Minette Batters,NFU

“It is vital that in the future British farmers can continue to meet the food needs of a growing population. A future agricultural policy that ignores food production will be damaging for farmers and the public alike. The public demand and deserve safe, high-quality, traceable affordable food, whatever their income. And moreover they want British farms to supply that food.

“Farmers across the UK will be very concerned that the Bill provides only a short term commitment to improve their competitiveness; we cannot future-proof farming businesses based on the ‘time-limited’ initiatives outlined in this announcement.

“Along with other farmers I will also be looking to the Bill to set out means to address the clear market failure in food chain that means farmers are not rewarded fairly for the risk and investment they make . British farmers will need to compete with farmers all over the world, nearly all of whom are supported financially to produce food. If British farmers are to underpin the nation’s food security, then they will need the right financial and policy framework to do so in a competitive and volatile global marketplace.

“We will look closely at the Government’s proposals for a seven year transition period, during which direct payments will be phased-out, to ensure we’re satisfied that this will be sufficient. In particular, the Bill must provide Government with the powers to pause the process if it is proving unmanageable for farmers, and if our domestic food supply and food security are under threat”.

CLA President Tim Breitmeyer:

“The development of a new post-Brexit UK agriculture policy is a seminal moment for the future of our countryside.

“We fully support the Government’s ambition for a future where farming and food production go hand in hand with a healthy environment.

“The CLA has long promoted a contractual model for the delivery of public goods, as an alternative to direct payments, through our Land Management Contract. This should provide clear objectives and obligations for both the Government and the land manager. We are pleased the Government has recognised the full range of public benefits that farmers and land managers can deliver and that they will be rewarded for work such as reducing flood risk, enhancing soil health and air quality and improving access to the countryside.

“The Government has provided some certainty on transition. This is crucial for businesses to enable them to start planning for the future. Seven years should be sufficient for this.

“Initial proposals to cap payments for larger farm businesses would have had a catastrophic effect. Proposals to reduce payments in manageable increments, spread across the farming industry, will enable businesses to avoid the risk of rapid change with no time to prepare. The Government must now ensure that further cuts align with the introduction of the new environmental land management contracts to avoid any cliff edges for farm businesses.

“Recognition that the Government will bring forward support for investments such as new technologies and collaboration to boost productivity is welcome but further details are now required on how this will be made available.

“We are pleased the Government has recognised the need for a UK-wide framework for post-Brexit agricultural and environmental policy and that Westminster and the Welsh Government are committed to working together to achieve this. We will be pressing for an agreement as soon as possible.”

NPA chief executive Zoe Davies:

“The Bill, based around the principle of public money for public goods, clearly contains opportunities for the pig sector.

“This includes, potentially, support for our continuing drive to improve health and welfare on pig farms and for investment in buildings, equipment and technology to help boost productivity and deliver better environmental outcomes, alongside these high health and welfare standards. Funding to encourage new entrants and for new research could also benefit the pig sector.

“But the details are all still to be finalised and, as a previously unsupported sector, we will work with Defra to ensure any new initiatives deliver meaningful benefits for the pig industry. It is critical, for example, that new health and welfare initiatives focus on delivering positive outcomes, rather than trying to drive system change, and are delivered in the context the market place pig farmers operate within.” 

The NPA is currently in the process of defining the pig sectors’ priorities under the post-Brexit farm support system.

Sarah Lee, Head of Policy at the Countryside Alliance:

“Ahead of the publication of the Agriculture Bill today the Countryside Alliance recognises that public money for public goods is a fine principle, and we are supportive that money will be made available for the many benefits farming delivers for the public. We do however wait with interest to see the detail of the Bill. We wait to see whether the partnership between fieldsports and farming in the delivery of social, economic and conservation benefits has been recognised and rewarded. And we hope to see that the unique cultural and economic contribution of farming in the uplands has been suitably accounted for.”

Ellie Brodie, Senior Policy Manager of The Wildlife Trusts:

“We support the Agriculture Bill’s intention to change how taxpayers’ money will be spent towards environmental ‘public goods’. Spending on these is vital if we are to restore uplands to hold water and prevent flooding in towns, create new wildflower meadows for pollinators and improve the fortunes of farmland wildlife like barn owls and brown hares. However, we need an ambitious Bill to arrest decades of wildlife decline and allow natural ecosystems to recover.”

Agriculture policy does not have to choose between wildlife versus food production. Farming that works with nature makes sense – for now and for the future. Our ability to produce food in this country relies on us having healthy soils and the things that nature gives us for free – if they are allowed to recover – from pollination to natural pest control.”

Phil Stocker, NSA Chief Executive

 “If a new public goods model is going to work, the interpretation of those public goods needs to be far wider than just environment and access – and there needs to be a simple model to allow the majority of everyday farms to benefit, rather than having to do even more than the great work already being done. We believe an average baseline payment in recognition of the broad public value of productive farming, which can be further built on via optional schemes, is in the long-term interest of society.

 
“Today’s commitment to a seven-year transition period is very welcome, but seven years is not very long when you consider the scale of the change being proposed and the adjustment farm businesses will have to make. We only have one opportunity to get this right, and NSA urges the Government to look at what agriculture is delivering now, protect it and build on it. NSA keenly awaits the full Agriculture Bill and the detail and clarity that will come with it.”

George Dunn, Tenant Farmer’s Association:

“We support the plans for a new Environmental Land Management Scheme, but it needs to be balanced with a serious effort to work collaboratively with the farming industry to raise productivity through planed investment into farm infrastructure, skills and market development. We fear the Government has played only lip revive to these important elements,” said Mr Dunn.

“The need to maintain our high environmental and animal welfare standards in the way we produce our food and manage our countryside is of key importance. However, so is protecting those standards within our international trading relationships and ensuring that farmers receive a fair return from the supply chain for working to those high standards. We fear that what the Government is proposing within the Agriculture Bill in respect of these issues will fall well short of what is required.”