Andrew Critchlow
Derbyshire NFU county adviser
FARMING is entering the biggest change in the way it is supported financially and the rules in which it operates. It is five and half years since the Brexit referendum but we still have little clarity on how future support for agriculture and the environment will work.
Agriculture is being expected to operate in a more liberalised trade environment. The Australia deal means after 15 years there will be no quotas or tariffs on any imports of agricultural goods. That includes no real protection on their standards, while we see increasing regulation on ours in the UK.
Now is not the time to be asking for greater public financial support, given the massive expenditure on Covid measures. However, to start the proposed salami slicing of the current budget is not wise either, when our food security has been shown to vulnerable during the pandemic.
The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has a total budget of £2.8bn. It covers much more than agricultural support and indeed farmers are biggest providers of environmental works in the countryside.
The overseas aid budget is around £10bn, the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s is £2.2bn. My biggest hope for 2022 is that everyone, including politicians start valuing food much more highly and that it isn’t taken for granted and policies support the production of food in the UK.
Self-sufficiency here has dropped from 80% in the 1980s to nearly 60% now. That mustn’t be allowed to fall further.
During Covid, British consumers have proved to be brilliant at backing British food and that has helped push up prices received by farmers for beef and lamb. For that to continue we all need to ask when eating out ‘where has this come from?’
Food poverty is an issue for too many people but the UK has one of the cheapest food baskets in the world.
I also wish for an end to the vilification of livestock, and blaming them for climate change. A balanced diet and balanced agriculture are part of the solution.