The farming industry has a “fantastic opportunity” to build a brand new agricultural policy that works for Britain, farming minister George Eustice said at a conference yesterday (Wed November 9) as he pledged to improve upon the “hopeless bureaucracy” imposed by the EU.

Mr Eustice told the Northern Farming Conference that farming regulations in a post-Brexit Britain needed to be sharper, less bureaucratic and rooted in good ideas and common sense.

More than 200 conference delegates at Hexham Auction Mart were urged by speakers to pull together and “work as one” to build a better farming policy for Britain and embrace the opportunities offered by Brexit. Farmers were told to lobby MPs to ensure agriculture remained at the top of the agenda, focus on creating a collective British brand and “make British agriculture great again”.

The MP reassured a delegate who made an impassioned plea for change – Durham arable and beef farmer Bill Chrystal said, “Let farmers farm; we are tired of people who should know better stopping us from farming” – and, discussing the possibility of a support framework subject to regional variations, said Britain now needed the “ability and agility” to decide what works and act upon it. “The EU got it wrong because it attempted to codify every single feature of the landscape and every single thing a farmer does with his land, which made it hopelessly bureaucratic. The weakness of the EU schemes is that if they get it wrong it takes seven years to sort it out. We need to be much sharper.”

Mr Eustice added: “The question is how best we can support agriculture. If we want good policy it needs to be rooted in good ideas. We need to remove the blinkers of EU membership and work together to build a policy that a decade from now the world will want to emulate. I am confident we can do that.

“I think this is a fantastic opportunity for our industry going forwards. It is the chance of a lifetime and I am looking forward to building a brand new agricultural policy that works for us.”

Sir Peter Kendall, Chair of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and former NFU President, said: “I want to build a future for our rural community, a future that works. We have to make the challenges and opportunities presented by Brexit work for us. I would stake my farm on the fact there is not going to be more money. We need to plan for less support and more competition.

Sir Peter emphasized: “Trade is fundamental to our future. It is a massively important issue and we must make sure the government is listening to us every step of the way. Brexit is not just about the city of London.”

He urged farmers to use the time before Brexit to really consider the threats and opportunities ahead. “Think about your farm business very carefully See where you sit among your peers, and your global competitors. Make plans. Go to your MP’s surgery and talk to them; make sure that farming is at the front of their minds. It is vital we get this right.”

Northumberland potato farmer Anthony Carroll told farmers not to panic about the future but said they needed “courage, commitment and self-belief”. “Are you going to come in the farm door or are you just going to hover at the entrance? We have to change. We have to listen to what the market wants but if we can pull together we can make UK agriculture great again.”

The conference did not solely revolve around Brexit. Discussing the importance of succession planning and a timely handover, CLA President Ross Murray said: “The serious point is that ownership and, in particular, farming is hard work and needs energy and progressive ideas, and the secret is, if at all possible within family businesses, to hand on earlier rather than later, with plenty of warning, training and management of expectations.

“What we all should recognise is that change is a constant. It is to be welcomed and embraced, not run away from. That route spells disaster. Farming as an industry has a queue of bright and hungry youngsters wanting to kick on, frustrated by the lack of opportunity. There are plenty of bed blockers and we all know who we are. Retirement is never an easy subject for a proud community of farmers, and somehow it must happen.”

The conference was also addressed by agricultural economist Professor David Harvey; David Blacker, AHDB Monitor Farmer for York; Cumbrian dairy farmer Robert Craig; James Thornton, Wagyu beef producer and managing director of pullet rearing business Wot-an-Egg and Wot-a-Pullet.

Chairman and Strutt & Parker farm business consultant Robert Sullivan said: “What is remarkable about some of the stories we have heard is the success that can and does lie in farming. At a time when many farms are unprofitable without farm payment support it is clear that there are some trailblazing farmers who are demonstrating that agriculture can be profitable without subsidy. They are a huge inspiration.”

In summary, co-chairman Andrew Robinson, partner at Armstrong Watson, said: “Brexit has created a huge amount of uncertainty and I can’t deny there will be challenges ahead but if we pull together we can help each other navigate our way through it.

“It now feels more like there is a light at the end of the tunnel – rather than facing a train coming the other way.”