Public give hardworking farmers thumbs up

Hardworking, down-to-earth, professional and enterprising. Just a few of reactions from Joe public when asked which words best describe farmers, according to a paper presented at the Oxford Farming Conference today.

Joanne Denney-Finch, Chief Executive at the IGD, had been asked to carry out research about attitudes to farming for the conference and had plenty of positives to report, along with a few not-so-positives.

Among the findings:

88% of those surveyed agreed that "farmers deserve the full support of the British public".

Farmers ranked No. 3, after nurses and doctors, in the occupations perceived to work hardest.

87% of those surveyed want stores to focus more on British food.

The same percentage agreed that Britain needs to be much more self-sufficient.

Denney-Finch gave credit to a number of key figures for contributing to these impressions. Among those mentioned were Peter Kendall, NFU President, held up as an effective spokesman for farmers, and Guy Smith (NFU Communications Spokesman), praised for his good advice to farmers on communications over many years.

On the not-so-positive side, only 51% of the public agreed that "hygiene standards are very high on British farms".

Finally, and unbelievably, some respondents described farmers as moaners. Surely not.