I suspect that when the Government’s farm income figures are published in a few weeks time they will confirm that 2006 turned out to be a much better year. Mind you, it needed to be, given the depths to which incomes have sunk in recent years. Even as it is, there are still important sectors like dairying, where prices have actually fallen in 2006, or beef and lamb, where even after a modest improvement we are still a long way from achieving genuine profitability.
But having said all of that, there are still solid grounds for believing that 2006 has marked a turning point, both for the industry and for the NFU. In support of that contention, I would single out three key developments:
- the shortfall in world grain supplies, which has pointed up the fact that Britain can no longer count on being able to buy its food cheaply from around the world if we allow our own productive capacity to run down;
- the Stern report on climate change, which sets out starkly the scale of the task ahead of us, and by implication, the vital importance of harnessing bioenergy in the cause;
- the appointment of David Miliband as Defra Secretary of State and his statement shortly thereafter that “farming is important to the country as well as to the countryside”.
The NFU now has a clear, sharp focus for our political message and our campaigning work – that farming matters. Ours is a modern, dynamic industry that can produce the food and fuel that Britain needs and provide the countryside and environment that it aspires to. In order to do that, we need to make best use of smart technology and science. In short, I strongly believe that production agriculture is more important to the country now than at any time in the last 60 years.
Of course, organic and niche products are important, but it is whether or not mainstream agriculture and horticulture is profitable that will determine whether this industry stands or falls.
In that context, we have moved decisively in the right direction during 2006, but it would be naïve to imagine that it will all be plain sailing from now on. Key challenges in 2007 will be cutting red tape, achieving a functional food chain, and winning the argument with those who think you can achieve more by taxing and regulating farmers and growers than you can by incentivising and working with them.
An immediate and vitally important challenge is to close the four pence gap in milk prices that is the difference between a farmer making a loss and being able to invest for the future. The current situation is not sustainable, either for individual dairy farmers, or for the dairy sector as a whole. The work that we have been doing through the NFU’s invoicing campaign must bear fruit if the dairy sector is not to suffer serious long-term damage.
The NFU is up for those challenges, and with a united industry behind us, we can achieve even more in 2007.
-ends-
No comments have been made.