A sixth generation farmer has launched a ‘fighting for future farmers' social media campaign, in a bid to raise awareness of the vital work of the agricultural industry.
Katie Willey, a 17-year-old mixed farmer from the north east of England, began the project at the start of April in order to create a platform to share and highlight key issues facing the sector, especially in the light of Covid-19.
She said: "Agriculture is one of the only industries where you are unsure of what price you are going to get for your produce.
"The difference between our industry and many others is the country would not survive without us, as we feed the nation - whether you are an omnivore or vegan, your diet still requires some form of farming."
With the ‘fighting for future farmers' Facebook page continuing to garner support, Miss Willey said the campaign created an opportunity to provide farmers with a voice and shed a ‘much-needed' light on supply chain unfairness to a wider audience.
Prices
She said: "Milk prices were recently slashed by 2p per litre, which has had a massive impact on us and we have had to rethink our feed plan in order to be able to break even but without affecting the high welfare standards we uphold on farm.
"A campaign like this therefore asks the question in bold: why does our price for our produce go down but the price for the supermarkets always stay the same?"
British produce
With the effects of the coronavirus pandemic highlighting the importance of British produce, Miss Willey said: "This situation has finally opened the public's eyes to the importance of British and locally procured produce as it has become more difficult to import food, and the campaign will capitalise on this to demonstrate how farmers continue to work around the clock to feed the nation."
Miss Willey said she planned to canvass these issues as part of the campaign by visiting schools to educate children on where their food comes from.
She added: "The campaign has already been well received and any support to attract attention to these issues, which continue to occur time and time again within the sector, will help to reinforce the sacrifices farmers make in order to produce the nation's food."
Support
For more information and updates on the campaign you can visit the Facebook page, here.
