One of the key barriers in engaging with net-zero is confusion and lack of guidance around carbon calculators. To what extent will the government engage with regulating the carbon calculators and methodology used within agriculture?
– Helen Dent
The poultry sector is at a critical point where we face numerous challenges that are impacting our businesses. Without the support of government intervention we have farmers and growers ceasing production as the stakes are just too high.
We thank the government for engaging with the sector on avian influenza, but I must emphasise that producer confidence is low. Defra have previously mentioned that they are going to underpin insurance to ensure poultry producers can continue to produce poultry meat and eggs. Can you share with us your plans and timeframes for this in order to prevent further contraction in the sector?
– James Mottershead
Farmers are price takers, seldom price makers, and in a world of large food business and retailers farmers frequently end up with poor deals. Some businesses have been exemplars in providing economically sustainable deals, but they are few. In a free market environment that government has created, what will you do to ensure a fairness in the supply chain?
– Tony Bambridge
As a trainee primary school teacher and an agricultural descendant, I would like to know what will you and the government do to get the British future, learners, throughout Britain to not only enjoy our produce and environment, but to gain a deeper rooted understanding, appreciation and involvement in learning where their food comes from, how they can be environmentally informed citizens and get involved in rural Britain. Protecting and improving the future of Britain from an early age covering all walks of life, further than just current farmers who are already focusing on these matters. Thank you.
– Miss Elizabeth Davies
As farmers we are constantly being told that biodiversity is in decline. This is not my experience- I have seen a huge increase in the abundance of wildlife in my farming career. Yet I cannot prove this statistically.. there is no nationwide agreed measure of biodiversity or accepted baseline… only ad hoc surveys organised by interest groups & charities with a point to prove. When will the UK implement a biodiversity measurement framework that records biodiversity properly and recognises that something as important as this cannot be left to anti-farming NGOs?
– Andrew Loftus
Last year the uplands alliance, include representation from ourselves worked with a group from Defra to support a piece of work called the Uplands Pathway to Success. This was an economic model which was supposed to highlight to Upland farmers what options they would have when faced with the reduction of BPS and highlight any gaps they may have to fill. This work was supposed to be published in August of last year and yet we are still waiting. We have been told that it needs ministerial sign off so please minister can I have a commitment from yourself to have this published as soon as possible to help Uplands farmers assess and business plan for what is ahead.
Following a prolonged policy development drought the release of the ELM prospectus was welcome and green shoots of optimism started to emerge. Unfortunately the use of the ‘income foregone’ upland growth regulator seems to be being used to the detriment of environmental gain by actively discriminating against upland businesses. Without fair payments for upland options both the environment and the socio economic structure of the uplands will be damaged. Can the minister assure upland farmers that a fairer approach will be used to ensure the success of ELM in the uplands?
– Robin Milton
Last summer, the government launched a food strategy which rightly recognised the growth potential for UK horticulture. Will you today commit that the promised Horticulture Strategy for England will be a progressed as a matter of urgency?
– Martin Emmett
When will this Government show British Farmers and Growers the support and most importantly passion that they deserve by visibly changing the narrative of with our customers, retailers and service sector that British Sustainable Food is the answer to #ecomomicsustainability #socialsustainability #environmentalsuatainability
– Mr Bridget Christensen
Do you support the vital need for every county to have at least one modern, energy efficient abattoir to ensure farmers can produce and provide quality livestock which can be processed from field to fork locally and sustainably? If yes, would you actively encourage all conservative MPs to support where appropriate, abattoir planning applications within their county area.
– Caroline Harriot
Please may I appeal to you as a scientist? Please will you give clear direction to your officials and those in CRD as to the approach to be taken to deliver an efficient, predictable, and proportionate regulatory regime. That’s a regime which should be risk based, not hazard based.
– Richard Hopkins
Growers need seasonal workers who can learn the role, work the season and return for at least two further growing seasons. This delivers high productivity levels which keeps food process from inflating. Please can you confirm that the visa will be extended from 6 to 9 months and that workers will be allowed to return after 3 months rather than the current 6 months?
– Ali Capper
Is ‘public money for public goods’ truly paying for the additionally of the positive public goods created, vital of the UK’s net zero targets, if funding and payment rates are calculated on an income foregone basis?
– Mr Mike Wilkins
As a mixed lowland farm the schemes of CS and SFI offer me very little in the way of opportunity or financial incentive. And certainly not enough to replace income lost from taking productive land out of rotation. However without BPS or equivalent my farm can’t survive. Yet mixed farms are vital to the journey for net zero. Why won’t the government accept that farmers need and deserve more reward than basic income forgone to continue to deliver environmental benefits?
– Clare Wise
How can you ensure land prices are not pushed any up further to a level which as a young person in the industry already feels out of reach and productive farmland remains in food production with more marginal areas used for planting?
– Amanda Watson
Considering permitting dairy & intensive beef farms is concerning. Applications alone are estimated to cost £50million. Currently around 1300 pig & poultry farms are permitted & we know this is achieving the desired outcomes. Will the SoS commit today to working with the dairy sector to developing & launching an alternative to permitting that delivers for business & environment
– Mr Paul Tompkins
Can you reassure the farmers and vets that the Animal Plant and Health Agency have the resources they need to tackle diseases such as AI whilst maintaining endemic disease control such as that for bovine TB, which is suffering due to AI. And are we investing in the resources need to ensure we identify emerging diseases especially that have zoonotic potential.
– Mrs Sarah Tomlinson
SOS, new entrant support during this parliament has been underwhelming. When planning your next manifesto will you consider investing more in the next generation of farmers to create confidence within many ambitious entrepreneurs throughout the industry?
– David Ractliffe
NFU conference
Minister. I thank you for coming to speak to us today.
I farm high up on Exmoor and have done so with my wife for 42 years. But as from last Friday when I was 68 I had handed over the day to day running of our family farm to our son and daughter-in-law.
When I read the NFU strap line. I thought it said “ feeding a challenging world”. Not a changing world. But really it’s the same difference.
Minister. We have in the auditorium the best assets we could ever want. They are all like my son and daughter-in -law.
The next generation of farmers.
Very very keen. Enthusiastic. Full of energy. Vitality and determination to make it work. Like I was 42 year ago. To feed this changing and challenging world we live in.
But for the last 6 years your government through successive ministers have let us down and our letting us down and your government if it’s not careful will deflate these young farmers ballon of tremendous energy and enthusiasm.
But Looking through all these new Agri environment schemes for us farmers in the upland not one will help these youngsters long term.
This needs to be addressed. ASAP.
Thank you.
– Mr Oliver Edwards
With an increase in flood and drought events, it is more critical than ever that growers have the ability to collect and store during wetter periods to use on farm during drier periods. Water resources management planning is essential for the sector to understand supply and demand and to secure future water resources. Will you commit to Defra financially supporting this process?
– Stephen Shields
Many parts of the horticulture sector are highly energy intensive, whether that is for heating and lighting glasshouses, or for running cold storage. Yet the sector has not been recognised in the ETII scheme from April, meaning our government support is effectively coming to an end. Alongside labour costs, energy has been the biggest driver of inflation and is directly adding to food inflation. What will you do to ensure energy intensive horticultural businesses are added to the ETII scheme and do not face another year where we have to leave glasshouses empty.
– Phil Pearson
Growers are facing unprecedented inflation in costs (23% for apple) and static or declining returns (0.8% for apple). Please can you convene a round table of supermarket retailers (with the GCA?) to press for fairness in the supply chain and to seek assurances that returns will reflect true inflationary costs?
– Ali Capper
As a poultry producer, bird welfare is my number one priority. I am seriously concerned about the proposals being looked at by the government regarding the welfare of animals during transport. Our collective goal should always be to deliver high standards of welfare but the current proposals around temperature will impact across all species and for poultry will grind the sector to a halt unnecessarily.
My question is how will you ensure any proposals imposed on the agriculture industry in regard to welfare at transport will deliver the welfare outcomes we are all striving towards?
– Matthew Donald
‘Government has promised (committed?) that the CAP budget will be returned to farmers.
Though we have seen the gradual removal of the established payments - the new schemes have been very slow to offer opportunity to fill the funding gap on farm.
It would be very useful to know, with full transparency, on how the budget released from BPS has be returned to farmers. Can you provide this please?’
– Richard Bramley
I’m an young upland farmer in a National Park. The farm has been in an agri-environment scheme for three generations and this covers the majority of my farm. I’ve looked at the SFI offer, but it only available on 10ha out of 500. I’ve looked at the ELM prospectus and can’t see how I can increase my income on land already in agreement. Will there be something additional I can access, without falling foul of double funding, to help replace my lost BPS?
– Lewis Barraclough
As we unpick the detail of the recent ELM announcement the future does not look bright for the Uplands. We spoke with Defra to understand how the new offerings sit with current schemes such as HLS & CS. Unfortunately the low and no input grassland option does not sit aside CS options which leaves few options, which mainly pay for local advisers and not supporting our businesses or helping us pay the rent. There have been on going promises for the Uplands and yet in the detail we always seem to miss out, as shown in the example or above or when moorland was excluded from the management payment. When will you have options that Upland farmers can access to allow us continue to provide the environmental work we do to make the Uplands what they are.
– Thomas Binns
With the government's recent announcement on its prospectus for Environmental Land Management broadly welcomed by the farming community, with the possible exception of the uplands. It is quite clear that government has set ambitious environmental targets, with delivery secured through up to 80% of landowners and farmers to adopt a more nature friendly farming approach to their businesses and expecting 10 to 15% of their land to be committed to nature by 2030. The sustainable farming incentive rewards farmers for the production of food in a way that has less of an impact on our environments and CS+ has the expectation to deliver wider benefits more exclusively for the environment. How does the government ensure these ambitious targets are met at the same time as maintaining its food security commitments whilst also ensuring self-sufficiency is kept at its current levels?