Lord Rooker says farmers at the vanguard of tackling climate change

Junior DEFRA minister Lord Rooker has apologised to farmers for the chaotic implementation of the single farm payment and said that “the penny had dropped” within DEFRA about the importance of agriculture. 

Speaking to delegates at the Sentry Farming Conference at Linton, Cambridgeshire, Lord Rooker admitted that SSP debacle had caused distress and that government had failed to keep its promise to farmers. 

“I apologise on behalf of the government.  People were promised payment and it is regretted.”

He added: “However you feel farmers are perceived in Whitehall, we know that farming will be in a vanguard of how we combat climate change.

“Creating and managing change can only be achieved through those who own and manage our land. A big contribution will be expected from farming.”

He added that farming had made major changes to its carbon emissions which were “as radical as the old smoke-stack industries”, but this had not necessarily been picked up by the media or the public.