As we are no longer in the European Union, the UK is free from the Common Agricultural Policy, which did little to deliver for farmers, farming or the environment. The Government’s 2019 Manifesto was clear that the Government would maintain the budget for farming but spend it in a way that does better for farming and nature.
My ministerial colleagues and I want to support the choices that individual farmers make for their farms, boosting food production and agricultural productivity. This in turn will bolster the rural economy and support communities across the country. The Government is rolling out new schemes that will support farmers to both produce high-quality food and enhance the natural environment. I look forward to reading more about these schemes as further details are announced.
I take a great deal of interest in this subject being a farmer myself and I have been at the forefront in pressing the Government to ensure that the UK produces as much affordable, high welfare and high-quality produce as possible so we are less reliant on imports. The Public Accounts Committee of which I am Deputy Chair conducted an inquiry into the Government’s ELMs policy, one of the results of which will be that the Government will have to make an annual report to parliament on the sustainability of British agriculture and the percentage of food imported.
In February I secured a debate on food production and the Environmental Land Management Scheme. I raised the need for Government to prioritise homegrown food production as we take out of production more land for environmental schemes. ELMs should also have a part to play in protecting small and tenant farms alongside the significant environmental aims for such a policy. I also believe this is a good opportunity to introduce structural policy changes to encourage more young people to enter agriculture, especially after leaving education.
We have the chance to have a farming industry that is more independent and financially resilient, with the bureaucratic rulebook of the EU era that damaged the environment confined to history. It will be an industry that champions economic growth and increases domestic production while returning nature to the land and improving the natural assets that support food production, such as high-quality soil.
We must never forget that the beauty of the countryside has been enhanced by the trees and crops that farmers and landowners have planted and maintained over the centuries.