Farmers Protest Again In Shrewsbury

Transcript

00:00Good morning, my name's Alan Hughes. I'm a tenant farmer from Lentadine on the Shropshire-Herritshire border.

00:06We are a tenant farm running 300 acres, we have 65 which we own and even us are being hit by the inheritance tax.

00:14Alongside this and the government's crippling greening taxes and reducing the payments they get us to produce food at a loss,

00:23we are not able to continue in this manner.

00:26I am running two farm diversifications just to break even.

00:30No other industry would create a product at a loss and be told by its government to do that, to feed their country

00:37and run other businesses just to cover feeding this country for free which we are incredibly proud to do.

00:43So today I am at Shrewsbury Livestock Market with the farmers ready to roll out in protest around Shrewsbury

00:50alongside 50 plus other protests in this country which are spontaneously going at the same time for the same cause.

00:57We will continue to do this on an ever increasing and longer standing basis until the government comes to negotiations with us.

01:05We have requested it to the MPs and the government since early December and had no response.

01:11So we are going to stand for our industry.

01:14The question I ask you is this, if somebody told you they were going to take five generations of work off you,

01:20your home, your livelihood, not just of yourselves but of your parents and your children,

01:26would you sit back and do nothing or would you be standing alongside saying enough is enough?

01:32This country deserves quality food at affordable prices, not us all having to go to food banks

01:38and farmers deserve to be paid a profit for the food we produce.

01:43While the supermarkets make billions, we are going out of business.

01:47For every pound invested in farming, the rural economy gets £7 from us spending and investing in machinery.

01:56That's a government statistic which is backed by all their grants and funding schemes.

02:01Now we have got over 24 agricultural machinery depots alone gone bust in the last 12 months

02:08because we can't afford to be leasing new equipment.

02:11A lot of us don't own these machines, we can't afford to, they are leased or on lease hire

02:16and because we can't afford to invest and grow food efficiently,

02:19the entire rural economy is collapsing around us and the national economy as a result.

02:25Our question is this, do you want to see a strong Britain with good food security and quality food at affordable prices?

02:32If so, support your farmers because we are supporting you.