From a live broadcast on BBC Breakfast in Nuneaton to the Sky News studios in London, NFU President Tom Bradshaw is just one of many proud NFU members on the move around the country today, engaging with media for BBC Farmwatch – a nationwide event celebrating farming across the airwaves.
The NFU’s national and regional media teams have been busy behind the scenes lining up dozens of interviews that will take place throughout the day.
With new faces in Defra’s top team and a new Prime Minister in No.10, this year marks a fresh opportunity for government to work with the industry to help build resilience across our domestic food system, which will not only benefit farmers and growers but consumers too.
BBC Farmwatch helps us reach consumers, enhancing their knowledge of and connection to farming and, in turn, highlighting the need to futureproof homegrown food production.
NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “Farmers and growers are proud of the vital role they serve in feeding 70 million people each day. However, the past six months have once again presented a series of challenges, whether it be the changing weather, constraints of planning policies, or rising input costs.
“With the right policies and investment from government, we can build greater resilience into our domestic food production system, helping to support profitable farm businesses and ensuring farmers and growers can continue providing the food that ends up on our kitchen tables, while strengthening rural economies.
“We welcomed reading that ‘food security is national security’ in Labour’s manifesto, but it’s time now that we see those words translate into meaningful actions.”
To access the BBC’s rolling coverage, visit the live reporting page on: BBC Farmwatch | BBC.CO.UK
Your officeholders in action
Resilience was the word of the day for your NFU officeholders, as President Tom Bradshaw and Deputy President Paul Tompkins took to the airwaves to harness the power of the media to discuss water and food security.
“Water security is food security, but then food security is national security.”
NFU President Tom Bradshaw
“It might be the weather today or it might be a policy decision tomorrow. What we need to have is a joined up government that is helping us to be resilient to all of those headwinds and enable us to continue producing food.”
NFU Deputy President Paul Tompkins
“We talk about energy security as a country, we talk about defence spending as a country... the third leg of that stool has to be the resilience of our food system and we need to make sure we are prioritising it.”
NFU President Tom Bradshaw
Across the regions
NFU representatives and members from across the regions took to the spotlight to bring farming to the nation’s attention.
NFU East
From 150mph racing cars to 25mph tractors, young Suffolk member Jon Watt told Wayne Bavin on BBC Radio Suffolk about his career change from professional racing car driver to farmer and his love of farming.
“I can remember vividly sitting in traffic on the M25 on the way back from Brands Hatch racetrack and there was somebody combining their field of wheat on the field and I was looking at the combine cutting up there and it felt like I was missing out.”
NFU Suffolk member Jon Watt
“Both girls want to farm, but it’s quite difficult to work out how do we diversify, how do we shore the business up into a place that’s right for them to come into without saddling them with a lot of debt.”
NFU South Lincolnshire County Chair Heather Oldfield
“We can do a fantastic job of producing food here in the region and across the country, so we need to focus on that, get some confidence to us to keep investing and keep producing the food and that will go along way to helping with [food security].”
NFU North Regional Board Chair William Maughan
