Union boss’ swipe at ‘greenwashing’ stars buying up land
THE farming union leader has criticised celebrities who buy farmland to ‘greenwash’ their jet-setter lifestyles.
Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union, told its annual conference that ‘food production is becoming the poor relation’ to prioritised nature protection schemes.
She added that there are ‘even some celebrities buying land and taking it out of production to greenwash other parts of their lifestyle’.
While Mrs Batters did not identify anyone by name, singer Ed Sheeran is one of the most high-profile celebrities buying farmland to ‘rewild’ it.
The 33-year-old spoke of his plans to plant ‘as many trees as possible’ to offset his hefty carbon footprint after years of worldwide tours and air travel. He has also said his East Suffolk estate is being turned into a giant ‘wildlife meadow’.
Other well-known individuals who champion rewilding farmland include Kate Moss – who wants to create forests on her land – and former Spice Girl Geri Horner who says she is rewilding her Oxfordshire estate and planting woodland. The NFU chief also criticised Rishi Sunak for saying farmers work ‘for the love of it’ rather than for the money.
She stressed: ‘These are businesses, they don’t do it for the love of it. Yes, they love it, otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it, but they are businesses and we need to have profitable agriculture’.
However, she said the Prime Minister has been ‘refreshingly different’ in his trade policies compared with his predecessors Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Theresa May.
She said unlike Mr Johnson, Mr Sunak had promised to never ‘import hormone treated beef and chlorine-washed chicken’ produced in the US and Canada. She also hit out at Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer who she said has ‘no trade policy’.
Mrs Batters called for a review to monitor the impact of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, which pays farmers for measures including boosting soil health, protecting waterways and preserving hedgerows.
She said: ‘We must see changes this year to redress the imbalance between environment and food production.’
‘Making up for their lifestyles’