Listen: UK farmers fed up with Brexit talk

Tom Martin aka "Farmer Tom." photo / Supplied

UK farmers are tired of politicians talking about Brexit and want to see some action, says Tom Martin.

"A lot of farmers are just saying 'Do you know what? I don't want to hear anymore about Brexit. I want to be focusing on my business, focusing on food production and really getting on.' But these conversations and the lack of certainty and the political to and fro about Brexit is increasingly frustrating."

Martin, an agricultural social media influencer known as "Farmer Tom," told The Country's Jamie Mackay that he is "very concerned" and "nervous" about Brexit which he says creates "a level of uncertainty" for farmers.

"It's a big topic but who knows what's going on? All we can see is that we're going to be severely affected by it but we don't know exactly how."

"I don't think as farmers we feel particularly reassured by the actions and words of [the] Government at the moment."

"I think people are ... getting to their wit's end and they almost don't want to hear anything more about it - they just want to get on with the doing."

Listen below:

Another concern for UK farmers is some very unpredictable weather this year, which began with an extended winter says Martin.

"The year was started off with what we referred to as "the beast from the east," where we had icy easterly winds which really pushed our winter right into the end of April so delayed our spring sowing by a month."

Currently farmers are contending with dry conditions, which is unusual says Martin.

"As far as the UK goes we're used to a pretty temperate climate and pretty regular rainfall. So we've had a very, very dry time indeed for us."

This has resulted in problems for forage stocks across the UK, particularly in the main pasture areas in the West and North, where they have been feeding forage throughout the summer.

Even some welcome rainfall has had an adverse affect, says Martin.

"We have had a little bit of rain in the last few weeks which has ironically led to flooding, but our water levels really aren't back up in the East and South to where they should be."

Although the weather is a common concern for farmers, Martin admits that 2018 has been a particularly trying year.

"We did have our first frost about three of four weeks ago which gave us a bit of a shock at the end of September and now snow in Scotland. ... so we've really had a year influenced by the weather."

Also in today's interview: Tom Martin talks about the All Blacks on tour in England and Ireland and the Royals on tour here in Godzone.