions of farming. The words must have been used more than a dozen times. As a reasonably well read observer, those traditions are costing us dearly and it seems there is a huge blind spot in the British farming community. Whilst many of them may not be practicing industrial agriculture, they are at odds with the changing world around them. Most of them anyway from what I can see. The protest slogan “No farmers, no food” that I’m sure we’ve all seen as we travel around what’s left of our countryside, is a weird one. In one sense, they are right. If we don’t have people to grow our food, we will die. But, do we need to keep growing it in the same way?

In a world where food and food security are manipulated by multinational corporations and money markets, this slogan seems hollow. And, if you also
consider the same old practices of more and more inputs to cope with the ever changing environment we now inhabit and the practice of mono crops scouring the land of biodiversity and its ability to heal, build nutrients, drain properly and prevent erosion, to name a few, it seems like the farming community meet the definition of madness (one of them anyway) - doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Agroforestry, organic farming, permaculture and so on have all been shown to have benefits for the land and, with the right crops / produce chosen, they can deliver income and offer a much needed remedy for the land. A preferred strategy is a mix of all three but decision makers seem wedded to current processes. I appreciate that some may feel that subsidies are in order to enable a transition but - and believe me when I say I am no fan of the witch - Maggie didn’t offer the miners much when dissecting their industry. We have an opportunity for real change at this moment. If ever it were needed, it’s now. And subsidies are a curious thing. A practice, such as agriculture - other industries also benefit - that takes around £2.4 billion in subsidies annually - that’s around £6.5 million per day in the UK alone - cannot be functioning properly. And I have no idea if this is the total subsidy for this industry. The government and the farmers ask the public to support a damaging, out of date, inefficient industry at a time when we are told there is no money, we are in an environmental emergency and have been more or less chained to austerity for more than a decade. I cannot grasp this madness.

Certainly I may feel differently if it were my livelihood but, one thing I pride myself on is the ability to change, to pivot, to accept my errors and move forward with new knowledge. Refocus. This is something that humans are going to have to embrace - business as usual is not an option. This seems completely missing from the farming community and agricultural policy in general. It should not be up for discussion. Like someone caught in the act denying everything despite the blood stained knife in their hand and the dying breath of the victim at their feet being “It was him” as they point to the offender. The blinkers are well and truly on. Blindfolds even. I’m not sure what needs to be done but I’d start with a thorough review of the industry including its subsidies. Someone should be writing a paper for the Government and making policy suggestions. They have done this before so it’s not hard. As Idles sing on their song, Great “Change isn’t a crime”. Although you’d think it was in this western world of ours. I wonder why that is………………. More on this some other time.

We look at our “Green and pleasant land” and many people see countryside, unspoilt, green land. What we actually have is a land, stripped. Bare. I’ve stopped seeing a green and pleasant land and now see one that is acutely sick, empty and frankly on its knees. Some change is needed but, as I’ve already mentioned, those seven dangerous words seem to have a special place in the tradition of agricultural practice in this country and instead of being held as a beacon for evolution, they are a pair of concrete boots, torpedoing the sinking ship of agricultural revolution and taking us down with it. Traditions are, in every sense, history. They should be consigned to it.

More next time……………….