Tories declare farm crisis and concede ‘we made mistakes’

Conservative shadow ministers have conceded that mistakes were made on agricultural policy when the Tories were in government, even as they declared a “food and farming emergency” at the party’s annual conference.

Victoria Atkins, the shadow Defra secretary, made the declaration wearing a union jack blazer at a “rally” made up of the party faithful. It was opened by Merseyside arable farmer Olly Harrison.

To support the “emergency” claim, she pointed to a Country Land and Business Association poll which found 80% of farm businesses feared they would close over the next 10 years.

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Ms Atkins blamed the crisis on Labour policies including the changes to inheritance tax, the abrupt closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and delivery of other stewardship schemes, and the abolition of the rural services grant that supported councils to provide services in the countryside.

In a speech at the event, she said: “If this emergency is not dealt with urgently, we will see even more farms, even more agribusinesses, food and drink manufacturers and hospitality businesses close.

“We will see workers laid off. We will see tenant farmers evicted. We will see food production tumble and we will see food prices continuing to rise. And I hate to break it to you, but Labour is coming back for more in their budget.”

Ms Atkins did admit, however, that the Conservatives “got some things wrong” while in government, saying “we lost our focus for a while on the primary purpose of farming – to grow food”.

Separately, Farmers Weekly asked Shadow Defra farming minister Robbie Moore whether the Tories should bear any responsibility for the “food and farming emergency” declared this week by the party.

“I’ve always said when we were in government we didn’t get everything right,” he said.

“There were challenges associated with the huge transition of coming out of the Common Agricultural Policy to the rollout of the SFI.

“But this year we’ve seen changes to inheritance tax, the employers’ National Insurance increase, the minimum wage go up, de-linked payments dramatically reduce, the SFI close and capital grants close as well. All of which has been decided in the last 12 months.”