Western Morning News (Saturday)
Farmers call on Chancellor to support UK food
FARMERS’ leaders are calling for greater support for domestic food production in the Chancellor’s Spring Budget, next week.
In a letter to the Chancellor, the National Farmers’ Union has called for greater support for domestic food production as energy, fuel and other production costs continue to soar.
The letter, sent by South West beef and arable farmer and NFU President Minette Batters, calls for an extention of the the Energy and Trade Intensive Industries (ETII) scheme to include energy intensive sectors such as horticultural and poultry production.
It also called for an extension to the current reduced rates of fuel duty, including for red diesel, and for improved support for capital investment, which would help alleviate costs for farm businesses and drive crucial investment to enhance productivity.
Speaking ahead of the Budget, Mrs Batters, who farms in Wiltshire, said: “At an NFU reception in Westminster in December, the Chancellor recognised the ongoing challenges of producing food in Britain, and we are now seeing the impact of these challenges play out through contraction across all sectors.
“If the government is to halt food price inflation and help prevent further food shortages, greater support and confidence is needed for the thousands of farm businesses which are trying, but struggling, to feed our nation.
“It seems irresponsible that the ETII scheme completely overlooks primary food production, not to mention it being wholly at odds with the government’s own ambition to produce more home-grown fruit and vegetables.
“An urgent review into the ETII is needed to ensure that essential and vulnerable food producing sectors, such as protected horticulture and poultry production, do not face a cliff edge when the Energy Bill Relief Scheme ends later this month.
“Improving support for capital investment and extending the reduced fuel duty rates would also give farmers and growers across all sectors greater confidence, especially as the cost of red diesel remains almost 40% higher than it was last April.”
The call from the NFU comes as Britain’s supermarkets continue to struggle with stocks of fresh salad vegetables, including tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. While some stores were relaxing restrictions on the sale of certain fresh produce this weekend, shoppers have faced up to four weeks of shortages.
Bad weather in Spain and Morocco were largely blamed for the shortages, along with delivery hold-ups, partly as a result of Brexit.
But farmers’ leaders said the problems highlighted the need to boost food security in Britain and dramatically improve self-sufficiency by supporting farmers, particularly in the horticulture sector.
They point out that energy can typically be half the cost of production of fresh salad products and warn that British tomato and cucumber production is expected to fall to the lowest levels since current data recording began in 1985.
Sweet pepper production has been a growth area for the UK over the last 25 years, up by 175%, but the NFU fears much of this growth is now at risk due to rising costs hitting viability.
The poultry sector is also suffering as a result of high energy costs.
NFU analysis shows that, typically, a poultry producer spends 2p per bird on energy, which has gone up to around 10p per bird thanks to rising energy costs. It means that farmers’ margins per chicken, typically less than 7p per bird, have been wiped out.
As a result, less than 38 million chickens are currently in the laying flock at the moment – down 13% on 2019 – and that is before any allowance is made for the impact of Avian Influenza.
Poultry farmers say cost inflation – especially of feed – has dwarfed any price increases to date – forcing producers to reduce capacity.