Peter Gittins: Government must rebuild trust with farmers

Labour under Keir Starmer has left a bad taste in the mouths of many farmers. Not because of one announcement, but because of a pattern: poor decisions, poor communication and an unwillingness to admit when government has got it wrong.

The inheritance tax row is the clearest example. Farmers warned, protested and lobbied for months before government changed course. The change was welcome, but the damage to trust had been done.

Then came the sudden closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, again leaving farmers feeling that the rules could change almost overnight.

Trust is easy to lose and hard to rebuild. Rebuilding it will take more than another pot of grant money.

See also: Peter Gittins – you can’t regulate what you don’t understand

The farming industry is a leaky bucket. Government keeps pouring grants into the top while ignoring the holes in the bottom.

The Batters Review makes clear there is no silver bullet. Weak bargaining power, volatile markets, access to finance and barriers facing new entrants all drain profitability.

We should be fixing the bucket, not endlessly topping it up. Farming must once again generate a fair and profitable return.

Politicians must also understand the difference between performative support and meaningful action. Farmers can see through tokenism.

Ministers recently marked Back British Farming Day by acknowledging the serious challenges facing the industry. Yet there was far less acknowledgement that poor government policy decisions have contributed to some of those challenges.

It is difficult to rebuild trust while acknowledging the problems, but not your own role in creating them.

I have experienced poor political engagement on farming matters. As an academic researching upland farming, I have shared evidence and practical recommendations with political representatives and received little substantive engagement in return.

Farmers do not simply want photographs, slogans or messages of support. They want politicians to listen, engage with evidence and challenge policies when they are clearly not working.

Standing beside farmers for photos is easy. Standing up for them is harder. Labour ignores the rural vote at its peril.

If Andy Burnham is serious about offering a different kind of politics, rebuilding Labour’s relationship with farmers would be a good place to start.