News

11 Oct 2018

Union reservations over Agricultural Bill

In the week where we’ve seen the second reading of the Agricultural Bill, the NFU outlines its top ten amendments it wants to make.

As it stands, the government has outlined plans to phase out direct payments to farmers between 2021 and 2027 which will be replaced by a new system of support rewarding farmers who implement environmental measures.

But farm leaders have major reservations about some of the proposals and have consequently outlined 10 key amendments to the bill to ensure food production is at its heart, with a clear and overarching focus on productive farming. 

1. A true focus on agriculture

The NFU says it wants an ‘explicit and clear’ overarching agricultural focus to the bill – arguing that Brexit is a once-in-a-generation chance to develop a UK-specific agricultural policy that drives integration of profitable food production with high environmental and animal welfare standards

2. Promote the nation’s strategic priorities

The NFU believes the government has a strategic interest in ensuring a sufficient level of domestic food production. Supporting domestic agriculture to ensure food security and stability of food supply should be included in the purposes for which financial assistance can be provided.

3. Competitiveness and financial resilience

The bill should promote improvements in the competitiveness and financial resilience of farm businesses, helping farmers better manage risk and periods of poor market returns.

4. Valuing and protecting standards

The bill should ensure that all food imported into the UK is produced to at least equivalent animal welfare, environmental protection and food production standards as those required of producers in the UK.

5. Budgetary cycles

The NFU wants the bill to establish a multi-annual budgetary framework that provides certainty for farmers and allows them to plan and invest for the future.

Its suggested that budgetary cycles should be independent of the parliamentary cycle to reflect the need for long-term planning and investment and to avoid the agricultural budget becoming politicised.

6. Strengthening the farmer’s position in the supply chain

Provisions in the bill aim to encourage a fairer marketplace and the NFU has welcomed plans to provide farmers with access to robust market data. But it has also voiced concern that plans for the government to collect data from farm businesses go well beyond what is needed.

7. Maintaining a level playing field

The NFU says ministers must ensure the bill maintains a level playing field among farmers and growers across the UK’s four home nations, while still respecting devolution, the UK internal market and the UK’s international obligations.

8. Appropriate use of ministerial powers

The union have highlighted that provisions allowing ministers to use secondary legislation when exercising powers must be used effectively and proportionately.

9. Reducing red tape in farming

Ministers must use the powers in the bill to minimise bureaucracy and administrative complexity, putting fairness and proportionality at the heart of enforcement mechanisms. This should include appropriate sanction regimes, an effective independent appeals system, and use of non-regulatory approaches such as earned recognition.

10.Wider government policy

The NFU says it has some important concerns about the government’s intentions to use powers in the bill to reform agricultural policy once the UK is no longer subject to the CAP.

Read more like this here

You may also like:

• Dairy profits recover but testing times lay ahead
• Food retailers could be hit hard in a ‘no-deal’ Brexit