One year after the Coalition’s programme for government was published, the NFU has today reported on what it has achieved for farming over the past 12 months.

Overall, the NFU believes that a number of positive steps have been taken, especially the adoption of a business plan by Defra with sustainable food and farming at its heart. However, a number of important commitments remain on the ‘to do’ list leading to calls from the NFU for ‘significant progress’ in the second year of the Coalition.

NFU President Peter Kendall said: “A year may seem like a long time in politics, but we appreciate that it is still early days for the Coalition and its efforts to reshape farming policy. As farmers, we have all been heartened by the shift in stance in government towards recognising the importance of growing production sustainably and helping the industry succeed.

“The Coalition agreement reflected a number of major policy calls made by the NFU in our manifesto document last year. Some of these have already been achieved: this week’s report from the Farming Regulation Task Force is a good example of positive work to create a regulatory environment in which farm businesses can thrive. More widely, government has shown a commitment to science by protecting R&D programme spend from the worst of the cuts. We welcome that as investment in R&D is critical to future growth.

“But we need to see real progress on important commitments over the course of the next year. Foremost among these are measures to tackle bovine TB including a carefully managed and science-led control of badgers, the introduction of government buying standards for food and the introduction of an ombudsman/adjudicator to police the Groceries Supply Code of Practice. The Government also needs to go further in convincing our European partners that we have a credible policy in relation to CAP reform.

“The Foresight report on food and farming which was published in January needs to be seen as a reference point for the Government’s policy ambitions on food and farming. We’re looking forward to working closely with the Coalition in its second year in driving UK food policy forward on the back of this report.”

Today’s report from the NFU also examines the impact that the ‘new politics’ of the Coalition might have on agriculture. It argues that concepts such as the ‘Big Society’ and localism are instinctively attractive to farmers in encouraging industry-led solutions to major challenges such as climate change and environmental protection. However, without clear national frameworks, especially in relation to planning, there are risks that the Government’s objectives to create a sustainable food and farming sector could be seriously undermined by local objections to development in farming and manufacturing businesses.