The future is nigh
FOOD is Britain’s biggest production industry, contributing £113 billion a year to our economy, but it’s not getting enough attention, according to NFU president Minette Batters, who said at last week’s Oxford Farming Conference that the media relegates it to ‘weekend supplements’ rather than mainstream coverage (Agromenes, page 27).
More than ‘warm words’ are needed from the Government and she suggested that protection against cheap food imports post-brexit should be enshrined within the forthcoming Agriculture Bill. ‘We don’t want anyone lying down in front of a bus, we want it in writing,’ she said. ‘If we don’t get this right, we’re finished.’
Defra Secretary Michael Gove’s warnings of the ‘considerable turbulence’ caused by a no-deal Brexit will have done little to steady nerves, but he assured delegates that his department had secured ‘greater [financial] commitment from the Treasury than for other areas’ and that the £3.2 billion committed to the rural economy was safe. ‘We need to impress on other areas of Government that food is our biggest industry and to maximise public support [for farming].’
The environmental lobby has been equally pressing about what support it will receive after Britain leaves the CAP. Sir Charles Burrell, whose talk on the rewilding of his Knepp Castle estate in West Sussex visibly provoked interest, was upfront about the financial benefits to a large landholding— £190,000 a year in Basic Farm Payments and £200,000 in environmental stewardship: ‘We think we know what will happen, that it will disappear.’
In contrast to previous years, there seemed to be more acceptance among delegates that we should eat less, but better quality meat. ‘Everything in moderation,’ said The Princess Royal in her summing up. ‘Are we going to
revert to rewilding and, if so, does that fit with demands for nutrition?’ she asked. ‘I am struck that we need to be more precise with what and where we farm, so that we can be more efficient about what land we leave wild.’ KG
Bad news for lovers of jam and crumble: scientists say blackcurrants will find it more difficult to thrive in Britain as winters become milder; the crop is worth some £10 million a year. ‘Blackcurrants are like the canary in the mine,’ explains Dr Katharine Preedy of the James Hutton Institute in Dundee. ‘If we can understand what they need in a changing climate, we can apply our knowledge to similar crops, such as blueberries, cherries, apples and plums’