Bennett defends the NFU’s record

Tim Bennett, president of the NFU, has rejected claims by a pressure group that the NFU is not doing its job.

The Better NFU group, which was launched on Monday, 12 December, has suggested that the union has failed to stand up for farmers when they need it most.

It has also claimed that the NFU is pursuing the wrong agenda with government and refusing to stand up to supermarket power.

Mr Bennett said: “I take great offence at claims the NFU is not doing its job. It has had many recent successes.

“To name but a few, these include: playing a major role in persuading the Blair Government to sign up to the Renewable Energy Transport Obligation; overseeing £5 billion of produce into the well-known red tractor food assurance scheme; and ensuring confidence in the poultry market was maintained during the recent Avian Influenza scare.
 
“The NFU remains at the heart of a process that is seeing farming go through its biggest change in a generation.

“Farmers now have to operate in a modern business environment where they can no longer produce whatever they want and see a government cheque at the end of the month. Most importantly, no one should believe that the real difficulties farmers face today could easily be reversed by simply shouting louder.”

But the Better NFU’s website claims that the group’s campaign has already got off to a flying start..

“The publicity surrounding the launch of the campaign for a better NFU has already attracted significant support from around the country,” it said.

To read about the NFU’s work visit www.nfu.co.uk 
To read about the Better NFU group visit www.betternfu.org.uk