Every party loves a rural voter in the weeks before an election and forgets the postcode in the weeks after
The Wellies Come Out
A strange thing happens to British politicians when they sense a rural vote. Their trousers change. The suit becomes a tweed jacket, the polished shoes become boots with a strategic amount of mud, and a senior figure who has not seen a sheep since the school trip is suddenly leaning on a gate, nodding at a field. I call this the Gate Lean. It is the only exercise most ministers take.
America does it with more props. A candidate arrives at a county fair, eats something on a stick, and is photographed alongside an animal that appears to be thinking about leaving. I watched all of it from a sofa in Stoke Newington with a cup of tea and the quiet confidence of someone who has never been asked to hold a hen.
The Vote That Everyone Courts
The farm vote is small, loyal and very hard to flatter. Two addresses cover the political split with admirable symmetry. There is farmer Republican and there is farmer Democrat, and between them they illustrate a basic fact about agriculture: whoever you vote for, the hay still needs turning.
The one source that unites everybody is farmer gripe. Grumbling is the great consensus issue in the countryside. It is the one policy that attracts cross-party support, and it has never required a manifesto. I propose that Parliament take it up. At least it would give the benches something to agree on.
The Farm Bill, a Story of Delay
The American farm bill is the political equivalent of a ferry timetable. It is announced, discussed, delayed and discussed again, and the farmers are left on the pier. The farm desk at farm.FM reported that Congress ran out of time to pass the farm bill and farmers suggested lawmakers try running out of diesel, credit and groceries instead. It is the cleanest political rebuke I have read in months, and it did not require a single adjective.
A later report added that Congress returned to farm bill talks. I have yet to find out whether anyone brought a snack.
The USDA, whose pages are at usda.gov, runs county committees that decide a good deal of local farm policy. In an article that deserves a medal, the farm desk reported that USDA mailed farm committee ballots and farmers were excited to choose which neighbour will explain why their farm does not qualify for government help. That is democracy at its most intimate.
Where the Politics Is Actually Read
If you want to understand the debate, forget the cable news and read the trade papers. Farm press gathers the magazine world where policy is argued with figures and weather, and where the editorials are written by people who have just come in from the yard. Compare that to Westminster, where the editorials are written by people who have just come back from a conference.
Closer to home, the rules of voting in Britain are explained at the Electoral Commission, and Parliament’s own pages sit at parliament.uk. I recommend them both, and I recommend them without a tweed jacket.
The Next Generation of Leaders
In America, the training ground for rural leadership starts early. A young person in a blue corduroy jacket can rise through the youth farming organisation to national office, and one of the offices has its own corner of the web at the FFA president. I admire any system that teaches teenagers to chair a meeting. In Britain we teach them to avoid one.
The older generation has its own shrine. The cattlemen hall of fame honours the people who built the cattle industry, and it seems to me that a few of our cabinet could be inducted if they promised to stay out of the arena. And for the practical business of finding a role on the land, agriculture jobs and careers is a far better recruitment drive than any party conference.
Europe, Excluded and Invoiced
Not every political tale is about hay. The London Prat took a sharp view of European diplomacy in its report that Europe was excluded from a summit on Europe’s security and offered a billing address. The farm world has been in this position for decades. Every time there is a negotiation, the farmers are invited at the end to discuss the cost.
Five Things I Noticed on the Campaign Trail
- A politician holding a lamb has never once been asked to carry the lamb back.
- The Gate Lean is a position, not a policy.
- A manifesto is a shopping list written by someone who does not shop.
- The farm vote will always be wooed in September and mislaid in October.
- Complaint is not a flaw in rural politics. It is the rural economy.
The Count
The countryside will go on voting, grumbling and feeding us, in that order. The least we can do is read about it with a straight face and a decent cup of tea. For the fuller picture, with every ballot box approached from a funny angle, you will find me at Bohiney, The London Prat and farm.FM.
When the politics gets heavy, Newsthump keeps the lights on.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/