More than 100 delegates, including MPs, councillors, farmers, and Labour Party members, piled in to hear speeches from Defra Secretary Emma Reynolds and NFU President Tom Bradshaw.
The Secretary of State spoke about her desire for the government to renew its relationship with the NFU and the farming community. Central to this is the need to give farmers the confidence to plan, she added.
“Our members want to invest in the future, but right now they can’t.”
NFU President Tom Bradshaw
Ms Reynolds said that “sorting out the whole issue around ELMS and SFI, making sure farmers have more certainty and more time to plan” was at the top of her inbox. She said she wanted to be clearer about what Defra is doing with the farming budget and how farmers can access those schemes.
Confidence is critical
Other priorities highlighted by the Secretary of State included rolling out the 25-year farming roadmap, getting the Land Use Framework right, and responding to the Farming Profitability Review led by former NFU President Minette Batters.
Ms Reynolds said, “the NFU is a very powerful advocate for the community that you represent,” adding that these were the issues she wanted to work most closely with the NFU on.
Responding, NFU President Tom Bradshaw said the Secretary of State was right to say confidence was critical. He acknowledged that the pressure on farming had been growing over recent years, but the Chancellor’s announcement of the family farm tax was the “straw that broke the camel’s back”.
Reset moment
Tom encouraged all Labour MPs present that if there is to be a genuine reset, now is the time to “take the handbrake off the farming sector” by looking at some of the alternatives others have put forward, such as Centax (Centre for the Analysis of Taxation).
“Our members want to invest in the future, but right now they can’t,” said Tom. “The family farm tax has sapped the energy out of the industry.”
On the Land Use Framework, Tom warned that food production has become a "poor relation" in land use policy. He urged the Secretary of State to introduce ambitious statutory targets for domestic food production, similar to the environmental and housing targets that already exist.
Science and tech advances
Wrapping up, Tom highlighted the scale of the challenge to delegates: “We are going to have to feed 9 billion people in the years ahead. To do that, we’ve got to use the latest science and technology.”
Tom also spoke about the need for urgent planning reform and for changes to the Annual Investment Allowance to incentivise the investment required in a broad range of climate-smart capital projects.
See the reception in pictures:
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Defra Secretary Emma Reynolds
MPs with NFU officeholders L-R: Aled Jones, Julia Buckley, Sean Woodcock, Lloyd Hatton, Jayne Kirkham, Lizzi Collinge, Emma Reynolds, Tom Bradshaw, Barry Gardiner, Josh Newbury and Catherine Fookes
NFU President Tom Bradshaw and Defra Secretary Emma Reynolds
Photographs: Elliott Franks
Where will you find the NFU next?
The NFU will be hosting its next conference breakfast at the Conservative Party Conference on Monday 6 October in Manchester.