Save British Farming

In the wake of the UK’s 2016 referendum, Abcd’s founder Sian Tichar initiated two campaigns that used farming as a narrative to show the importance of retaining the level of food standards that the UK had developed whilst being part of the EU. As part of People’s Vote she project managed ‘Farmer’s for a People’s Vote’ to represent the perspectives of farmers, who were facing decimation of their industry if ‘no deal’ took place. The campaign resulted in a day of nation-wide blanket press coverage and comprised of a report by former NFU Chief Economist Sean Rickard, a press launch featuring prominent farmers and MPs at Farmer’s Club, and a herd of sheep appearing in Westminster with a photo-opp outside the Department for Trade & Industry. Coverage on the national lunchtime, and 6 and 10pm, news stations amplified the position of farmers, the countryside they manage and the country’s largest manufacturing sector – food production. One year later in the summer of 2020, with the  issues remaining unresolved, the same team from Farmer’s for a People’s Vote rebranded as Save British Farming, and organised a socially distanced tractor-drive-slow-demo, which also resulted in nationwide coverage, as well as an awareness raising opportunity of banners in farmer’s fields, called the ‘Bored of Broken Promises’ campaign.