Farmers need certainty if they are to face a confident future

THE chaos in government has created a number of casualties. One of the less well-reported is the failure of the Agriculture Bill, touted as the blueprint by which British farming would operate outside of the European Union. The Bill has fallen foul of the change at the top in Defra and the plan to introduce a new Queen’s Speech next month, with a new programme of legislation.

If, as the Government continues to pledge, the UK does indeed leave the EU – potentially with no deal – on October 31 the future of support payments for farmers looks extremely uncertain. As Westcountry farmer and NFU president Minette Batters tells today’s Western Morning News: “With the fall of the Agriculture Bill, there is no guarantee at all that the legislation will be in place to enable the government to begin its planned transition to a new farm support system in 2021. It is totally unreasonable to keep farmers in a state of uncertainty about what system might be in place from 2021.”

It is worth remembering that farm support is not feather-bedding to boost the income of already wellrewarded farmers. It is money that has been seen as vital for decades to flatten out the peaks and troughs in farm incomes – caused by market volatility and uncertain weather – to ensure the people of Europe always have a working agricultural sector to produce their food.

In the Agriculture Bill, brought forward by Michael Gove when he was the Secretary of State at Defra, a new system of payments, with a greater emphasis on farmers delivering

‘public goods’ was proposed. That may still form part of a new bill, likely to be part of the Queen’s Speech on October 14. But vital time has been lost and there is, as Ms Batters warns, every likelihood of a delay in implementation.

Some farmers may view their support payments as the icing on the cake of an already good income. For the so-called barley barons of eastern England and some of Britain’s biggest and wealthiest landowners, the current system of payments, under the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy, was difficult to justify. But here in the Westcountry, where many farmers operate much closer to the breadline and where support payments help to keep them in business, maintain much of the fabric of rural life and – crucially – ensure we can all eat local food and drink, they are essential.

Those payments also allow farmers to plan ahead with some certainty – never easy in an industry subject to so many variables and all but impossible without support cash. It is essential that the Government at the very least reassures farmers that plans to phase out the old system of payments with nothing to replace it, is put on hold.

There is nothing farmers would like more than to be free from the shackles of support payments. But rewards for delivering the clean water, healthy soils, biodiversity and countryside access that the public wants, has to be paid for – especially if ministers want to hold down the price of food. Some certainty about rural support is needed, so farmers can face the future with confidence.