Glimmer of hope for our tenant farmers

HRIS Cardell, NFU Tenant Forum chair, considers Secretary of State Michael Gove’s speech at the Oxford Farming Conference.

What do the Secretary of State’s announcements mean for tenant farmers?

Only time will tell the real impact when the fine detail is released but there are some clear pointers within Mr Gove’s speech that we can consider in terms of how they will improve or inhibit our sector.

It is very reassuring to hear Mr Gove discuss some of the topics that were discussed by ourselves and fellow stakeholders within the recent TRIG (Tenancy Reform Industry Group) work streams that were presented in the late autumn to Defra Minister George Eustice.

These included the difficult balance of people leaving the industry against the introduction of the next generation onto the farming ladder.

It was good to hear a special mention for exits, entrants and training.

We will be following these points up with the ministers to support the submissions from the TRIG group on these and other important leads.

Clearly the speech included some more detail on the Government’s drive towards environmental measures.

This is an area on which we continually challenge ministers due to how complicated the delivery of such measures can be for tenants and other types of land occupation.

Any future schemes will only gain the best delivery if tenanted, contract and share farming businesses are included but as we all know this presents additional complications around length or type of contracts.

I have recently attended meetings with other Defra representatives on this subject and they assure us opportunities will be available to all, but we will be observing the small detail on how this is to be achieved.

The announcement that support will continue through and beyond the transition period will be welcomed by both tenants and landlords.

To encourage landlords to continue bringing land to the marketplace on longer-term agreements we really do need as much long-term security as is possible, and tenants can now look at entering into new agreements with some level of security.

The big unknown for all of us at this stage is still what the tariffs and trading arrangements will be after we leave the European Union.

Any trading tenant farming business knows how crucial it is to maintain a positive cashflow, so I’m sure we will all be following these negotiations with interest.

Any long-term insecurity around these negotiations could have a very negative effect on the level of rents future tenants are prepared or indeed able to bid.

I am convinced the tenanted sector has a very strong part to play postBrexit.

Tenants, despite often being light on business assets, must look at ways in which they can positively contribute to the goal of improved productivity in order to preserve the sector for the huge opportunities it can, and will, provide for the entrepreneurs of the future.

So, as the NFU Tenant Forum, we have a great deal of work ahead of us but this speech gives us a few glimmers of hope that some things are going in the right direction.