Farmers and Food Poverty - A bit of a double standard?

The one million plus scheme for drought relief for Farmers hit a slight hiccup when Ramsey MHK Lawrie Hooper said he had been contacted by farmers who had told him that things were not as bad as they’ve been painted. Nonetheless Tynwald were unswayed by the member for Ramsey.

Agriculture Minister Geoffrey Boot refuted his concerns saying it was not the ‘impression’ that he had gained and at the Farmers Union (NFU) welcomed the scheme.

We can’t refute the fact there was an unusual weather pattern this year and depending on what and when Farmers were harvesting crops some will have faired worse than others. I tend to the view support IS NEEDED and this is not just an argument here I was watching a TV report on the same issue elsewhere recently.

I suppose if anything though it shows that the Manx government can adopt double standards to perceived crisis.When t was averred last year that there were problems of food and fuel poverty the government were not so swift to act. I like Geoffrey Boot over the farmers go with the ‘impression’ from those that were running charities for those in need that there was a problem.

Chief Minister Howard Quayle MHK talking about food poverty some months ago cautioned that we needed to address the issue ‘properly’ and not have a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction. However poverty was being talked about back in the days of the Brown government so hardly a knee-jerk on food poverty. So was this one million plus fr agriculture a ‘knee-jerk’ on drought relief aid?

Link here to a very youthful ‘Mr Speaker’ querying the then CM in 2009:

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/no-definition-of-poverty...

A decade on the government are still cautious saying they needed to gather evidence of the problem. Indeed recently our best known Farmer - the Chief Minister was inferring that some people may just be taking advantage of the situation and queuing up for a food handout they may not need..

I SUPPORT subsidies for Manx agriculture and think in an uncertain world we need to ensure that we maintain a food production capacity domestically. However I also think the government should apply the same needs based logic to all and not just to Farmers!

Bernard Moffatt