Farming leaders urge government to champion Northamptonshire businesses and food production
Senior NFU officeholders have called on the Government to take action to value UK food security and ensure important environmental delivery by increasing the current agriculture budget.
The call comes on the 9th annual Back British Farming Day, the day the NFU and Northamptonshire farmers ask politicians, the public, retailers, food processers and manufacturers to celebrate and champion British agriculture and its importance to the UK economy.
Speaking ahead of a reception for MPs in Parliament, NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “British farmers and growers are proud to produce the raw ingredients that underpin our essential food and drink sector, the largest manufacturing sector in the UK, worth a huge £148 billion, and employing more than four million people.
“But there are huge challenges. Over the past 18 months we have seen a collapse in farmer confidence, driven by record inflation, falls in farm income and a changing climate with unprecedented weather patterns delivering relentless rain which left thousands of acres of farmland under water.
“While in opposition we heard consistently from Labour that food security is national security. The Prime Minister, speaking at NFU Conference last year, pledged that Labour “aspires to govern for every corner of our country, and will seek a new relationship with the countryside and farming communities on this basis, a relationship based on respect and on genuine partnership”.
“We now need to see those ambitions realised. We’re calling on the Government to truly value UK food security by delivering a renewed and enhanced multi-annual agriculture budget of £5.6 billion on the 30 October. This budget is essential in giving Britain’s farmers and growers the confidence they desperately need to invest for the future and deliver on our joint ambitions on producing more sustainable, affordable homegrown food while creating more jobs and delivering for nature, energy security and climate-friendly farming.
“Our farmers and growers are much loved and valued by the public who rank our job as one of the most important and well-respected professions, second only to nursing. 91% also believe farming is important to the UK economy, with 85% believing we should increase our self-sufficiency in British food.
“On this Back British Farming Day, we are at a tipping point, so we call on the Government, all MPs to also show their unstinted support. Seize this opportunity to harness the passion and the drive of British farmers and growers to ensure a thriving future - a future that is good for shoppers, good for the environment and good for a secure supply of British food.”
Joe Stanley, Leicestershire Northamptonshire and Rutland NFU chair, said it had been a tough harvest for those across all three counties, coupled with many other issues for other sectors over the past year.
“Food security needs to be a priority for the Government – which is why the work we do, including on Back British Farming Day, is so very important,” he said.
“We need robust policies in place that give famers the confidence to invest - The Government must take action to value UK food security and ensure important environmental delivery by increasing the current agriculture budget.
“We want to continue providing more of the food people love as well as looking after the countryside we are all so proud of.
“In a cost-of-living crisis, farming’s ability to grow crops and rear livestock will be critical for families across Leicestershire Northamptonshire and Rutland and beyond.”