The whole world should want to buy British

My mission is to prove the relevance of the UK farming industry to the country and its people

Farming is changing. In all the talk of technology reshaping society, some might have assumed that farming would have been left untouched by this rapid pace of change. But there has been revolution and evolution in the fields of Britain. An agricultural revolution, with the introduction of new productivityenhancing technologies, and a food evolution, with a relentless drive for high standards.

I am immensely proud to have been elected to lead the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) and an industry that is so important to this country. I do so at a time of enormous significance and change, which will be felt in our fields and farms more keenly than in perhaps any other sector.

While farmers up and down Britain know how much we have evolved, one of my first jobs needs to be to reconnect us with the British public, to demonstrate how far we have come, and to showcase what we provide Britain.

We know that the British public expects high welfare, traceable and affordable food. We want to keep delivering those things. We see them as a public good – as important as anything that society can provide. But we farmers must do more to show how our standards are delivering for Britain, and how we are prepared to adapt to the country’s needs in the future.

As farmers, we have much to offer and the potential to do much more. I want Britain to be the food producer of choice for every British citizen, no matter who they are, where they live or how much they earn. More than that, I want British people to want to shout loudly and with pride about the food we, as an island nation, produce.

On Monday, I will be giving a speech in the capital that will set out this vision. This is my first official act as President and I am doing it in the heart of London – far away from the comfort of a farm – because I need the Government to hear what we say on the most defining issue of our time: Brexit.

Brexit will succeed only if we work together to make it a success. So we need to look for the positive outcomes we can all make happen.

Leaving the EU provides us, as farmers, with a real opportunity to deliver more to Britain and to demonstrate what we offer and the contribution we make – to the economy and to the health of the British people. But in a post-brexit Britain, we also have a chance to celebrate our high standards and our quality food across the world. I want to drive global recognition that British produce is, quite simply, some of the best-quality food in the world today.

I want to help the Government to take that message to potential new markets and to demonstrate that, when the world buys British, they know they are getting quality food produced safely to high standards from farmers who care for the environment.

We must not turn our back on the EU and its 450 million potential customers. But when Britain’s government is looking at opening new markets I want to be there, representing British farmers and our story of food production, which should be the envy of the world.

I am determined to seize this moment to ensure that Britain’s food industry capitalises on the opportunities and deals with the challenges of Brexit. We can, and will, be stronger than we have ever been.

A lot has been made of me being the first woman to lead the NFU – the country’s biggest farming organisation. But I know, just as every farmer knows, that women have played a shared role in farming’s story for millennia. I hope that we will get to a time when the fact that a woman is leading a farming organisation stops being a news story about women, and starts being a story about the success that is the British food and farming industry. That is my mission, and I want to seize every chance to showcase and celebrate the work of British farmers and the food we produce.

We need to demonstrate our relevance to Britain. While the town may have come to the countryside, it’s now time for the countryside to come to town, and for British food to come to the world.

Minette Batters is the president of the National Farmers’ Union