There was a question put very succinctly to the UK’s farming ministers by Fiona Hanna, an arable farmer from Northern Ireland, and one of the Emerging Leaders attending the Oxford Farming Conference last month.
“What would you say to encourage and reassure those of us early on in our farming career, when all of our questions seem not to have available answers?”
It followed probably one of the most vacuous, flawed and obsequious speeches any Defra secretary had ever delivered, at a time when, more than ever, farmers were seeking policy direction. It also came exactly 12 months after the previous Defra secretary Liz Truss had been asked at Oxford what the Government’s Plan B was in the event of Brexit.
So a year on, and six months since the historic referendum, how much progress had been made by Defra towards putting together the bare bones of a post-2020 farming policy?
“I don’t have the specific policy detail,” Andrea Leadsom kept saying in response to questions that came in from the floor and from Twitter. She did have “absolute confidence” in Defra to deliver this, she insisted, but a show of hands revealed the only person in the 500-strong audience to share this confidence was farming minister George Eustice.
The speech itself consisted of a series of platitudes designed to reassure delegates they represent a thriving food and farming industry, and that the Government is determined not to wreck it.
On regulation, there was a glimmer of good news. Andrea Leadsom promised there would be “no more six-foot EU billboards littering the landscape; no more existential debates to determine what counts as a bush, a hedge or a tree; and no more ridiculous, bureaucratic three-crop rule.”
However, when questioned afterwards whether the UK would be able to maintain EU market access if it scrapped the three-crop rule, she revealed that it will actually be “part of the discussions with the EU”.
There is one move Defra has made towards Brexit that Andrea Leadsom, clearly bristling with pride, was able to announce: she’s launching a consultation. “This will be your chance to tell us your views and ambitions,” she said.
So when will we have the consultation? “Soon” – clearly the Defra we should all have “absolute confidence” in doesn’t know how to set a date, either.
And this was the vagueness with which she responded to every other question posed. Every decision will be “part of the green paper we’re launching – we don’t yet have specific policy details.”
It is perfectly clear that Defra is clueless. The department has been landed with the job of reshaping UK farm policy – a job it never expected it would have to do. It’s hopelessly under-resourced, lacking any skill whatsoever capable of fulfilling such a task, and, as was displayed with aplomb at the conference, is now headed up by someone who’s equally clueless and really didn’t expect she’d get the farming job.
What was also perfectly clear from the conference is that the farming community is not clueless – far from it. A fringe session in which 15 Emerging Leaders – progressive farmers specially selected to attend the conference – discussed farming policy, made far more progress in 45 mins than Defra has made in six months.
Delegate feedback reflected the disdain felt for the Defra secretary – a new app they could download to rate the speakers gave her the lowest rating of the entire conference. Conversely, among those rated highest were Worcs hop farmer Ali Capper and Jack Hamilton of family farming business Mash Direct in County Down.
Ali Capper has transformed not only the family’s fruit and hop business, but completely rebranded British Hops, breathing new life into a flagging sector. The Mash Direct story is an inspirational one of how a small farming potato business came to export champ – mashed potato mixed with spring onions – to Dubai.
These are farmers who don’t wait around for policy to be chewed over in the corridors of Whitehall. They make their own opportunities and set their own agenda. 2020 is barely a cropping cycle away – the cereals you plant this year may be the seed of the crop sold in a post-Brexit landscape. It means arable farmers have plans to make and we cannot wait while Defra dithers.
So in this issue, CPM is calling on its readers to set their own agenda – you are the progressive farmers and where you lead with your businesses, others will benefit by following. As a starting point, we’ve partnered with BASF in its Real Results initiative. This empowers farmers to conduct their own on-farm trials, and 50 growers will receive inputs and expert advice to help them do so.
This is just the start, and throughout the year, we’ll be reporting on ways CPM readers are setting the agenda for a post-Brexit Britain. And Andrea Leadsom had better take note and ensure Defra policy falls in line.
Last chance for CPSB tickets
The Crop Production in Southern Britain conference takes place on 15-16 Feb at the Peterborough Arena. CPM readers can get a 25% discount on tickets. See www.aab.org.uk for details.
