The children of farmers often feel scared to mention their families, or dispute inaccurate information about the industry they come from when it is presented in class at school, according to a Conservative MP. Jonathan Wheeler reports.
Alicia Kearns, who represents Rutland and Melton Mowbray, said she has found plenty of evidence of a disturbing ‘anti-farming’ narrative in her constituency’s schools, despite the fact that it is mainly rural.
Many of the town’s leading companies are involved in making Stilton cheese, traditional pork pies and brewing, and it has one of a dwindling number of town centre livestock markets.
“I am concerned about the anti-dairy, anti-meat and, frankly, anti-farmer narrative that I am starting to see,” she said.
“Students and children of farmers feel they are being silenced and cannot speak out in support of their families, who feed the country.”
Among the claims she has heard is that cows produce most of the methane in the world.
“I ask students to put their hands up if they are from farming families, and often between a quarter and half the hands go up,” she said.
“But when I tell them that information is not true, it is often the first time they have heard anybody challenge the narrative.”
She fears some children may not be consuming enough milk or getting the calcium or other nutrition they need as a result.
“We need to have a discussion over how we communicate this, and make it clear that not all the information being presented about meat and dairy products is true,” she said.
As well as being nutritionally superior, she suggests farmers should highlight how their products compare environmentally with some of the alternatives in vegetarian and vegan diets.
“Cows’ milk is far better than shipping in things such as soya milk, which comes from beans that need 100 times as much water to create a litre of milk than a cow does,” she said.
“Other options such as avocados also use incredibly high volumes of water, and they both need to be shipped thousands of miles to reach the UK.”
She believes the Department for Education and Defra need to work together to ensure the false narrative is challenged.
“We must make sure we have that debate on climate change and correct the false narrative about farmers’ role in it,” she said.
“Perhaps the message needs to come from an independent organization, but that un-challenged narrative has to change.”
