United Kingdom: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak assured farmers at the National Farmers Union (NFU) conference that he would “change the culture” of government around agriculture. Sunak was the first PM to address the NFU conference since Gordon Brown in 2008, taking three Defra ministers with him to put the Conservative case to farmers.
The PM is earmarked to enhance food security in the UK and spoke of concern about low self-sufficiency in “things like tomatoes, pears, plums, lettuces and apples.” Sunak also told that he had “once milked a cow.” He asked two questions from the audience. In response to Hannah, a farmer from Hertfordshire, he admitted that allowing farmers to trade with the EU was a “work in progress.”
Sunak has stated that, “We are working very hard with individual countries to ease all those areas in which there are differences. I’ll be totally honest, it’s a work in progress.” Farmers have criticized trade deals that undermine their businesses, including a free trade agreement with Australia and the potential import of Canadian pork and Mexican beef.
“We are absolutely committed to supporting you and making sure that you are not undercut,” Sunak responded. He condoled those who lost thousands of acres of crops in the recent floods. “It’s always devastating when that happens,” he said.
A recent poll from the Country Land and Business Association found a large shift to Labor in rural areas, with the party’s share of the vote rising to 37 percent, up 17 points on the 2019 general election result, while the Conservatives’ share fell by 25 points to 34 percent.
The poll found that more respondents believe Labor understands and respects rural communities than the Conservatives (28 percent vs 25 percent). Labor and the Liberal Democrats are winning more than half of the rural seats from the Conservatives, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, Jeremy Hunt, and Therese Coffey.
In her last speech as president of the NFU, Minette Batters emphasized that the farming vote is still in play. It is her request that Brexit-related labour problems be resolved.
“Which party will introduce a minimum five-year seasonal workers scheme and recognise that we need more people if we’re to continue providing the raw ingredients for the country’s largest manufacturing sector? Which party will formally commit to sourcing more food from British farms? For our schools, hospitals, our military?” Batters asked. In addition, she urged the importation of UK-mandated animal welfare standards.
Batters indicated to protests in Wales, where they blocked roads with their tractors over plans to force farmers to plant 10 percent of their land with trees. She said that, “I have watched and listened as the Welsh government try and deny our members and their children the farming futures they had planned.”
Farms that are being rewilded were criticized by her. “Some celebrities are buying land and taking it out of production to greenwash other parts of their lifestyle. We must see changes this year to redress the imbalance between environment and food production in government policy before many more farms just simply disappear,” she added.
She also called lab-grown meat an “ill-informed utopia.” Sunak completed his speech by saying that agriculture is “a very special part of our country” and that he knows farmers “don’t do it for the money.”
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