I really hope I'm wrong.

@Entwistle Getting hooked into the EU was the dumbest thing the UK ever did, according to so many people I know over there.

@NativeOregonian EU is a pretty sweet deal tbh.

@QuixoticSoul But it was a heavy cost to independent farmers and fishers, only the corporatists made out like bandits, funded by taxpayers.

@NativeOregonian ...only older people who remember'the good old days' before it. Listen to them spouting 'how great we were....and can be again. We dont need the EU.'
They seem to forget the world...people...are not the same as they were then.
The UK cant unite....its falling apart at the seams.

@NativeOregonian Not at all. Farming is subsidised by the EU. Its called the Common Agricultural Policy and you can look it up.

@RubySoo England has a centuries old history of pulling itself together during crisis, has battled untold enemies since the time of Rome. Is the country nothing but a bunch of limp wristed pansies that now wants to keep an outside economic oppressor? No, I say it's time to buckle up and do what is needed for England and the United Kingdom, to stand strong.

@Burnley123 According to what my friend in Gretna says, it's not the same for independent family farmers compared to the corporatist farmers.

@NativeOregonian can i just say.... its The United Kingdom. Clearly....you dont see us as 4 different countries.....but we do...and we are become more and more divided by the day....

@NativeOregonian Nah, EU subsidizes the shit out of independent farmers - it’s just that corporations are even better positioned to take advantage. Independent farmers are likely fucked post-Brexit too - and basically everywhere in the developed world. The nature of the business has simply changed, at least when it comes to the staples, and bandaids only go so far.

Things were only better for them pre-EU because that was decades ago.

@RubySoo I am aware of it, I am of British heritage, my ancestors worked directly for the Crown, one of them given his own warship to captain during the war of 1812.

@QuixoticSoul I have known Julie since 2007, you, maybe six months tops, I will take her word way before yours. What is your personal experience in agriculture or fishing?

@NativeOregonian then please dont refer to it as England and the Uk. Its The UK. England IS NOT any more important than the rest of us....although the governnent in Westminster clearly believes that.

@RubySoo Even though Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, are somewhat independent commonwealth countries, England is the seat of the government and power, and I do believe that is how it is officially announced, as England and the United Kingdom.

@NativeOregonian no its The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. That's on all our passports

@NativeOregonian oh no its not!!! No wonder there is so much animousity here if thats how the rest of the world thinks!!
Wow!

@SW-User It must have changed since I was in high school, or our textbook was wrong, which would not surprise me since I went to public school in the states LOL :/

@NativeOregonian it's been that since the Irish civil war.

@NativeOregonian it hasn't changed! So you were actually taught England was more important????
And people wonder why the Scots, Welsh and Irish might harbour resentment to The English????
So...im a second class citizen in Britain because im not English.
Well.....that is actually hiw it feels much of the time to be quite honest!

@RubySoo I personally have a great love of England since it's my heritage, and I would love to see her and the other countries restored back to their former glory. Not so much the colonial imperialism thing, but how England could stand on her own and protect themselves, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, from the other countries and were not afraid to fight back. One of the best examples, Neville Chamberlain wanted to form a treaty with Hitler, Churchill went to the people and asked their thoughts, and the people said "Oh Hell no, we fight." Where in the hell is that today in the UK?

@NativeOregonian USA school system has to improve would be my observation.

It was Kingdom of Great Britain from the act of union in 1707 before your independence.

It became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in early 19th century at union if Irish and British Parliaments.

Between 1921 and 1931 Ireland departed first as a dominion then independent state so to the current name.

England not mentioned since 1707.

@RubySoo I am sorry, I personally didn't mean to make you feel that way, I apologize. But yes, that is how it's taught here in the states, at least when I was in school. In all honesty, the way the Irish, Scottish, and Welsh, Immigrants were treated here in the states during the 19th century should be considered a national shame.

@NativeOregonian None - but I’m excellent at parsing economic data and policy docs. UK’s farming outlook is much like what has been happening in the US for the last hundred years. The market has assfucked the vast majority of independent farmers right out of business. It’s not the EU, it’s simply economics.

Now, you could argue that post-Brexit, UK will funnel even more tax money to independent farms. Maybe it will even happen 🤷‍♂️ - but that’s not the same as blaming EU for their current plight. On their own, they’d have even more trouble competing against their larger more efficient corporate cousins.

@SW-User We were never taught that, we only focused on world history until the colonialization of North America, then American history took over. However, my ancestors fought for the Crown during the colonial uprising, so it's more their independence than mine.

@QuixoticSoul Yet Julie, and everyone she knows within the farming community, blames Brussells for the demise of the independent farmer.

@QuixoticSoul However, since you admitted to having zero experience in agriculture, I seriously doubt you personally do not know any independent family farmer or anyone that grew up farming. Therefore because of this, you only know what you have read, which could actually be heavily edited to look otherwise, bureaucracies and corporatists do that all the time to make themselves look good, they keep the real truth hidden.