Editor’s View: Drops of comfort in a deeply troubling time

“Don’t p*** on me and tell me it’s raining,” seems to sum up the reaction from English farmers to Defra’s response to the drought this week.

The hurried reshuffle of spending priorities at the prime minister’s behest meant £65m was found to “help manage the impact of prolonged dry weather”, with most going to top up the Sustainable Farming Incentive pot.

Apparently, at least some of the additional money was previously unallocated spend, but it is not new money from the Treasury.

See also: Drought package: What the £65m means for English farmers

So is the drought a crisis or is it not?

On the one hand we have Andy Burnham chairing a meeting of the government’s emergency COBR committee, as well as visiting a farm in Cornwall and firefighters battling wildfires in the Midlands.

Classic crisis stuff.

But this first policy response does not come close to rising to the scale of the challenge.

Many farms are moving from their prior state of vulnerability to a more acute cashflow crisis that will further undercut their ability to stay in the business of food production.

The key message Labour want to land is that this is merely the beginning.

As Mr Burnham himself said in an op-ed we published online last weekend: “I know I have work to do to win the trust of the farming community. I want this to serve as a first demonstration of that commitment.”

Here is the case for hope.

First, signals matter, especially when you are in a hole as deep as the Labour Party is with the farming community.

With the actions above, Mr Burnham has sent a clear message to his own bureaucrats as well as farmers that this is important to him. Not backing it up will make a rod for his own back.

Second, there is always a tension in government between moving at pace and doing big things.

If they had worked on a more ambitious package then it could have taken until the autumn.

Hopefully we’ll look back and see this as the first bird in the hand.

Third, food prices align closely with Mr Burnham’s focus on the cost of living.

The weather in Europe has been even more extreme than here, highlighting the mounting risk of our failure to stem falling domestic food production – not just in empty shelves but in the increasing risk of further bouts of price volatility.

Yes, the rate of food price inflation was soft this month, with figures released on Wednesday showing an increase of just 1.3% in the 12 months to July for food and non-alcoholic beverages.

But this overall figure masks the fact that inflation on imported food is running at twice the rate of home-grown food, as The Rural Policy Group noted in a report published earlier this month.

Finally, a word on Defra’s response to the other major crisis of the moment – bluetongue.

Industry figures remain very positive with how they are responding to this difficult situation – even if rapid containment is currently beyond the ability of them or anyone else.

These are all small drops of comfort – but I’ll take anything at the moment – as long as its not yellow.