The NFU has hailed the Conservative Party’s ‘Quality of Life’ report as ‘an important contribution to the debate on present and future role of agriculture and on the place of British farmers in national life’.
The report, identifies many of the ‘issues and challenges’ facing rural Britain, which include the increase in rural population, the need for local communities to have more power over their lives, and the need for the machinery of government to be better aligned to manage rural affairs.
The NFU’s president, Peter Kendall, said: “As this report highlights, the security of the nation’s food supply is of great strategic importance, and there is much work to be done on improving the working and fairness of the food chain through smarter public procurement for example.
“The report is right to say that rural people are in the front line of climate change and that British agriculture should be seen as an important part of the solution. We welcome the report’s recognition of the crucial need for a sound science base to inform policy for sustainable agriculture for the future.”
The Soil Association also released a statement welcoming the report.
The report stressed that the organic and fair trade movements have ‘burgeoned and significantly increased the interest in the origin and nature of food we buy’.
Pete Melchett, the association’s policy director, said: “We think the report is significant in that it acknowledges how important food culture is and is explicit about the link between good quality food, health and behaviour. We strongly support the report’s conclusion that we need a low carbon food chain that helps tackles climate change and we agree with the report that more could be done through public procurement of food to promote local and organic food.”
"The report cites a number of case studies the Soil Association has been involved in, for instance the Cornwall Food Programme’s pioneering approach to revolutionising hospital food. This programme has succeeded in providing tasty hospital meals, made from fresh, local and organic ingredients, to patients without increasing costs.
"The report is also clear, as the Soil Association is, about the positive impact that better quality school meals can have on school attendance, behaviour and educational performance."
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