Food & Farming: An Urban Perspective > The Road
“HOW LONG HAVE we been following him for now?” I asked irritably, as I trailed yet another tractor along yet another busy A-road. This is probably the most common view most people get of farmers, and given that it tends to involve angry minutes being added to the leisure-time journeys, it does not represent a good public relations exercise for agriculture. That the bloke on the trundling tractor seems blissfully oblivious to the hold-up does not help, but I can assure non-tractor drivers that he may well be as exasperated as everyone else. I’ve driven tractors on summer roads, and I know that no one relishes the job. The truth is that huge queues behind you can be a bit embarrassing, reckless overtakers cause accidents, and sometimes groups of young men in a car will flag you down and try to pick fist fights. Tractor-driver reactions vary – some pull in when they can, others turn up the radio and ignore the problem. All they want to do is get there, the same as you•