DEFRA Secretary of State Steve Reed addressed just over 100 members of the Farmers Club last month. He was brave, as frankly, it was an evening that many thought might not happen.
With the extensive campaigning around the proposed inheritance tax changes, he was never going to have an easy time, though we perhaps need to have some sympathy as, apparently, he didn’t know about the proposal until the evening before the announcement, as blindsided as the industry he now has in his portfolio.
He began by expressing gratitude for the warm welcome, stating it was the first time he had been to the Farmers Club. He also said that he was looking forward to the question-and-answer session to come! He emphasised how important it was to recognise the expertise and experience represented in the room, reiterated how important the sector was to the UK, our significant role in the health of the nation and our role in caring for the green environment.
Steve talked about his recent appearance at the Oxford Farming Conference, where he shared his vision for the future of farming, highlighting the significant changes in the farming sector, citing our exit from the European Union and the transition from Basic Payments to the Environmental Land Management scheme. He acknowledged the difficulties faced by farmers such as volatile input costs, tight margins, supply chain imbalances, skilled worker shortages, excessive paperwork and extreme weather conditions.
Part of his Oxford Farming Conference speech had been the announcement of a farming roadmap aimed at making farming and food production sustainable and profitable. The roadmap will focus on three main strands: food production, income diversification and restoring nature.
The importance of restoring nature for sustainable food production was highlighted, with significant investments planned to help farmers transition to nature-friendly farming methods. This generated some comment from the room as the Secretary of State strayed out of his comfort zone and tried to talk about yields in relation to organic systems vs contemporary production methods.
He said the Government was committed to using its purchasing power to support British produce and ensure fair trade opportunities. It also plans to introduce new rules for various sectors to ensure fairness and support innovation. He highlighted examples of technology and innovation in the sector, such as transparent solar panels on soft fruit polytunnels and precision breeding technology, aspects of UK excellence that are delivering real change and benefit to an international market with its roots in the UK.
Steve also touched on the Government’s investment in flood defences and reviewing existing regulations to help farmers deal with severe weather conditions and environmental challenges. The flood defences statement generating a lot of grumbling around the room about lack of dredging and decades of neglect of public waterways leading to loss of land and a significant issue to rectify now.
He moved onto the plans to introduce reforms to support farmers in diversifying their income and building business resilience. This includes planning reforms to make it easier for farmers to build necessary infrastructure and repurpose redundant buildings to deliver income opportunities and encourage business opportunities in rural areas.
And inheritance tax? Well clearly this wasn’t going to go well. We must accept that this was landed on him; he is in a difficult situation where the party line doesn’t land well when you have other policy elements of real benefit proposed that your directorate is trying to deliver in parallel.
More progress is being made on a national food strategy that talks more than in recent years about farming and its role in delivering food security than in recent years, with farming’s place in the nation’s diet and overseas trade aspirations getting greater prominence with its pivotal position within the circular economy strategy led by Emma Bourne. There is a lot happening and much that the farming sector can influence.
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