New reforms to be announced today will make farming more profitable according to Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
He’s due to speak to farmers at the NFU conference in Westminster, in a speech revealing a raft of new policies, including:
- Extending the Seasonal Worker visa route for five more years giving farms a pipeline of workers and certainty to grow their businesses
- Requiring government catering contracts to favour high-quality, high-welfare products that local farms and producers can serve, as part of government ambition for at least half the food supplied into the £5 billion public sector catering contracts to be from British producers or those certified to higher environmental standards.
- investing £110m into R&D for agri-technology for farmers, such as chemical-free cleaning for integrated milking equipment, which lowers energy costs and chemical use. The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund provides grants of up to £25,000 to buy new equipment such as electric weeders to reduce chemical use.
- Protecting farmers in trade deals
- Setting up a new National Biosecurity Centre to transform the Animal and Plant Health Agency animal health facility at Weybridge, investing £200 million to improve resilience against animal disease to protect farmers and food producers.
Mr Reed is expected to say: “The underlying problem is that farmers do not make enough money for the hard work and commitment they put in. I will consider my time as Secretary of State a failure if I do not improve profitability for farmers across the country.
“My focus is on ensuring farming becomes more profitable because that’s how we make your businesses viable for the future. And that’s how we ensure the long-term food security this country needs.”
