The Conservatives have said the government’s plan for agriculture’s future is fundamentally flawed, as it does not take into account the considerable hole in the public purse.
In presenting his new paper, entitled A New Age for Agriculture, to the Oxford Farming Conference on Tuesday, shadow DEFRA secretary Nick Herbert said the government had failed to recognise the fiscal challenges it faces in the coming years.
Herbert said: “The fact that this country and other EU member states have been brought close to the edge of bankruptcy and the new Food 2030 plan doesn’t address this is worrying.
“Pressure on the EU budget, financing and departments needs to be taken into account when we talk about increasing production - we are not talking about intervention or an increase in government spending. That means we have to think carefully about what we do understand about government support for agriculture.”
Herbert said his paper addresses several key issues and challenges, including creating a fair market which is a “level playing field” by reducing trade barriers while ensuring a competitive industry. He also said it was crucial that UK producers had their say in Europe over regulations and that scientific research was embraced and implemented on a practical level.
He said the government’s record in procuring food for public institutions was “very variable” and said it should support local food more extensively regionally.
The Tory agricultural leader also outlined the Conservatives’ approach to the ongoing issue of the proposed grocery ombudsman.
An announcement is set to follow the implementation of the new Grocery Code of Practice, due next month, and Herbert suggested the idea of setting up a new organisation for an ombudsman would merely create extra bureaucracy.
He said: “We agree with the Competition Commission that the code of practice needs to be enforced by an ombudsman. We propose to site the ombudsman in the existing Office of Fair Trading so another QUANGO is not created. We need to give consumers the correct information and more clearly.”
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