NFU president Tom Bradshaw calls for multi-annual budget of £5.6 billion to help sector invest in sustainable production and boost food security
The National Farmers Union (NFU) is urging the government to act on valuing UK food security and to increase the current agriculture budget to £5.6 billion by the end of October.
It comes on the ninth annual Back British Farming Day, where the industry asks the public, retailers, food processers and manufacturers to celebrate and champion British agriculture and its importance to the UK economy.
Speaking on 11 September, NFU president Tom Bradshaw said there are huge challenges, and over the last 18 months the NFU has 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”.
Bradshaw added that while PM Keir Starmer was in opposition, “we heard consistently from Labour that food security is national security”.
Speaking at the NFU Conference last year, Starmer 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”.
The NFU president added: “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 billion on 30 October.”
He also said that a £358 million underspend for the budget over three years is “unacceptable” and ”nothing short of a kick in the teeth to farmers and growers who have faced years of uncertainty and loss of income” during the agricultural transition.
“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.
“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.”
