The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
No respect for farmers
It is interesting to see how the government has treated what has been considered its core support… the rural community.
The Department for International Trade admits the much-vaunted trade deals with Australia and New Zealand will damage UK farming, and says it is “expected to contract”.
Lord Deben, chair of the independent Climate Change Committee, called the New Zealand deal a “disgrace”, adding: “It is completely at odds with everything the Government has promised to do to
safeguard our farmers and protect consumers.”
The NFU states that the deal with Australia “will jeopardise our farming industry and could cause the demise of many beef and sheep farms throughout the UK”.
The new immigration policy and chaotic visa system for seasonal workers have created massive problems leading to tonnes of crops being left rotting in the fields and also caused the culling of over 35,000 pigs.
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Select Committee recently reported “labour shortages in the food and farming sector” and was unsparing in its criticism regarding the incompetence of the Government.
The Countryside and Community Research Institute has recently completed a study of the phasing out of the Common Agriculture Policy Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and the “uncertain start” of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI).
The study paints an alarming picture with more than £800m being wiped out over the next five years from farm businesses in one region alone (the South West).
It anticipates that the current rates of SFI will bring around 10 to 30 per cent of the amount of former BPS payment to farmers and land managers.
Chris Short, lead researcher at the CCRI, said: “The funding is disappearing, just as living and business costs are rising sharply across the country.”
The report warns that there will be a “significant knock-on” effect for jobs and businesses in the rural economy.
The Government committed in its 2019 manifesto to maintain the level of spending on farming. This has been proved to be untrue.
One can only conclude that the Conservative Party has treated farmers and the rural community with contempt; a contempt borne out of damaging ideology, incompetence and
‘It’s at odds with promises to safeguard farmers’
disregard.