Sovereign Soil | UK Column Interviews

Charles Malet (0:08)

Hello, I'm Charles Malet with the UK Column Interview, and I've gone on a safari to Gloucestershire, where I'm with Tracy Worcester.

Now, I think we're going to learn an awful lot about how to get things done. Tracy, very warm welcome to UK Column.

Tracy Worcester (0:26)

Thank you.

Charles Malet (0:28)

Not at all. Now, I wanted to keep the introduction very brief because I think there's a huge amount to talk about, but let's start with something that we can, I think, go from, which is Farms Not Factories and what it does. And then I think we can work backwards from there. So just tell me a bit about Farms Not Factories and what at the moment you do and it does.

Tracy Worcester (0:53)

Okay, well, at the moment, we are functioning like a sort of advertising outlet to encourage people to realise that farmers exist in this country, but they won't unless people buy from them. And they will only produce the food that those people ask for.

So, if we want no animal cruelty, we have to demand it, because farmers can't produce good quality when there is extremely poor quality that you have to compete with, either from imports or from factories in this country. So, we interview small scale, chemical free or organic farmers, particularly in this country. But originally, I was abroad. So, we started with a film called Pig Business, and then we did nine different versions in different countries where people wrote and said, help, we've got a factory farm for pigs about to get planning permission, or we've got it already open, can you help us close it? And then, after that, I realized that actually my contacts are in this country, there's a dire situation in this country of ever more factory farms being built. So, we focused on pigs just because the footprint of a pig factory is reflective of other footprints, but it is particularly nasty. So, you have these incredible animals that all of us love, the pig, and yet the cruelty that is suffered by these animals, unless you ask for organic or free range, that will continue. So, it's really up to us, citizens, consumers, we have the choice, and we can buy quality. And actually, if you think about it, your body is your sanctuary, it's everything.

What are you putting into your body by just trusting the supermarkets?

Charles Malet (3:09)

Okay. That's a huge amount already. We've shot into, I think, follow up questions for at least another, let's say 30 minutes.

What you're describing is a very, very clear headed evaluation of not just the problem, but the solution. Now, you are one of only a tiny, tiny number of people that sees that. Can we go backwards now to understanding how it is that you did come to see that? How did you get to the point where you even began to think of this as being a concern?

Tracy Worcester (3:45)

I think that most human beings are concerned, but they have to have a job, and very often that job is what they're trained in, and they need to earn enough money to survive. I mean, in this world, you probably can't buy a house, ever. I mean, it is absurd, this system. But I was unbelievably privileged in that I was married to a wealthy man. So I didn't have to earn a living, and nobody could shut me down if I didn't obey any orders. So I never got charity status because I wasn't prepared to go by the rules. So we filmed and we broke into factory farms, or we did things that we weren't allowed to do. I bent every ear to try to get articles published, films put out, and we had a tiny effect. We were in Latvia filming one of the Pig Business series, and there was an advert on the TV saying, unless you buy Latvian food, our farmers will disappear.

So that's when I decided that it was really important to be like an advertising platform. And I've really been not very successful at raising money, although I did do the odd fundraising event to try and get wealthy people and celebrities to come on board. And so that was quite helpful in pushing it out further.

But I've never had to have a job since being married. So I actually think it's in all of us to be a campaigner.

Charles Malet (5:38)

Okay. Yeah, but I think you're doing yourself down there because there's a lot more to it than that. And I think the, it's the moral element to it, which is what people seem to find so difficult. So just, you know, talking about trying to introduce influential people to this, it's sort of notable today how few influential people are actually prepared to stick their neck out and say the sorts of things that you not just are saying, but have said for a number of years. That is, that's a difficult thing to do.