Government needs to smooth the path to a new way of farming

IT’S not what anyone would have wanted, but coronavirus has given us all a taste of some of the ways we may have to change things in Britain as Brexit and efforts to reduce carbon emissions to curb climate change start to impinge on our daily lives.

Even before this week’s effective blockade of the ports linking the UK with mainland Europe, hiccups in deliveries across the Channel were being widely predicted, whatever trade deal Britain is able to do with the EU.

And the very welcome migrant workforce that floods into Britain year in and year out to help with the harvest of fruit, vegetables and flowers had already dried to a trickle, even before new arrangements come into force which could stem the flow still further.

Add in potential pressures in the future as Britain and other nations seek to reduce transport costs connected with carbon-emitting planes and lorries, there is likely to be growing pressure to consume more at home and import less from abroad.

That is not all bad news, of course. Farmers in the UK will broadly welcome measures that could give them access to markets at the moment served by producers overseas if they are able to produce the self-same goods here in Britain.

But as the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee of the House of Commons pointed out yesterday, adapting to the new conditions is going to take time. Gearing up British farming to meet more of the nation’s needs cannot happen overnight and the Government needs a long-term plan to allow for the necessary changes to give us greater self-sufficiency.

In the meantime, measures must be put in place to minimise disruption, both to deliveries via the ferries and the Channel Tunnel and to reduce potential shortfalls in the number of migrant labourers needed to get the crops safely gathered in.

We have got used, over many years, to being able to source fresh food throughout the year from all over the world. That’s not going to change overnight. But with technology and the utilisation of the effects of global warming, we ought to be able to meet more of our own needs here in Britain, as time goes on.

The last thing British farmers and British consumers need is a countryside that farmers manage as parkland while our food is produced offshore, to standards of health and welfare that would not be permitted if they were practised here at home.

There are likely to be costs to this new way of feeding ourselves, including bigger bills at the supermarket check-out. That may be a hard sell for a future government, but a reset in food prices that better matches the cost of production to what the consumer pays in the shops is long overdue. And rising costs could be offset if the share going back to the primary producer rises while profits for wholesalers and retailers are curbed.

We are standing on the cusp of major changes in the way land is managed, trade conducted and food produced. Fortunately, we have the innovative farmers who can make it work – so long as support from the politicians is forthcoming.