Handley makes case for action speaking louder than complaints

David Handley is not a happy man. As chairman of the group Farmers For Action that he formed 13 years ago you might not expect him to ever be content as he sees his role as making life better for all his colleagues, but he’s livid at the moment.

Last year, on the back of reductions in milk payments to farmers, the government supported moves within the dairy sector to form what has become known as the Dairy Coalition. All major farming bodies are involved in the group with the specific aim of implementing a Code of Best Practice in milk supply contracts.

The government warned that if milk buyers’ contracts with farmers did not improve voluntarily by March 31 this year they would look at legislation. David Handley was in Yorkshire last week to address a dairy farmers’ gathering and made his feelings abundantly clear on what needs to be done next.

“Only one dairy company has signed up 100 per cent to the code. That’s Dairy Crest and I commend them for that but the rest have just cherry picked the parts of the practice that they are prepared to be involved with and that’s not good enough. It’s time to go back to the minister and ask him to do what he promised he would once we reached the deadline and if the companies had not supported it voluntarily.

“I have a dairy farm in Monmouth in South Wales where we have a herd of 140 cows. I’m presently being paid just over 30 pence per litre and that’s not even covering the cost of production and there are thousands more like me.”

But David isn’t just another tub-thumper venting his spleen against milk buyers and putting pressure on the government. He is keen to get farmers working together and standing firm as a group. He believes in giving his fellow farmers a kick up the backside as much as attacking the corporate world.

At Tim Gibson’s dairy farm open day in Crakehall he lambasted farmers over complaining about their plight, but then not backing the organisations trying to do something about it.

“I think Farmers For Action is more relevant now than ever before.

“It was actually Tesco that formed Farmers For Action because we asked if we could have a meeting with them and they said they didn’t meet individual farmers, but they would meet an organisation. I was mug enough to say I would be chairman and I’m still here now.

“We will never take over and have never had the intention of taking over from the NFU. We want to work alongside all other representatives in the industry and it’s like any other business venture, the more bodies you have the more it keeps everyone on their game and honest.

“What Farmers For Action has proven through all the various farming crises since we started is that if you are honest and straight with the media then the consumer gets to know what is really happening. They have now become more honest and they have to be because we’re looking over their shoulder all the time.”

While French farmers have a reputation for demonstrating in order to get a message across to their government the most British farmers had done up until 15 years ago was to throw eggs at the then minister for agriculture. That situation has been changing, but David Handley doesn’t see Farmers For Action as an extremist group.

“Many people try to portray us as militant, but we’ve never been that way from day one. We’ve always tried to act within the law or just over the boundary. We would never go in for violence or wrecking property but sometimes in life you have to stick up for your principles.

“We believe that if there is a law that’s made that is wrong then it is humans who have made it and we have a right to change it.”

Because David is a dairy farmer himself Farmers For Action has been seen as a group that fights for one sector more than others but he refutes this.

“We represent both the arable and livestock sectors.

“At the moment we are meeting to discuss contracts in the arable sector where they are balanced too much in the favour of the merchant. We think that must change.

“The problem with farming is that it is so diverse. Some farmers have been lucky because the estate where they live has been built up through generations and they are sitting on a valuable asset. But the tenanted sector is struggling. They are the core of the industry and they not only have to pay for borrowing but also their rent.”

David Handley spends much of his time and energy on the relationship between the larger retailers and farmers. “What we have to get everyone to understand is that within the supply chain the money has to get to the bottom as well as the top.

“The model we should be using is the likes of Marks & Spencer and Waitrose. They have shown that you can be top end companies, still make a margin, pay a better price to producers and still be profitable. In Yorkshire Morrisons has shown that the shorter you keep the supply chain the better it is for everybody.”

Outsider stood for top NFU job

Four years ago David Handley stood for election as the NFU President. He says he knew the odds were stacked against him, but that it was more of a shake-up statement than anything else.

“I was approached by certain individuals who thought it would make for an exciting AGM. I knew for a start that I didn’t have a chance of being elected because of the voting system and basically an outsider is not going to get in.”