Important for us all to pull together

When times are challenging, it’s easy to point the finger of blame at other people – even when our own misfortune is not their fault.

Farming is going through one of those times at the moment. Off the back of a challenging year, we are straight into what many fear threatens to be another wet autumn. Some early drilled crops have already been washed away by floods – thwarting attempts by growers to get crops established by drilling early to beat the rain.

At the same time, the government doesn’t seem to know whether it is coming or going when it comes to farming policy. Neither can Defra say how that policy will be funded. As a result, everything appears to be on hold – at least until the Autumn Budget is announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves on 30 October.

Widespread concerns

There are widespread concerns that funding could be cut right across government, including Defra’s £2.4bn annual budget. There is worry that the department could lose £120m per year or more – equivalent to the amount Defra has underspent in each of the past three years.

So great are these concerns that NFU president Tom Bradshaw is urging farmers to write to their local MP – reminding them that growers and livestock producers are fundamental to the nation’s food security – as well as providing cleaner air and water, looking after the environment and mitigating climate change.

Stand united

To deliver all of this, the NFU believes the Budget for farming should be nearer £4bn. It’s a bold request when public finances are tight. But if you don’t ask, you don’t get – and it shows what could be achieved given adequate resources.

Rather than standing by and letting NFU leaders do all the lobbying, we would urge our readers to make the case for farming too. Write to your local MP. The Budget might only be a few weeks away but there is still time and a letter in the right direction might make all the difference.

There is little we can do about extreme weather – other than make our farms, homes and businesses more resilient to whatever storms it might bring. And some people might say there is little we can do to influence our politicians too. 

But we can have a jolly good go – by standing together and making our case. After all, if we don’t present a united front and stand up for farming, we can hardly expect others to do it for us.

Johann Tasker, Editor