We recently updated the sign up questions we ask farmers when they join our farming panel, Five Bar Gate. We have now included an open ended optional question 'What keeps you awake at night'.
This lets us take a pulse of farmers concerns each quarter with a good size sample and it is something we can share with our clients as well as share with the farming research community we have gathered.
Based on the analysis of the comments using the script above, here are the themes ranked by the number of times they were mentioned:
Economic Issues: This is by far the most mentioned theme, highlighting the significant financial pressures farmers are facing. It includes concerns about costs, profitability, funding, and overall financial stability.
Government and Policy: The second most frequent theme indicates that farmers are deeply concerned about government interventions, regulations, and policies affecting their industry.
Disease and Health: Specific health issues like TB and bluetongue are major worries for farmers, particularly those involved in livestock farming, as you would expect.
Farm Types and Sizes: There's significant concern about the viability of different farm sizes, particularly small and family-owned farms.
Future and Uncertainty: Many farmers expressed worry about the long-term prospects of farming and the uncertainty surrounding the industry's future.
The lower-ranked themes, while still important, were not mentioned as frequently in the comments. However, they still represent significant areas of concern for some farmers, such as environmental issues, market dynamics, succession planning, and weather-related challenges.
Some of the comments that particularly resonated with us are listed below - the member will be kept anonymous.
'Hoping there is a future for small farms. Hoping the value in British produce can be maintained and prices can be regulated so the farmer is valued.'
'TB is the biggest worry and stress for us we have been moved from a tb4 to a tb 1 and are so worried about it.'
'The instability of the industry. Milk price fluctuations etc means it is difficult to plan and have confidence in the future.'
'The future of small medium sized family farms. We are a young farming family, both 5th generation with the 6th generation potentially watching us. It feels like farming is an unwanted industry to the public and government but realistically, they can't be without us. Can we stick out the fight?'
'Uncertainty. If it was easy, everyone would do it, but the main word to describe current UK agriculture is definitely Uncertainty.'
'The downward spiral of income and the need to do more and more just to standstill'
'Agriculture is being ignored by previous and present government'
'Relationships between different organisations and farmers. There seems to be some disjoint, confusion and blurred lines between them and us. Especially when something like the recent blue tongue outbreak hits and no one knows where to turn. Defra, NFU, Farmers Union, etc.'
'I’m worried about the food security of the UK. I see a lot of good arable land that is going into SFI what’s going to fill the gaps in food supply surely this will hike up prices of commodities and in turn food. I am also concerned at how many small family farms especially dairy’s are selling up'
'There is no backing or help for tenant or small farms. Bigger farms are just pushing the smaller ones out'
If you are a farmer and want to take part in research that will give you a say in some of these topics please sign up to the panel and trust us to make sure your opinion counts. Please join our research panel - https://www.groundedresearch.co.uk/five-bar-gate-farming-research-panel
If you work in agriculture and want to know more about speaking to farmers, please get in touch with us - hello@groundedresearch.co.uk
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