Sorry...this site requires a JavaScript-enabled browser.

Fed up farmers staged a tractor protest in Wiltshire against government policy, fearing that it would ruin their livelihoods.

The campaign organization Save British Agriculture (SBF) held a rally. The rally started at the Cirencester Livestock Market and visited the centre of Swindon on Friday (December 9).

The stunned shoppers watched a parade of 9 tractors, decorated with "Save British Food" banners, sweeping the Orbital Shopping Park in Swindon, and then headed to Wood Street around 12:30 in the afternoon.

See also: Liberal Democratic Party’s proposal to protect British farmers in a trade agreement

The public expresses their support for farmers through mobile phones waving, cheering, taking photos, and videos. The activists also received support from motorists who honked their horns.

Tractor drivers honked their horns as they aimed at the offices of Swindon Conservative Party members Justin Tomlinson and Robert Buckland to express their anger at the agricultural laws they were passing.

SBF founder and farmer’s wife Liz Webster said: “We brought it to them, but this is really for all members of Congress in the Southwest.

"We are informing these members of Congress because we can deliver our message to voters who support and love us.

"Counties and cities are connected to us. The removal of our subsidies will have an impact on Cirencester, Marlborough, and Malmesbury. They are all agricultural market towns. Farmers will spend less money."

Mrs. Webster said that since Brexit, British farmers are working hard to meet unprecedented challenges.

The labor shortage has had a huge impact on the pig, poultry and gardening sectors. The exodus of EU workers led to pigs being killed on farms and food being ploughed back into the fields.

Mrs. Webster said that the phased elimination of subsidies is hurting farmers. She added: “I worry that the Environmental Land Management (ELM) plan will eventually be like Boris Johnson's plan for the Garden Bridge across the Thames. It will never become anything that is substantial or helpful to most farmers. matter."

She claimed that the government is not interested in helping small family farms survive. "They want us to either diversify our farm so that you are no longer a farm or sell it. Otherwise, why would you encourage your farmers to retire?"

Paul Joseph, an agricultural contractor in Wanborough, Wiltshire, participated in the protest. He worried that his business might not survive the changes.

He said: "We are constantly jumping over many obstacles, fighting against obstacles that make our products much more expensive to produce, and fighting cheap imported products that don't follow these same rules."

"We have always been guardians of the countryside, producing high-quality food with high animal welfare, and caring for the environment. When we leave, we will miss it. Planting trees in our place is not good for the environment and will not feed the country." 

Mrs. Webster said that when the government negotiated cheap food trade agreements with other countries, the Conservative Party declared a pledge to uphold their high animal welfare and environmental standards, and farmers felt betrayed.

"We have seen the excitement of farmers in New Zealand and Australia. They are ready to increase exports here. You put Brazil and the United States in, and we will not survive."

The Liberal Democratic Party has proposed a membership bill that will authorize the Trade and Agriculture Commission to assess the impact of any new trade agreement on British agriculture and ensure that the government considers the environmental and animal welfare impacts when negotiating trade agreements.

SBF plans to hold a tractor demonstration in Westminster to coincide with the second reading of the member's bill on January 14, 2022.

Senator Justin Tomlinson told the Swindon advertiser: "The government has absolutely made it clear that in any free trade negotiations, it will not compromise our high standards in environmental protection, animal welfare, and food standards.

"The Agricultural Law recognizes that we have high-quality food production standards here in the UK, which are in demand worldwide.

"In addition, Brexit provides us with more opportunities to improve animal welfare standards-including a ban on live exports-which allows us to be a world leader-and we are rightly proud of this."

North Wales celebrity farmer Gareth Wyn Jones (Gareth Wyn Jones) expressed his support for the "Save British Agriculture" campaign. 

Before the Wiltshire protest, he said: “As a farmer, my family has cultivated the same land for 375 years. I think this is one of the most challenging times in the history of our industry. 

"We are at the crossroads of agriculture, food, and protecting our beautiful countryside through environmentally friendly food production.

"The biggest problem we face comes from the pressure from the government and supermarkets. It is time to build a better Britain from our stomachs, and feed this sustainable, seasonal and environmentally friendly food that our farmers have been growing for decades. nation."

Visit our technical knowledge center for practical agricultural advice