We've received a really generous starting grant from the legends at Farming the Future to help support running costs of the campaign and enable our working group to convene over the coming year.
Basic Income 4 Farmers (BI4FARMERS) is a campaign created by a fresh working group of farmers, growers, academics and union co-ordinators with personal and professional experience of the issues explored. We trust farmers as custodians of the land who deeply care for the communities they feed.
The aim of the campaign is to encourage farmers, farmworkers and food producers to discuss possible solutions to the financial barriers they face.
What is a Basic Income?
The design of a basic income, codified by the definition of its 5 core characteristics, reflects the fundamental goal of the policy: to guarantee every person an income that gives them the security to meet their basic needs and greater financial agency.
CASH: Deliver cash, rather than vouchers, on a regular basis ensures that a basic income acts like any other source of income.
REGULAR: It is paid at regular intervals (for example every month), not as a one-off grant
INDIVIDUAL: It is paid to the individual rather than to households, or as a subsidy to a business that might pass on the benefits as income. Policies that deliver payments on a household basis, or as business subsidies can perpetuate existing imbalances of power, including abusive domestic relationships and exploitative work
UNCONDITIONAL: The heart of the basic income proposal is that it is unconditional. Ensuring this income is supplied without conditions is based on trust, solidarity and a belief that people know best what they need most. It aims to reduce the stigma of social security and to shift the way we value and reward labour – particularly the unpaid labour and essential labour that is required regardless of profit margins. Food production and the care of the natural environment are also other important examples.
UNIVERSAL: Payments should be universal.
For Farmers, Growers and Farm-Workers
The principles of a basic income can also be applied to a demographic specific approach where there is a particularly extreme or time sensitive need. This can be applied to demographics where there is a particularly high rate of inadequate income or poverty, when there is a high risk of adverse health or well-being outcomes, and when there is crucial but traditionally low or unpaid work being delivered by this demographic.
Our report - Sowing Seeds of Stability - shows that farmers, farmworkers and food producers meet all of these criteria and propose that deep exploration of a basic income for farmers should be embarked upon.
Find out more about a Basic Income For Farmers in our report here.
