Gareth Wyn Jones is the nation’s favourite farmer. Born in the beautiful Carneddau mountains in North Wales, he has lived all his life at Ty’n Llwyfan, the windswept slopes where his family have farmed for 350 years. Today he lives there with his wife and three kids. Gareth’s YouTube videos are well known – he has 2.1 million followers on the channel. This year Gareth has been a leading voice in the effective No Farmers No Food campaign, also in the Digon yw Digon (enough is enough) Welsh farmer protests which have already, at time of interview, managed to get the Welsh Senedd to U-turn on some of its more unworkable farming policies. Here, Country Squire Magazine’s Editor Dom Wightman asks Gareth some questions in relation to the ongoing campaigns, to death threats Gareth has received and about farming in general, which is suffering across the world right now.
So, Gareth, great to meet you again. You have been a busy fellow!
Yes, Dom, as well as running the farm, of late I’ve been at the forefront of the UK’s No Farmers No Food campaign and I’ve been part of some of the farmer protests more locally here in Wales in an attempt to stop some of the ridiculous policies the Welsh Government has been foisting on Welsh Farmers which will force many farms out of business.
The Welsh Government U-turn at the weekend was spectacular. I see it was announced by the Welsh Farming Minister Lesley Griffiths and not First Minister Mark Drakeford, who came out with that awful £300M comment last week.
Yes, Drakeford has been somewhat elusive of late. It doesn’t matter who announced the change, what matters is that, finally, those serving us are starting to listen. The UK Government, the Scottish Government and Stormont should also take note. We have a crisis on our hands, supermarkets are already squeezing farmers to death and the last thing we farmers need is impracticable policies forced on us which cut right into our production capabilities.
And I saw that you managed to meet up with the PM, Rishi Sunak, to discuss the key issues.
Yes, the Prime Minister was on good form and listened to what we had to say, which I appreciate.
I knew you’d turn Tory in the end. It was only a matter of time before you became a Welsh Tory boy!
Ha! Not at all. I’m not politically affiliated and that’s why I get support as I choose campaigns that cut through the political tribalism. This is about all farmers whether they are Labour/Conservative/Lib Dem/Plaid or whatever they are. So, your wait for my conversion will be a bloody long one, Dom!
Yes, I read the comments from your, err, more outlying opponents who tried to derail No Farmers No Food by claiming that the movement had been hijacked by the ‘far right’. George Monbiot for example was prattling on about how Mussolini’s fascist movement began in the countryside and how we were at danger in the UK of having the far right start a movement involving farmers from the countryside.
Baloney. Those kind of commentators seem to think they have to say stupid things so they stand out and maintain whatever relevance they think they have. I say sensible things and I have many hundreds of thousands more followers without needing to bait. Farming is too serious a topic to succumb to triggering people. The demagogues and extinctionists should stick to their books and church hall meetings. We’re putting food on plates not filling columns of ailing newspapers.
Do you think the tide is finally starting to turn? Do you think that the regional governments and the central government in Westminster are beginning to rediscover the relevance of farmers after treating them so negligently for so many years?
Yes, no doubt about it. There is visible, tangible power to lines of tractors which the tweets of detractors simply cannot match. And, unlike short-sighted protest groups – the likes of Just Stop Oil for example – we want to have the public on our side. We are supplying a tangible product that puts food on the public’s plates and there is a mutual respect which we do not want to throw away by blocking ambulances or throwing paint over artworks or buildings. We are with the public, that is the big difference here. People need to eat.
Another attempt to derail the No Farmers No Food campaign came in the form of accusations of ‘grift’, mostly from keyboard warriors. Yet as far as I know there has been no fundraising so far, right? I saw there was some No Farmers No Food merchandise for sale but it hardly seems grift to acquire a placard for your field or a sticker for your car bumper?
There is no fundraising effort. That is what is so amazing – to have got so far on solidarity. The grift accusation fell as flat as the ‘right wing’ one. I know that the organisers – and it’s a tiny, highly professional group – have pledged to raise funds in the future via a solicitor, transparently and with full audit. I’d have nothing to do with the movement otherwise. No-one is profiting here which is what’s so impressive, that we’ve got so many people motivated in such a short time – in part because it’s such a huge issue. I’ve not asked for a penny and will never do so.
And the other smear going round was a rather obtuse one about conspiracy theories? Some of those involved had tweeted in the past about Covid vaccines and there was some mention of a ‘globalist’ conspiracy theory?
Again, what a load of bollocks! Not once has Covid been mentioned in No Farmers No Food or Digon yw Digon meetings or out on the road. As for globalism, it’s a word that has many meanings. If you mean are Aussie/Kiwi sheep farmers undercutting British farmers because the UK Government signed up to a crap deal after Brexit then no question there has been a global impact on our sheep farmers. If you mean conspiracy theories centred around the WEF and Bill Gates and so forth, I’d be surprised if not one of our people had tweeted about such topics at some point in their lives – it’s a free country – but such issues are as distant from No Farmers No Food as Saturn is from Neptune. Anyway, those kind of geopolitical arguments are beyond my paygrade and my education level, mate! I’m a farmer! The smearers aren’t doing a very good job now, are they?! Farmers are not a conspiracy theory – detractors are trying and failing to distract from the hard and brutal facts we are justifiably protesting about.
So, detractors are just being the usual poppy-loppers and failing to find anywhere to hit you, as per usual, right?
Spot on, Dom.
You were telling me earlier about the death threats you and your family have been getting. Appalling. You and I have had some of the same trolls on our backs in the past but these recent death threats were from credible sources rather than the mentally ill anoraks we’ve both been pestered by in the past?
Yes, these death threats were on another level. Not weirdarse trolling like from that fantasist fellow pretending to be a female witch from Rhymney! That’s why my family and I took the threats so seriously this time. The police have been brilliant and we’re much more secure now than previously thanks to their great work.
You know you’re creating history here, don’t you Gareth? You’ll be in the history books for being the main face of the 2024 farmer protests? Your efforts are very much needed and you have successfully galvanised the farmers’ cause.
Dom, I do not give a jot about me. I was amazed when one person liked a video. Now I have 2.1 million followers on YouTube and I’m still pinching myself that there are people out there who want to hear how passionate I am about farming and for giving farmers a fair crack of the whip. The PM told me even he watched my videos which I was, frankly, amazed by. Don’t people have better things to do?! History is not on my mind. Getting a fair deal for farmers in the present is far more important and if I can be helpful I will be. If the No Farmers No Food organisers or Digon yw Digon want a different face then they will tell me soon enough, although I will still make my videos even if it means just one new farmer comes into our wonderful industry.
Gareth, thanks so much for your time. Really, much obliged. I know you’re busy as hell.
Dom, you’re a gent. Keep up the good fight, mate.
