Plans to boost productivity and grow food and farming exports by more than £7 billion were announced today by the Prime Minister, as he visited the Royal Welsh Show in Powys.
David Cameron outlined how, under existing inspection regimes, a tangle of seven regulators carry out more than 125,000 farm inspections a year to England’s 250,000 farms – taking up valuable time and limiting the potential of the farming industry to grow further.
He said that streamlining the process, and making better use of the technology and data, will radically reduce the number of inspections. And by summer 2016, farmers will only have to deal with one Single Farm Inspection Taskforce which will combine farm visits with mandatory checks. It will also use the latest technology to streamline the approach to inspections — for example using satellite data to analyse different crop types in fields.
Mr Cameron said the government would also help to create more than £7 billion worth of new opportunities, identified by the CBI, to drive up food and drink exports from the whole of the UK to countries outside the EU, including India, China and Brazil, creating more rural jobs, bringing greater investment to local communities and growing the British economy.
This will build on more than 600 markets opened since 2010. Securing access for lamb to China alone could be worth a potential £60 million to our economy, Mr Cameron added.
The Prime Minister said: "I am very pleased to be at the Royal Welsh Show today to see the best in livestock, food and drink Wales has to offer.
"Farming and food production are a fundamental part of our rural economy. As a One Nation government, we will keep on backing British farmers to grow and sell more home-grown food by liberating them from red tape and opening up new multi-million pound export markets."
The government has also committed to increasing Protected Food Names from 63 to 200 – with Carmarthen Ham and Welsh Laverbread expected to be confirmed later this summer.
It is estimated the total value of UK Protected Food Names is more than £900 million.
In addition, the creation of a new UK-wide Food Innovation Network will give small and medium-sized businesses greater access to existing world-leading technology and science, helping them innovate and grow.
NFU President Meurig Raymond said: “Despite current short-term challenges the British farming sector has strong ambitions to make the most of significant opportunities to grow the industry.
“The NFU welcomes the prospect of simplification of the regulatory regime which should remove barriers to growth and encourage investment. At a time when commodity prices have plummeted, delivering reduced administration hurdles must also equate to reduced costs for farm businesses.
“Today’s announcement by the Prime Minister shows that the Government is taking this issue seriously, but there is still much that can be done, as highlighted in the NFU’s manifesto.
“We need to create more opportunities to get more great British products into new domestic and global markets. The NFU shares the Government’s ambition to develop a 25-year plan and develop a profitable, productive and sustainable food and farming sector with good access to research, science and technology.”
