Nothing done to remedy this unfairness

THE 20th anniversary of the massive foot-and-mouth outbreak which brought sections of our industry to their knees is hardly a matter for celebration, more for reflection on how the world of livestock farming has changed as a result.

But as I was leafing through some old articles one name swam into focus – that of Nick Brown, the agriculture minister on whose plate the whole sorry foot-and-mouth mess landed.

For those of you too young to remember the events of 2001, I should perhaps explain that in those days we had a Ministry of Agriculture whose purpose was to support and protect British farmers while doing what it could to fine-tune EU policies to their benefit.

After foot-and-mouth it was decided that the model of a standalone agriculture ministry was outmoded – despite the fact that it functioned well in every single one of our trading partners – and that farming should be lumped in with the environment and rural affairs in general in one great big monolithic department. Where farming’s importance was measured by its contribution to GDP. Which wasn’t a lot statistically, even though the purpose of the farming industry was to keep the nation fed.

Which, in other words, was the point where the rot really set in.

Anyway I got on well with Nick Brown and had a number of meetideas ings with him, one of the topics we discussed particularly being the need for reforms in the tenanted sector: the development of mechanisms to allow outgoing tenants to move into retirement with dignity and some capital and to give younger incomers some degree of stability to help them become established.

Nick seemed impressed by my on the subject and asked me to produce some proposals, which I duly submitted. Then came the hiatus of foot-and-mouth, the scrapping of the Ministry of Agriculture of blessed memory and the creation of a department through which the anti-farmer sentiment ran like the lettering through a stick of rock.

The result: nothing has been done, despite repeated requests, to review and reform the tenanted sector.

Nothing has been done to prevent landlords ruthlessly targeting retiring tenants for dilapidations to the extent that they are lucky if they walk away with enough money in their pocket to buy a tent. Nothing has been done to offer stability to young incoming tenants, so that they can no longer be hoofed out after five years if buoyant prices mean it suits the landlord to farm the land himself. Nothing has been done to stop the unfair advantage enjoyed by children of wealthy farmers who are essentially acting as proxies as they take over tenancies merely to add to their parents’ existing businesses – a situation which allows them to outbid others because the rental costs can be spread across the entire amalgamated holding.

Nothing has been done because it requires a government to implement policies to remedy such unfairness and this government has no interest in involving itself in any of the fundamental reforms so many sections of our industry so obviously need.

Nothing has been done, despite repeated requests, to review and reform the tenanted sector