September 8, 2025 • 7 mins
Our UK farming correspondent previews “Back British Farming Day” on Wednesday. He also laments the state of arable farming but is more upbeat about England’s chances in the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's our guy in the UK, farmer Tom Martin, social
media influencer Tom, Will you be influencing other farmers on
Wednesday your time for the Back British Farming Day?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I hope so, I hope I'll be influencing them to
really get behind it, because this is about basically get
getting some public support and some political support, and this
is a time when we need a huge amount of both,
and we've certainly struggled for political support, but it's a
good time to remind the politicians that I think behind
probably our doctors and nurses. As farmers, we are very
(00:37):
highly thought of and it's great to exhibit some of
the great stuff we do here in the UK to
produce food, look after the environment.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Does your average urban nite in the UK value farmers?
I know you're saying they do, but you're a knit
and porter of food, do.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
You know they in a kind of similar way. They
do lots of surveys in supermarkets and they say, you know,
are you looking for high welfare food? Nearly everyone says yes,
and they go in and buy a five pound chicken
five dollar chicken. You know, people would say they value farmers,
but actually are they walking the walk up. Possibly, possibly
not and probably when it comes down to two. Uh,
(01:18):
you know, they probably put other things higher up in
their you know, in their priorities.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Sir kea starmer and has labor government certainly not making
life easy for farmers in the UK. And we know
that the inheritance tax has gone down like a cup
of cold sick. Could he be a one term prime minister?
And I say that because what the Deputy prime Minister's
just said the heave home.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Well, I think he's limped in to the end of
his first year. Could you know, could could he be?
Could he be a less than one term prime minister?
I mean, I think in the UK, unless you're a
train driver or an asylum seeker, it's very it's very
difficult to see anyone who's doing better than better than
they were. And you know the Donald Trump Trump question
(02:04):
he always asked when he was campaigning, you know, do
you feel wealthier than last year? I can't think of
many people who who will be able to say yes
to that.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
You mentioned an influence. What are you doing to influence
other people as an influenza as opposed to influenza?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yes, just what I had a bit of influence of
last week. Actually, I can't recommend it retweeting a few
figure there's a radio interview got tomorrow and it's just
about you know, encouraging each other and everybody doing their bit,
whether that's a conversation, a pub conversation with a New
Zealand radio station, a conversation or a kind of letter
(02:44):
to the to the local MP's, it's something that we
all need to get behind and it's going to take
all of us.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Are you and your dad still suing the British government?
And that's part one of the questions. Part two us
Do you need a character reference from sid New Zealand
radio station?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, I think I think that that could just tip it. Yes,
absolutely we are. We're still in progress. We're waiting for
the government to respond at the moment we are hearing
that completely Unrelatedly, the government is now issuing new guidelines
to say that they don't need to really consult when
they bring some of the some of these new policies in,
(03:20):
which is pretty disgusting to be honest. But yes, we're
absolutely still in progress. There is a they call it
a crowd justice campaign going on, so if people want
to contribute to that supporting British farmers. That would be
a great thing to do without British farming day this
week when.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
You're not influencing what's happening on farm are you're heading
into your autumn as we head into air spring in
the Southern hemisphere, no doubt. Are all your springtone crops
harvested and are your autumn zone crops getting in the ground.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, I've got a little bit of buckwheak to harvest,
but everything else is harvested and that'd be the same
across the UK, possibly with a little bit of grain maize
and some harvests possibly in the North and Stland where
they're often you know, several weeks behind. It's been pretty dry.
We've had a lot of people have had an inch
of rain, but not much more. The ground still pretty dry.
We've put in some of our forage rye that's gone
(04:13):
in the ground already, a lot of our cover crops
are in. We've we've put in a little bit of
winter bali and we've done a field of winter week
just the cleanest field that we can get in early,
but most of it it will be a month before
we're really planting with abandoned here in the UK.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Arable farmers are doing at tough here in New Zealand.
Can we say the sim in the UK.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Almost an understatement. It's, you know, we've got all the
all the regular stuff going on to an extreme. So
we've got you know, the driest the dry summer period
we've had. We've got prices absolutely all over the place,
and I don't mean high. We've you know, we're struggling
in a number of ways. And then you overlay that
with the inheritance tax things from the government. You know,
(05:00):
we're still hearing of farmers who are refusing cancer treatment,
farmers who are who don't want to be alive this
time next year because it'll be you know, it'll cost
their families too much money.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Isn't that a terrible scenario to find yourself.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
It's absolutely disgraceful, to be honest. It's you know, sometimes
you think we're you know, re having a tough time,
but this is absolutely beyond all of that. It's yeah,
it's an absolute chack. I don't really have words for it.
It just feels utterly overwhelming. There are so many things
going on and as I say, as farmers, we're used
(05:38):
to dealing with uncertainty, you know, whether it's the weather,
or world markets, or pest disease conditions, whatever it might be.
We're just not used to all of this all at
the same time. And then all the political challenges, and
of course we've got a government who've turned a twenty
two billion dollar black hole, twenty two billion pound black
hole into a forty to fifty billion pound black hole.
(05:58):
So we are bracing ourselves for more bad news this autumn.
And I just don't think there'll be a lot of farms.
We won't be able to take it.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
I don't want to compare on your misery, farmer Tom Martin,
But the Women's Rugby World Cups on, I reckon by
the time we next speak, and we must have a
yarn about the same time as that Rugby World Cup
final is on. Hopefully it's us against you. You are
the hot favorites. But we've got a girl by the
name of Georgia Miller who is the world's or the
women's world's best rugby player anyhow, And I think we're
(06:28):
a bit of a shot.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I always love a bit of KeyWe confidence, and it
makes for it, It'll make for a great final, if
it's if it's if it's the Ferns against the Raisers,
won't it that'd be great. It's but it's been, it's
been a it's been a great World Cup. Actually, it's
almost a shame that there's such a disparity in the ability.
So there there are a lot of thrashings going on,
but also you know, tremendous displays of talent and sportsmanship.
(06:53):
And I managed to get to see a couple of
games just last Sunday in live sort of live at
our coal Stadium and it's been absolutely fantastic, great to
see these fantastic role models. So yeah, but long mate
last and hey, if we get a New Zealand England final,
let's let's have a yarn. I'm feeling pretty confident about
(07:14):
this one. I don't normally feel confident when when we
meet you guys in the rugby.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Bring it on, Hi, Farmer Tom Martin, thanks for your
time today, good luck with the beck British Farming Day Wednesday,
your time, Thank you,
He's our guy in the UK, farmer Tom Martin, social
media influencer Tom, Will you be influencing other farmers on
Wednesday your time for the Back British Farming Day?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I hope so, I hope I'll be influencing them to
really get behind it, because this is about basically get
getting some public support and some political support, and this
is a time when we need a huge amount of both,
and we've certainly struggled for political support, but it's a
good time to remind the politicians that I think behind
probably our doctors and nurses. As farmers, we are very
(00:37):
highly thought of and it's great to exhibit some of
the great stuff we do here in the UK to
produce food, look after the environment.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Does your average urban nite in the UK value farmers?
I know you're saying they do, but you're a knit
and porter of food, do.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
You know they in a kind of similar way. They
do lots of surveys in supermarkets and they say, you know,
are you looking for high welfare food? Nearly everyone says yes,
and they go in and buy a five pound chicken
five dollar chicken. You know, people would say they value farmers,
but actually are they walking the walk up. Possibly, possibly
not and probably when it comes down to two. Uh,
(01:18):
you know, they probably put other things higher up in
their you know, in their priorities.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Sir kea starmer and has labor government certainly not making
life easy for farmers in the UK. And we know
that the inheritance tax has gone down like a cup
of cold sick. Could he be a one term prime minister?
And I say that because what the Deputy prime Minister's
just said the heave home.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Well, I think he's limped in to the end of
his first year. Could you know, could could he be?
Could he be a less than one term prime minister?
I mean, I think in the UK, unless you're a
train driver or an asylum seeker, it's very it's very
difficult to see anyone who's doing better than better than
they were. And you know the Donald Trump Trump question
(02:04):
he always asked when he was campaigning, you know, do
you feel wealthier than last year? I can't think of
many people who who will be able to say yes
to that.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
You mentioned an influence. What are you doing to influence
other people as an influenza as opposed to influenza?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yes, just what I had a bit of influence of
last week. Actually, I can't recommend it retweeting a few
figure there's a radio interview got tomorrow and it's just
about you know, encouraging each other and everybody doing their bit,
whether that's a conversation, a pub conversation with a New
Zealand radio station, a conversation or a kind of letter
(02:44):
to the to the local MP's, it's something that we
all need to get behind and it's going to take
all of us.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Are you and your dad still suing the British government?
And that's part one of the questions. Part two us
Do you need a character reference from sid New Zealand
radio station?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, I think I think that that could just tip it. Yes,
absolutely we are. We're still in progress. We're waiting for
the government to respond at the moment we are hearing
that completely Unrelatedly, the government is now issuing new guidelines
to say that they don't need to really consult when
they bring some of the some of these new policies in,
(03:20):
which is pretty disgusting to be honest. But yes, we're
absolutely still in progress. There is a they call it
a crowd justice campaign going on, so if people want
to contribute to that supporting British farmers. That would be
a great thing to do without British farming day this
week when.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
You're not influencing what's happening on farm are you're heading
into your autumn as we head into air spring in
the Southern hemisphere, no doubt. Are all your springtone crops
harvested and are your autumn zone crops getting in the ground.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, I've got a little bit of buckwheak to harvest,
but everything else is harvested and that'd be the same
across the UK, possibly with a little bit of grain maize
and some harvests possibly in the North and Stland where
they're often you know, several weeks behind. It's been pretty dry.
We've had a lot of people have had an inch
of rain, but not much more. The ground still pretty dry.
We've put in some of our forage rye that's gone
(04:13):
in the ground already, a lot of our cover crops
are in. We've we've put in a little bit of
winter bali and we've done a field of winter week
just the cleanest field that we can get in early,
but most of it it will be a month before
we're really planting with abandoned here in the UK.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Arable farmers are doing at tough here in New Zealand.
Can we say the sim in the UK.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Almost an understatement. It's, you know, we've got all the
all the regular stuff going on to an extreme. So
we've got you know, the driest the dry summer period
we've had. We've got prices absolutely all over the place,
and I don't mean high. We've you know, we're struggling
in a number of ways. And then you overlay that
with the inheritance tax things from the government. You know,
(05:00):
we're still hearing of farmers who are refusing cancer treatment,
farmers who are who don't want to be alive this
time next year because it'll be you know, it'll cost
their families too much money.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Isn't that a terrible scenario to find yourself.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
It's absolutely disgraceful, to be honest. It's you know, sometimes
you think we're you know, re having a tough time,
but this is absolutely beyond all of that. It's yeah,
it's an absolute chack. I don't really have words for it.
It just feels utterly overwhelming. There are so many things
going on and as I say, as farmers, we're used
(05:38):
to dealing with uncertainty, you know, whether it's the weather,
or world markets, or pest disease conditions, whatever it might be.
We're just not used to all of this all at
the same time. And then all the political challenges, and
of course we've got a government who've turned a twenty
two billion dollar black hole, twenty two billion pound black
hole into a forty to fifty billion pound black hole.
(05:58):
So we are bracing ourselves for more bad news this autumn.
And I just don't think there'll be a lot of farms.
We won't be able to take it.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
I don't want to compare on your misery, farmer Tom Martin,
But the Women's Rugby World Cups on, I reckon by
the time we next speak, and we must have a
yarn about the same time as that Rugby World Cup
final is on. Hopefully it's us against you. You are
the hot favorites. But we've got a girl by the
name of Georgia Miller who is the world's or the
women's world's best rugby player anyhow, And I think we're
(06:28):
a bit of a shot.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I always love a bit of KeyWe confidence, and it
makes for it, It'll make for a great final, if
it's if it's if it's the Ferns against the Raisers,
won't it that'd be great. It's but it's been, it's
been a it's been a great World Cup. Actually, it's
almost a shame that there's such a disparity in the ability.
So there there are a lot of thrashings going on,
but also you know, tremendous displays of talent and sportsmanship.
(06:53):
And I managed to get to see a couple of
games just last Sunday in live sort of live at
our coal Stadium and it's been absolutely fantastic, great to
see these fantastic role models. So yeah, but long mate
last and hey, if we get a New Zealand England final,
let's let's have a yarn. I'm feeling pretty confident about
(07:14):
this one. I don't normally feel confident when when we
meet you guys in the rugby.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Bring it on, Hi, Farmer Tom Martin, thanks for your
time today, good luck with the beck British Farming Day Wednesday,
your time, Thank you,
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