We have one of the largest populations in the EU, currently sitting at 65 million but set to rise by a further ten million in the next 20 years. The NFU will provide strong leadership and aim to maximise the opportunities for British agriculture in the years to come. The food and drink sector is currently worth £108 billion to our economy. Quite simply, farming matters not just to the economy, but fundamentally for the health and wellbeing of the nation.
My message is simple. Farmers and growers must unite like never before, working with the NFU to look at where we want British agriculture to be not just in the next few years, but also in the mid to long term.
More...
- BPS/ Environmental Stewardship and the leave vote
- NFU briefing for members - what happens next?
- An EU Referendum message from NFU DG Terry Jones
- Our EU Referendum channel
- How we’ve kept our members informed
- What does the Referendum result mean for YOUR farming sector?
- The Referendum and future farming policy
- EU Referendum result: A message from NFU President Meurig Raymond
- Blog: June 24th 2016 - a dawn like no other
This is about planning a UK food and farming plan that is fit for the future and builds strong foundations for the young people who want to enter into the industry. The loss of state aid rules will mean that we can be really ambitious in our plans for promoting and marketing British food for retail, public procurement and to the export market.
With next to no sleep and a long term commitment to meet members in Devon, Friday proved to be a busy day. Before I left for Devon I did an interview for BBC radio, remarking on the fact that this is a new dawn for British agriculture. I mentioned that it's essential that the new government should ring fence the principle of food security and have a department that fully represents the interests of food and farming.
The media does like a scare story though, so it’s good to know our press team are speaking to the media on a daily basis. The NFU as a whole will continue to ensure that we are the organisation leading the way on farming issues and I look forward to being part of that as we plan how the British farming industry will look and work in the months and years ahead.