Farming leaders urge government to champion Nottinghamshire businesses and food production

The call comes on the 9th annual Back British Farming Day, the day the NFU and Nottinghamshire farmers ask politicians, the public, retailers, food processers and manufacturers to celebrate and champion British agriculture and its importance to the UK economy.

Speaking ahead of a reception for MPs in Parliament, NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “British farmers and growers are proud to produce the raw ingredients that underpin our essential food and drink sector, the largest manufacturing sector in the UK, worth a huge £148 billion, and employing more than four million people.

“But there are huge challenges. Over the past 18 months we have seen a collapse in farmer confidence, driven by record inflation, falls in farm income and a changing climate with unprecedented weather patterns delivering relentless rain which left thousands of acres of farmland under water.

“While in opposition we heard consistently from Labour that food security is national security. The Prime Minister, speaking at NFU Conference last year, pledged that Labour “aspires to govern for every corner of our country, and will seek a new relationship with the countryside and farming communities on this basis, a relationship based on respect and on genuine partnership”.

“We now need to see those ambitions realised. Today we’re calling on government to truly value UK food security by delivering a renewed and enhanced multi-annual agriculture budget of £5.6 billion³ on the 30 October. This budget is essential in giving Britain’s farmers and growers the confidence they desperately need to invest for the future and deliver on our joint ambitions on producing more sustainable, affordable homegrown food while creating more jobs and delivering for nature, energy security and climate-friendly farming.

“Our farmers and growers are much loved and valued by the public who rank our job as one of the most important and well-respected professions⁴, second only to nursing. 91% also believe farming is important to the UK economy, with 85% believing we should increase our self-sufficiency in British food.

“On this Back British Farming Day, we are at a tipping point, so we call on government, all MPs, to also show their unstinted support. Seize this opportunity to harness the passion and the drive of British farmers and growers to ensure a thriving future - a future that is good for shoppers, good for the environment and good for a secure supply of British food.”

While Colin Bower, Nottinghamshire NFU chair, said it had been a tough harvest for those across the county coupled with many other issues across other sectors over the past year.

He said: “Farmers deliver not just in terms of food but to the economy, to jobs, to our countryside and our communities - this does not include the huge contribution from allied rural businesses and those in the wider supply chain who are also significant employers and deliver many benefits for Nottinghamshire people.

“We need robust policies in place that give famers and other industry businesses the confidence to invest - Government must take action to value UK food security and ensure important environmental delivery by increasing the current agriculture budget.

“We want to continue to provide more of the food people love as well as looking after the countryside we are all so proud of.

“As food producers we are also heavily invested in looking after the habitat and wildlife on our farms and a thriving farming industry will help us to ensure we can continue to do more to ensure wildlife is maintained and enhanced.

“In a cost-of-living crisis, farming’s ability to grow crops and rear livestock will be critical for families across Nottinghamshire and beyond.”