Farming is in danger: TV farmers calls for new government to save farming
Farming brothers Dave and Rob Nichols calls for Labour to save farming. Video interview with Christine Talbot at the Great Yorkshire Show.
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00:00Christine Tolbert and I have been hosting the Great Yorkshire Show chat shows held on the stage here, sponsored by Vectory Motors and I'm joined today by two very well known faces from our television screens, Dave and Rob Nicholson from Cannon Hole Farm, you'll know them from programmes like Springtime in the Farm, Winter on the Farm. Lovely to have you with us.
00:18Thank you.
00:19Have you been having a great time at the show?
00:21We love coming to the Yorkshire Show, it's the highlight of our year and this year, despite the weather, has been no exception, we've loved it.
00:29What's your best bit about the show, Dave?
00:31Well, I think Coco and Chanel are high on cattle, cow and calf, got second place, so the show inside is what I'm passionate about and I really enjoyed that on the first day, except for the weather.
00:44Except for the weather, wasn't a bit chilly today and it rained the first day but everyone still seems to be having the very best time, don't they?
00:51Now, obviously everywhere you go, you are mobbed by your fans, I noticed this, I've seen you on most days this week, what's it like getting that side of you that's a farmer, how do you marry that with being a celebrity as well?
01:04We never think of ourselves as celebrities but we're farmers with a lot of friends, that's how I like to look at it and if people want to have a chat with us then we're honoured to do that, have a photograph.
01:15We love people, that's why we went down the road that we've gone down with opening the Farm for the Public and yeah, we're privileged to know so many people.
01:24Now, obviously a lot of farmers here are friends of yours, you're very much a part of the agricultural industry, we've had a change of government haven't we and a new Prime Minister, a new party in charge, what's the talk on the farm?
01:39Well, I think they've just got to look after the family farm, those small farms that need the help, that's where they need to prioritise, they need to make farming worth doing, you need to be able to earn a living.
01:53Do you think that this new government will do what you need?
01:57I'd like to think that it's a fresh start and a fresh chance, we just want farms like ours to be around for the next generation, we look at ourselves as a bit like shire horses, if we don't look after the family farm now they could be lost in a generation and that would be unthinkable, we think we have a role to play and the countryside would be worse without us.
02:21So that would be your message to Sir Keir Starmer now, look after your family farms, make sure that you're all good and what about things like exploitation, importation because that's changing the scenario a lot isn't it?
02:35We provide the best quality produce, so we have to sell it at a price where we can make a profit, it's no good importing other products that are cheaper and then everybody struggles.
02:48Cheap food is attainable but there's usually a cost to it and the cost would be environmental, we want a buoyant countryside, we love to see wildlife flourishing and thriving alongside us, there's nothing we like better than looking out the tractor window and seeing a brown hare or a lapwing or a curlew and to do that you've got to farm alongside nature and not as a consequence of it and you can't do that for the cheapest price.
03:13Plus you've got to look after the rivers, pollution is a bad thing, we need to clean the rivers up and in turn look after the wildlife.
03:23Okay, so lots to really think about and maybe you two could come on board as government advisors, they might be looking for someone.
03:30I don't know about that Christine but that's our view, it shouldn't be beyond someone's gift to give food that's nutritious and good quality alongside an environment that's sustainable and flourishing.
03:45What's next for you two?
03:47Well we've got winter on the farm coming up so we're looking forward to that and the Christmas special plus we've got other ideas to make our farm at home better, we're always looking for the next new idea.
04:01I think the next thing for me is getting the cows, sheep and horses home and getting them back to the farm and getting them settled in.
04:07Well the next thing for you is actually coming on stage with me and we're all going to find out a little bit more about your lives.
04:12Which we're very much looking forward to doing.
04:13Thanks so much for chatting, thank you Rob and Dave Nicholson.