Rishi Sunak has responded to complaints from farmers that cheap imports from countries with lower animal welfare standards have left some domestic farmers struggling to make ends meet.
Speaking at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) conference today (20 February) in Birmingham, he unveiled new plans to increase the UK’s food security.
Sunak at NFU
Food productivity schemes and an expansion of farm technology and automation are among the £220m package of measures Sunak has announced, which will “reduce reliance on overseas workers”.
Other plans include a reduction in the paperwork needed for development, allowing easier development of businesses related to farming, such as farm shops.
Several campaign groups have argued that the government is not listening to farmers’ concerns, with many voicing their frustrations at a protest in Dover over the weekend.
Shadow environment, food and rural affairs secretary Steve Reed said the government has “put up trade barriers that blocked food exports and let energy bills soar out of control, crippling producers and putting thousands out of business”.
‘It will help’
Sunak’s speech defended upcoming changes to how grants are paid to UK farmers and criticised the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), provisions of which will remain in force in the UK until 2027.
The CAP, he said, “disproportionately rewarded the largest landowners and held back smaller farmers”.
“It did little for food productivity or the environment. It was far too bureaucratic. Just remember, we used to argue about whether a cauliflower and cabbage were the same crop – and you could be fined thousands for a gateway being too wide or a buffer strip too narrow.”
Positive tone
NFU president Minette Batters struck a more positive tone on the new measures.
While she noted that “it's not new money”, she added that “there is substantial investment there, in capital grants, technology and in innovation so, yes, it will help.”
“Setting a target for food production and annual reporting at least means we are starting to take food security seriously.”
Batters spoke to Politico this week to suggest that there is little room for a trade agreement with Canada on food, with Sunak refusing to accept Canadian demands to allow hormone-injected beef on the British market.
On the UK’s current trade deals with Australia and New Zealand in the sector, she said:
“It’s fair to say there is no impact at the moment, but we’re giving ourselves very little in our armoury to be able to do anything about it.”
The NFU has called for “a formal process of developing and establishing core production standards that apply to agri-food imports, and a restatement of government commitments to retain full sovereignty over our food and farming standards in future FTA negotiations”.
Welsh farmer protest
The protests in Dover were not the only ones by UK farmers over the weekend, with a Welsh Labour leadership hustings in Powys interrupted on Sunday (18 February) by the arrival of 100 tractors on the town’s streets.
The protest was aimed at reforms of the Labour-run Welsh government’s agricultural subsidy provisions, adding new requirements on farmers to allocate 20% of their land for reforestation and wildlife habitats.
Current Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford responded to the protest by saying:
"I understand that this is a difficult time for people in rural Wales. That people feel their way of life is under attack from the forces of change that go on around them.
"But change is unavoidable. We want to see farmers in Wales producing food in ways that are consistent with a climate crisis."
Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, accused Drakeford of “naked contempt” for Welsh farmers, while Plaid Cymru rural affairs spokesperson Llyr Grufydd said the government was “patronising the sector”.
Czech protest
The EU continues to face its own difficulties with farmers’ protests, as cheap imports have proven to be a bone of contention in the Czech Republic this week, Reuters reports.
Prague saw hundreds of tractors hit its streets yesterday (19 February), with farmers complaining of imported goods from outside the bloc undercutting domestic producers.
Protestors have also expressed anger about the implementation of new rules under the EU’s Green Deal. One protestor said “the paperwork is on the edge of what is bearable”.
Czech prime minister Petr Fiala said that the demonstration “does not have much in common with the fight for better conditions for farmers”, and suggested some protestors had political aims beyond agricultural policy.
