Letter of the Week: 5 issues for Keir Starmer to address ahead of NFU conference

Next week, Labour leader Keir Starmer will make his big appeal to farmers at the 2023 NFU conference in Birmingham. Here are five things I think rural voters might want to hear him address:

1. Maintain or improve the promise of £2.4bn for farmers. The “public money for public goods” approach allows farmers to maintain their levels of food production in a way that is less damaging to the environment. But what about index-linking Countryside Stewardship Plus payments to inflation, so we don’t have to keep reviewing costings?
2. Forge a better relationship with our largest trading partner. Weeks after we left the EU, finished pigs were hit by the largest price fall in five years as cheap European imports flooded in, while EU restrictions slowed our exports to a trickle. Let’s forge an agreement that proves we can match high EU food standards and rid ourselves of unnecessary red tape.
3. Stand up for farmers in future trade deals. Our farmers face higher levels of international competition, where others don’t have to match our welfare or environment standards. We don’t want to see chlorinated chicken and hormone-induced beef flooding the British market, and neither do our customers.
4. Offer more visas for seasonal workers. Staff shortages are endemic, with fruit rotting in fields. These workers are the key to production and will also be necessary to drive new industries, such as our emerging wine sector.
5. We need a land-use framework. Government needs to clarify where we make space for nature, improve infrastructure, build houses, and produce food. We expect Environmental Land Management will be kept or renamed, and we should reward farmers for their services to the ecosystem.

We also need to hear that agriculture is the heart of our economy and can appeal to a new generation of farmers.

And we must avoid a legislative black hole, with Defra still responsible for 48% of laws threatened by the Retained EU Law bill.

We’ve already got the 30×30 environmental commitment, local nature recovery strategies, biodiversity net gain, and flawed net-zero targets.

If it gains power, Labour will need to adapt the Conservatives’ land-use policies to support farmers and improve habitats.

Jake Fiennes
Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk