Women’s Food & Farming Union
Linking Producer & Consumer

30th Celebration for the Women’s Food & Farming Union

Everything was in place for a celebration in style for the 30th Anniversary for the Women’s Food & Farming Union held on the 20th October 2009 at the Farmers Club, Whitehall.

The speakers were Lord Selborne, Helen Bower, Baroness Byford, Lord Plumb and David Richardson (not pictured).

Helen Bower, Acting President said, “The organisation started 30 years ago with the apple and has maintained throughout those years, its aim: to always link producer and consumer. I always say, 'If you want a job done ask a woman' and that has been proved time and time again within the history of the organisation.”

To mark this significant event a special pear, apple and walnut chutney has been prepared in Staffordshire for all the guests to take home with them.  The apple obviously has a great significance to the organisation and it is fitting that produce using apples and pears has been used to celebrate this very special occasion.

The immediate Past President, Ionwen Lewis was presented with a Border Fine Art Welsh Bull and vouchers to spend, to mark her time as President of the organisation.

The celebration cake was cut by Baroness Byford, WFU Patron and the Acting President, Helen Bower. The cake had yellow butterflies on it and was made by Helen's daughter Abigail.

The following is a copy of Helen Bower's speech:

"My Lords Ladies & Gentlemen & Fellow members…………….
We are here today to celebrate … the APPLE.
To celebrate what the APPLE led to.
To celebrate the actions the APPLE engendered.
To celebrate the APPLE as a tribute to the past, a reason for the present and a pointer to the future.
30 years ago the apple was under threat. The actions generated to save it resulted in the formation of WFU, Women’s Farming Union or Women of Action.
Margaret Thatcher rightly said, ”If you want something said ask a man. If you want something done ask a woman!”. How true of WFU.
Many of the original drivers of the organisation are here today.  True Testament to 30 years of active WFU.
Many of the tactics used in the Apple campaign are well documented, but of them all Retail Surveillance has to be the one that has endured and even been taken up in various guises by others. WFU started retail surveillance of apples in supermarkets, shops, farm shops and markets, to monitor availability, quality, price and position in store. Whilst the data collected was invaluable in proving their point that the British apple was indeed under threat it also led to better marketing, handling and grading of the British product. 
When WFU extended its borders beyond Kent and Mid-Anglia the success of retail surveillance led to other products being studied under this scheme. Potatoes, bacon, cheese, milk, butter and cream to name but a few. Many of our members visited outlets across the country, sending their results to co-ordinators who collated their findings into valuable data. It is no surprise to me that Supermarkets - through the loyalty card - even the Government’s Pesticide Residue Committee with dedicated shoppers buying everyday staple foodstuffs; modified or created their own versions.

Branches of WFU sprang up all over the country. Like minded active women seeking to promote links between producer and consumer that in Britain with the move to urban living have become increasingly lost. Links have been forged through Education schemes, such as Farming in the classroom, our HGCA supported scheme through which over 100 schools and therefore thousands of children have learnt about food production from our members, who are hands on producers. Food tastings and recipes promoting healthy eating have proved popular methods of engaging with the public as have the Farmhouse Breakfasts where members have used many and various novel ways of encouraging consumers to eat healthy and hearty breakfasts.  

For 30 years WFU has linked producer to consumer, presenting a balanced view of both consumer and producer issues.  Issues that have arisen over the years have been Nitrates in Water, BST, Listeria, healthy eating, Leptospirosis and pesticide use. Latterly consolidating the areas of action into education, school milk and cheese campaigns. WFU also responds to Government consultations on areas of interest. Today the plight of the apple has been replaced with the plight of the Dairy Industry.

This container carries the little red tractor logo. Research has shown that among shoppers it is the most widely recognised and understood symbol, denoting that the foodstuff has been produced in Britain. Today the dairy industry like the apple industry 30 years ago is under threat. Under serious danger of being so depleted in the UK that the spectre of having to rely on imports for a staple food is fast approaching unless rapid action is taken.  WFU have long recognised this and have made representation of the benefits, on behalf of the dairy industry, for milk and cheese in particular through the "Choose Cheese“campaign.

WFU has also been concerned about Bovine tuberculosis for years. This concern started many years ago, seeing the spread of it, through pasture contaminated by sick badgers, suffering from this painful and debilitating disease.  Representation to successive ministers seems to have had no effect. Many years of research and many and various committees have studied options for control, but still this disease spreads. Badgers suffer, farmers suffer, and suicides among dairy farmers are high. This is leading to the milk supply becoming under threat of having to rely on imports to fulfil demand.  At the WFU National Conference in March, this subject was raised again, with graphic images of suffering badgers and charting how bovine TB has spread across Devon. How can this happen in a country where large areas particularly in the West Country are ideally suited to dairy production. WFU have joined with Women Working Together, and are also hoping to engage with the 6 ”O” group to take a campaign forward to link producer and consumer by raising the awareness of the plight of the badger, the plight of the dairy industry and the threat to the Nation's health, if this blight on the industry is not dealt with as soon as possible. No wonder the Devon farmers are envious of their Welsh colleagues, where action has been taken to end the suffering of sick badgers and hopefully stem the spread of Bovine TB.

A concern of particular interest to me is the position of Plant Protection products. Having sat on the Pesticide Forum since its inception, I despair at the current state of affairs where a European Directive opposed by the UK Government, the only country to have produced an in depth impact assessment, was passed by MEP’s. One of whom admitted to WFU that the information provided by the Commission was poor. Agrochemicals are thus to be approved on a hazardous rather than risk based system leading to the withdrawal of useful products, leaving the industry with inappropriate tools to protect our crops and leading to crop contamination. So often the benefits of plant protection products are overlooked, especially by the popular press, who delight in concentrating on emotive language such as “drenched in pesticide”. Which as all practising farmers know could not be further from the truth.

WFU uses education; in the classroom, the market place, in social groups and at shows to get the message over to consumers of how their food is produced and delivered. Samplings of cheese, apples and other produce encourage shoppers to taste the quality of home grown produce and demand it from their retailers.

Finally the APPLE can teach us about Food Security. This is the current buzz word, used by government to assure us that something is being done. Interestingly even as late as June this year the Pesticide Forum was told that the world was awash with food, yet we need food security. We need security of supply, security of quality and security of quantity. This has been a core aim of WFU since the beginning.

Imagine the world is an apple - three quarters of the earth’s surface is ocean. This leaves one quarter land. Half of this land is too steep, too wet or too dry for food production. This leaves one eighth suitable for food production.
Only one quarter of that suitable land is available – the rest is buildings, forests or roads. So, only 3% of the earth’s surface is available to grow food for 6 billion people. On average topsoil is only .5 of a metre thick. So only a tiny part of the planet has to do the job of growing food for everyone on earth. Food security is important, so important that to recognise through fair trade agreements the plight of subsistence farmers around the world is highly commendable. To forget however, that Food Security begins at home and that the best produce is locally sourced and produced is folly. The biggest offenders here are HMG. Why are our troops fed on foreign produce? 95% of apples supplied to NHS are imported. To source food for government contacts from home producers rather than talking about it would be a start.

My question at many meetings has been “Do you people eat?  We are not here to debate whether an “if“ or a “but” should be inserted in our mission statement; we are here for action. If we eat, (which we all do) then by our actions we should be making sure that our food supply is secure, healthy and available. Not wringing our hands with platitudes as our industry succumbs to imports, ludicrous stifling EU directives denying choice to our consumers.

Looking to the future, new branches are in the pipeline, we have here today a member from Herefordshire, looking to start a branch there and already new members are joining in Northern Ireland. We also have the possibility of a Shropshire branch. We look forward to welcoming more like minded women to continue and expand the work of WFU. Believe you me, it is needed today, dare I say more than ever.

In order to preserve the countryside we all love, a strong link needs to be maintained between producer and consumer. I read in the newspaper recently that the “action man toy” is to be re-introduced, we are not toys; we are women of action, we are the WFU!"

Helen Bower.
October 2009.