NFU president, Meurig Raymond, has challenged the government to use 2015 to embrace a sense of optimism for the longer-term future and to help farmers reverse the country’s declining self-sufficiency.
“I am optimistic for the future of our industry, like many farmers, but we need early government action which shares this optimism,” said the president, adding that politicians needed to work “with the industry” to plan for sustained growth over the course of the next parliament.
“At very least the government should aim to reverse declining self-sufficiency,” he said. “This needs to be part of a longer-term vision. I want to see a government with policies that enable UK farmers to feed this growing population.”
Speaking as the UK’s political leaders start to fire the first shots of their election campaigns, Mr Raymond (pictured) also highlighted the need for encouragement to be given the producers to enable them to invest for the future.
“I also want to see policies based on robust scientific evidence, rather than driven by populist campaigning,” he concluded.
