NFU president Minette Batters has warned that the clock is ticking for the Government to match ‘warm words with actions to ensure British farmers and growers can continue to play their part in feeding and fuelling a changing and challenging world’.
Delivering a powerful opening address at NFU Conference in Birmingham on Tuesday, Mrs Batters set out three cornerstones needed to ensure a prosperous food and farming sector – one that delivers a secure, safe and affordable supply of British food, for both home markets and overseas, and recognises that farmers are the nation’s working conservationists in protecting and enhancing the environment.
She highlighted three key lessons we can take from this extraordinary year that has seen global turmoil, alongside climate change, and rapidly rising world populations.
“As the global population continues to rise, and parts of the planet become less suited to producing the food we eat, we have an opportunity, and a duty, to get the best out of our maritime climate,” she said.
“Secondly, in the face of climate change, we should be unwavering in our commitment to achieving net zero and contributing to our energy security through on-farm renewables generation. And thirdly, we should never take our food security for granted.
“But the fact remains, volatility, uncertainty and instability are the greatest risks to farm businesses in England and Wales today. Critically, those consequences will be felt far beyond farming, they will be felt across the natural environment, and in struggling households across the country.”
She highlighted the struggles of the poultry, pig and horticulture sectors, hit by labour shortages and soaring energy prices, with avian flu adding another dimension for poultry producers, while other sectors face an uncertain future as direct payments are phased out against a backdrop of huge cost inflation, with agricultural inputs having risen almost 50% since 2019.
“This was also the year that the potential impact of climate change really hit home,” she added. “The extraordinary temperatures we experienced in July topped the previous record by almost a degree and a half. While many parts of the country have experienced huge amounts of rainfall recently, impacting farming operations over autumn and winter, some counties still remain in official drought status.
“Despite all this, NFU members and the farmers and growers of Britain continued to bring in the harvest, to produce the nation’s food and to keep the country fed through tough times. We have seen progress; with the publication of the prospectus for the new Environmental Land Management Schemes; with increases to the Seasonal Agricultural Workers schemes; and in securing the establishment of the Trade and Agriculture Commission, leading to the Food and Drink Export Council and the placement of eight new agriculture attachés to sell British food overseas.”
Rhetoric versus action
However, she said it was often proving to be ‘incredibly hard’ to get government to back up its rhetoric with concrete actions.
“The time is nearly up for government to demonstrate its commitment to food and farming in our great country, not just by saying they support us, but by showing us they do. I won’t let the opposition off the hook either, I believe the rural vote will be crucial in the next election,” she said, ahead of Labour leader Sir Keir Stamer’s appearance on Tuesday.
“There are three cornerstones on which a prosperous farming sector must be built and which any government should use to underpin its farming policy. They are boosting productivity, protecting the environment and managing volatility.
“But the clock is ticking. It’s ticking for those farmers and growers facing costs of production higher than the returns they get for their produce.
“It’s ticking for the country, as inflation remains stubbornly high, and the affordability and availability of food come under strain. It’s ticking for our planet, as climate change necessitates urgent, concerted action to reduce emissions and protect our environment.
“And it’s ticking for government – to start putting meaningful, tangible and effective meat on the bones of the commitments it has made. Commitments to promote domestic food production, to properly incentivise sustainable and climate friendly farming, to put farmers and growers at the heart of our trade policy, and to guarantee our food security. It really is time to back British farmers and back British food.”