Rishi Sunak has assured farmers of his support at the National Farmers Union conference, pledging to “change the culture” in government around farming.
According to reports, Sunak is the first prime minister to address the NFU conference since Gordon Brown in 2008, and had brought three Defra ministers with him to put the Conservative case to farmers.
Farmers say that recent flooding that has hit the UK could lead to a significant hit on food production.
During the conference, Sunak committed to improving food security in the UK and expressed concerns about low self-sufficiency in “things like tomatoes, pears, plums, lettuces and apples”. Sunak also said he had “once milked a cow”.
He took two questions from the audience. Replying to one farmer, Hannah, from Hertfordshire, he admitted that allowing farmers to trade with the EU was a “work in progress”.
He said: “We are working very hard with individual countries to ease all those areas in which there are differences. I’ll be totally honest, it’s a work in progress.”
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Farmers have been critical of trade deals undercutting their business, including the free trade deal with Australia and the prospect of importing Canadian pork and Mexican beef. Sunak said: “We are absolutely committed to supporting you and making sure that you are not undercut.”
He expressed sympathy for those who had been affected by recent floods that had wiped out thousands of acres of crops. “It’s always devastating when that happens,” he said.
Later, David Eudall, economics and analysis director at the Agricultural and Horticulture Development Board, told the conference that the rain would cause huge problems.
“In previous years when we’ve seen this [level of rainfall], like 2019-20 when we had a very similar wet period through the autumn and winter for planting, we saw a 24% reduction in the planted area. Considering we’re in a similar area and have similar weather pattern we’d expect we’re going to see a similar magnitude of scale.”
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
