On Sunday, Labour’s shadow environment secretary announced a series of food and farming policy commitments.

Shadow secretary Rachel Maskell pledged to end the badger cull and reverse biodiversity losses. She also promised that a Labour government would work towards a circular economy - “reducing our consumption, recycling and generating energy from our waste, not turning it over to landfill” - and develop a “Food framework” to reduce food waste, improve education and diet and boost jobs in food production.

The food framework bears similarities to the ‘Long Term Food Plan’ promised by former shadow farm minister Huw Irranca-Davies ahead of last year’s general election. Irranca-Davies pledged to integrate farming into a long-term industrial and social strategy that would work across departmental boundaries to deliver policies to benefit public health, the environment and food producers. Like Maskell in her speech at the Labour Party Conference over the weekend, Irranca-Davies’ strategy aimed to boost job numbers in farming, and improve work conditions.

In her speech in Liverpool, Maskell also said Labour would expand the remit of the Grocery Code Adjudicator to offer protections throughout the supply chain and introduce an Agricultural Sector Council, replacing the Agricultural Wages Board which was scrapped by the Lib Dem-Conservative coalition government. She promised to protect the movement of workers between EU and UK and attempt to retain access to the single European market, in response to concerns aired by agricultural employers.  

Reacting to the announcements, NFU director of policy Andrew Clark said on Wednesday, “It is right that the Labour party recognises that these are uncertain times for farming in the UK – and we are pleased that it is looking to be informed by the NFU’s historic post-Brexit consultation.”

The union is still carrying out a major consultation of its membership, which will then inform the NFU’s board chairs and officeholder team, who will draw up plans for future domestic farm policy.

The NFU policy director reiterated the statement made by union president Meurig Raymond at a Lib Dem Party Conference fringe event last week that the NFU will work across political parties to reshape farm policy and, Mr Clark said, “its relationship with society, as well as working towards a competitive, profitable and progressive future for our industry.” However, he added, “The importance of food production must be talked about alongside the environment as a legitimate political goal and public good.”

Speaking to Farming Online on Wednesday, City University, London professor of food policy Tim Lang said, “This speech is interesting for what it both says and doesn't say. What it says suggests more holistic thinking, connecting different elements of the food chain - farms, fishing, land and consumption.”

Prof Lang, who has advised both previous UK government’s and UN food agencies, added, “It’s aspirational rather than full of detail. But its greatest import is that it puts a red line between Labour and the [incumbent] Government. The Government had spent months on the 25 year Food Plan, now junked and, we hear, to be replaced by a new policy document centering on increasing exports. If Labour really does champion a more rounded policy approach - edging towards Defra's excellent 'Food 2030' [strategy from 2010] wrongly junked by the Coalition - this is a sign of rationality returning.

“Good news for democracy and UK food sectors at this sorry time of pre-Brexit drift. Will the Shadow Minister now put flesh on the bones as a shape for future UK food?"