UK can’t keep relying on other countries for food - Farm leaders lay down demands to Government at Birmingham conference
The Government must support farmers with high energy costs and invest in managing rivers and water to make the food system “resilient”, a farming leader is urging.
National Farmers’ Union (NFU) leader Tom Bradshaw is also warning farmers cannot have “the goalposts constantly moving” if they are going to deliver environmental benefits in the countryside, as they await more details of reforms to the flagship sustainable farming initiative (SFI).
At the NFU’s annual conference in Birmingham on Tuesday, Mr Bradshaw will say that a failure to build resilience in farming threatens domestic food production and therefore food security, national security and economic growth.
Farmers attending the conference will also hear from Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds, as the Government tries to reset its relationship with the sector after a partial U-turn on inheritance tax levied on farming businesses and as it aims to restart the SFI programme abruptly halted a year ago.
In his speech, Mr Bradshaw is expected to point to planning reforms that have made it easier for farmers to secure approvals for new agricultural buildings and say it is “exactly the sort of intent” needed in other areas such as Labour’s pledge for half of public sector food to be locally sourced.
And he will warn: “Hundreds of millions of pounds of inflation are coming to a retail shelf near you, all because of changes to energy standing charges this spring.
“Government must recognise the energy intensity of farming and growing businesses, by giving the same support it is to other industries like cement and steel.”
Mr Bradshaw is also expected to say: “Our ability to feed a growing population relies on access to a secure supply of water.
“We must recognise our river network as part of our critical national infrastructure and invest in its long-term management and maintenance.”
He is also expected to flag ongoing uncertainty over the SFI, the biggest strand of the environmental land management scheme (Elms) which has replaced EU-era agricultural subsidies, and which closed last year as the money had all been spent, with reforms still being hammered out for this year.
“Farmers are the original environmentalists, but they cannot have the goalposts constantly moving if they are to keep delivering for the environment and be profitable, resilient businesses,” Mr Bradshaw will say.
“If we get this right, Britain’s farmers will invest in the on-farm infrastructure needed to deliver a resilient food system for 70 million consumers. That investment will boost food production and drive domestic growth at a local, rural level.”
The UK cannot keep relying on other countries to produce its food
He will warn that the UK cannot keep relying on other countries to produce its food, highlighting that production of staples such as wheat, beef, poultry meat and vegetables had all fallen.
“The years of UK food production contracting must end now,” Mr Bradshaw will urge.
“Building farming’s resilience is crucial because if we don’t, our ability to produce food here, and therefore our food security, our national security, and our economic growth, will be under threat.”
“How we get there is a clear Government ambition for homegrown food production, just as we have for other sectors,” with a food strategy that sets clear ambitions, sector by sector, he will urge.