NFU hope Autumn budget will bring farmers "confidence and certainty"
They want the Chancellor to help them grow their markets and make the new farm subsidies system more attractive and rewarding.
Last updated 27th Oct 2021
NFU East Anglia are hoping today's budget will give farmers confidence and certainty, after an unsettled few years.
They are specifically calling on the Chancellor to help them grow their domestic and overseas markets, as well as making the new farm subsidies system attractive and rewarding to be a part of.
Gary Ford from the Union told us that the sector vitally needs stabilising: "This is all about giving farmers the confidence to invest, there's a lot of uncertainty out there at the moment. Whether it be future agricultural policy, regarding what it looks like and what's expected. There's also challenges around labour availability and haulage.
"There's intense inflationary cost pressure on businesses as well. Labour, fuel, energy, seeds, steel, timber and fertiliser are all going up. So what we are looking for from the Chancellor is to give that certainty, so British farmers can invest".
He also went on to say that business can't plan ahead until a range of issues are resolved: "We need to bring down the uncertainty around whether farmers will have enough labour to harvest, pick, pack, process and deliver their goods to the market. Once they have an answer to that, then they can invest in their farm businesses."
He concluded by saying it's vital the sector is given substantial investment: "We need to grow our-self sufficiency as a nation. We are currently at 60 per cent, and we need to increase that.
"The way to do that is to invest in farm businesses, to increase productivity and increase the amount of British food that we are producing. One way we can do that is to give British farmers the confidence to invest".