Shropshire Farming Talk: Conference showed British farmers are leading from front in the fight for industry

Prime Minster Rishi Sunak led a line-up of high-profile speakers, including politicians from all three of the main political parties, who debated with farmers some of the potential solutions to the problems threatening the future of our vital farming industry.

Farmers in the county, and across the country, are facing some huge challenges.

They include increasingly frequent droughts and floods, rural crime, rising costs, getting fair deals from supermarkets and trade agreements which see British farmers unfairly undercut by imports of food produced to standards that would be deemed illegal in this country.

But the conference highlighted how British farmers are united in their determination to tackle these challenges head on.

Two days of lively debates in Britain’s second largest city brought into sharp focus the work being carried out all year round by NFU’s farmer members and staff to engage with key decision makers and make the case for the vital support needed to give farming a bright future.

This work has seen the NFU help to deliver numerous wins for farmers.

They include securing new penalties for illegal hare-coursing, major victories on food security following the Farm to Fork Summit at 10 Downing Street, helping to bring in a new law to tackle quad bike and ATV theft, an extension to the Climate Change Agreement scheme, Aldi and Morrisons supermarkets adding a ‘Buy British’ button to their websites and NFU members winning a landmark legal challenge against the Animal and Plant Health Agency in an important case about compensation for poultry farmers affected by an avian influenza outbreak on farm.

I found it inspiring to see farmers passionately tell their stories and take the baton in the united fight for the industry. A thriving British farming industry benefits all of us.

Farmers here produce healthy, safe food and British farmers are renowned for their world leading standards of animal welfare and environmental protection.

They also protect the countryside and are leading the fight against climate change.

Our farms are key drivers of the economy in our county and overall British food and farming is worth more than £120 billion to the national economy and helps provide jobs for four million people

That is something we should all be very proud and something we should remind our politicians of as we head towards a General Election. We need practical and progressive policies coming from all political parties, investing in a future where British food and farming can thrive.

by Olly Cartwright, Shropshire NFU