Next government 'must address issue of food security', says Peterborough farmer
A former NFU Chair says Cambridgeshire and the Fens have been hit with "the wettest 6 months in 200 years"
Last updated 18th Jun 2024
There are challenges in food security which must be faced by whoever wins the General Election, according to a sugar beet farmer from Peterborough and member of the National Farmer's Union (NFU).
Former regional chair for the NFU in East Anglia, Michael Sly, said: "Whoever the next government may be, we do need to address the situation of food security and sustainable supply chains.
Covid, EU exit, all these things have shown how fragile and complicated supply chains can be, and with the climatic change that farmers in the UK and across the world are all facing, society is facing this.
We've just been through, in this part of the world, the wettest six months in 200 years.
There are challenges ahead that whoever occupies the green benches in Westminster will need to face into. They're not the challenges of the past, these are the challenges of the future."
He added: "I think there is an opportunity in this election that the rural vote will be important for the first time probably in a few generations. Hopefully the prospective politicians will listen to the asks of the NFU and other farmers out there.
We have an opportunity to work together and I think that's what we should do as a nation. But it's been fairly broken within the last eight years of uncertainty of where we're going and what we're going to do."
What's the NFU's response to the election manifestos?
Farmers' union, the NFU, has published its response to each of the election manifestos set out by Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “There are plenty of positives across the three manifestos, and it’s clear that our constructive and open lobbying on many areas has been listened to...
“But the single most vital element is the agricultural budget. This isn’t just ‘money for farmers’, it’s the funding which helps the sector transition away from the old EU system, allows farm businesses to invest for the future and makes governments’ aims around sustainable food production, food security, the environment and net zero possible....
...We are continuing to engage with candidates across all parties to highlight the importance of a thriving homegrown food sector, and the need for resilient and profitable farming and growing businesses to underpin it.”