Dame Angela Eagle’s first farm visit signals fresh start

Dame Angela Eagle made her first farm visit as farming minister this week, touring NFU member Marion Regan’s soft fruit farm in Kent.

Mrs Regan is the fifth-generation owner of Hugh Lowe Farms – a soft fruit and arable business growing strawberries, raspberries and blackberries – primarily supplying major retailers, with M&S as its main customer.

Joined by NFU president Tom Bradshaw and Horticulture Board chairman Martin Emmett, Dame Angela saw robotic crop protection in action and discussed skills, planning, water infrastructure, and the phase-out of the Fruit and Veg Aid scheme.

See also: Angela Eagle replaces Zeichner as Defra farming minister

Mrs Regan told Farmers Weekly that the new minister was “in listening mode” and was especially keen to learn all about robotics in horticulture.

“We were really pleased to welcome Dame Angela to one of our farms in Swanley. We were able to show her our strawberry production,” said Mrs Regan.

“We discussed a lot of issues, in particular the need for certainty in seasonal labour numbers, water security and making reservoirs accessible for horticulture producers of high-value crops which really need irrigation.”

Crop protection plea

During the visit, Mrs Regan also stressed the importance of access to crop production products, including biopesticides, alongside integrated crop management.

NFU leaders welcomed the visit as a positive first step in rebuilding trust between the Labour government and the farming sector.

Mr Bradshaw said the visit “showed how important horticulture businesses are” and expressed hope that Defra “champion the policies needed across government to build a resilient and productive food system”. 

South Africa visit

Beyond the farm gate, Dame Angela visited South Africa earlier this week for a G20 Agriculture meeting of ministers to strengthen trade ties between the UK and South Africa.

During her visit, she toured Lona Group in Cape Town, one of the largest integrated fruit and logistics businesses in South Africa, where she saw how UK investment supports women’s employment, climate resilience and jobs.

Industry observers expect Dame Angela to raise Defra’s profile on farming, leveraging her extensive parliamentary experience.

Her appointment came in a cabinet reshuffle earlier this month that saw Emma Reynolds succeed Steve Reed as Defra secretary, and Dame Angela take over from Daniel Zeichner as farming minister.  

Her predecessors, in particular Mr Reed, were sharply criticised for not being visible enough on farms and engaging with farmers directly.