Opinion: My 30-second elevator pitch to Sir Keir Starmer

Daydreaming about bumping into the prime minister isn’t something I often do, but recently I’ve been curating my perfect pitch for our sector, because when those 30 seconds in the elevator do come, I want to be ready.

I’ve been conflicted about attending tractor-based protests, not because I don’t believe in protest, but because protesting about inheritance tax (IHT) is a sticking plaster for the real problem.

See also: Opinion – why we need to redefine the word ‘productive’

About the author

Molly Biddell

Molly Biddell works on her family’s farm in Surrey, in tandem with her role as head of natural capital at Knepp Estate. She previously spent time working in a research team for a rural consultancy firm, after graduating from Cambridge with a geography degree. 

Read more articles by Molly Biddell

The real problem is that farming is flipping hard. It’s hard work for intolerably low returns, risky and lonely.

The real problem is we have a farming/food/land system that can’t make enough income to pay the tax bill in the first place. Isn’t that what we should be challenging?

I understand why people are angry about IHT and that, at an individual business level, s**t is hitting the fan, and it is terrifying.

And when it hits the fan, we get angry; when people tell us we should be doing something differently (and we’ve worked very hard at it for years) we get defensive.

And so, we get into our tractors and toot our horns in anger. Fair enough.

But defensive and angry doesn’t get us far. It only creates a greater chasm between those who “get us” and “them” who don’t.

When things get really tricky, like now, the last thing we need is more of a divide.

I don’t want to be part of a sector that everyone else pities. Rural businesses have buckets of innovation and dynamism, and we need to show the government our sector is where solutions are made.

You might be shaking your head at my naivety, but I’m under 30 so I’m allowed to be utopian.

So, assuming I’m lucky enough to get 30 seconds with Sir Keir, this is my three-pronged pitch for why our sector is his government’s hidden gem:

1. Excellent land management is the key to unlocking a healthier nation. Farmers and land managers are the superheroes who can grow nutritious food from healthy soil and help people reconnect to nature.
2. The rural sector is the hotbed for green jobs. We are the place to be for eco-anxious Gen Zs who want fulfilling, highly skilled jobs that help fix the planet rather than screw it up.
3. So much of land’s productive potential is currently untapped (or undervalued) – biodiversity, carbon sequestration, nutrition, water storage, pollination, renewable energy, fibre, fuel, wellbeing, education. The list of multifunctional services we can help to provide goes on. The opportunity for growth in food, farming and nature is huge.

If Sir Keir is still listening, I’ll throw in my take as to what he needs to do first to make this happen.

I’ll ask that he creates and communicates a clear and cohesive vision for the future.

It’s pretty hard to run a rural business without knowing what the government believes in, let alone how it wants to make that happen.

Please politicians – are you paying for public goods, backing nature markets, regulating supermarkets, taxing UPFs, incentivising more horticulture or agreeing on one carbon calculator?

Ideally all of those things and more. But listen to us, make up your mind and then stick to it.

So, you won’t find me on a tractor in Downing Street anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be wandering around hoping for a chance Starmer encounter.