A warm but cautious welcome best describes the industry’s response to Defra’s Farming Roadmap.
Defra says it brings the government’s long-term strategies, reforms and commitments for farming together in one place, providing a flexible framework for the sector’s journey towards 2050.
With no single route to success, Defra believes it provides flexibility for farmers in an increasingly uncertain and fast-changing environment, allowing them to adapt farming systems as markets, technologies and environmental conditions continue to evolve.
The NFU welcomes the focus on productivity and profit, combined with achieving greater resilience. The Farming Roadmap is designed to strengthen the economic foundations of the farming sector by improving profitability, increasing productivity and supporting long-term growth, aiming to give farmers the confidence and capability to invest, remain competitive and diversify where appropriate.
This is what the NFU has been calling for but NFU President Tom Bradshaw expressed concerns over the government’s means to deliver on its ambition.
“It’s good to see resilience, profitability, productivity and sustainability at its heart – all areas we’ve been urging the government to focus on,” Tom said. “The government is right to say that the national security context has changed. Combined with climate and economic shocks, the fragilities of our food system now feel very exposed, and we need to move rapidly into delivery mode to turn this around.”
Funding concerns
“While the roadmap is full of ambition, it falls short on action and even shorter on the means of delivery. The roadmap sets out a multi-year direction for farming, yet there is no long-term funding to go with it. The Treasury is conspicuously absent in this plan. Instead, it tips the balance of risk even more onto the shoulders of farmers, with much of the investment expected to come from business bank accounts which have been sucked dry over recent years due to soaring costs and unsustainably low margins.
“There has to be a greater partnership between Defra, the Treasury and farmers if we’re to realise this vision for farming. This isn’t just about growing the basic value of food and farming but building a resilient food system which can protect the 29 million UK households from future food shocks.”
The NFU view is that the world is very different now; war, geo-political tensions and climate extremes are wreaking havoc on economies, the flow of trade and food production around the world. Record temperatures show what the industry is up against. “Resilience isn’t just about maintaining profitability in times of challenge, but being able to adapt to changing circumstances, including a more volatile climate.”
The NFU is calling on the government to do more, saying a review of abstraction licensing rules is needed with more investment in on-farm water storage, and reform the planning rules to make building reservoirs easier. “These are all things the government could do right now to help boost productivity growth.”
The OF&G (Organic Farmers & Growers) is enthused by the Farming Roadmap, in particular, the government’s commitment to work with the organic sector to deliver an Organic Action Plan for England (OAPE).“For many years organic farmers have been delivering exactly the outcomes the Roadmap now identifies in its three themes by improving profitability and productivity; enhancing sustainability; and building resilience,” said chief executive Steve Clarkson.
“From healthier soils, cleaner water, greater biodiversity, and reduced reliance on costly inputs, organic rightly deserves this long-awaited acknowledgement. This recognition of organic farming as one of the clearest, most trusted and established routes to delivering on government farming policy objectives is a significant step for the sector.”
The organisation says the aim now has to be to put organic front and centre within future ELM, SFI and private market frameworks.
