Let's make Brexit work for us, farming minister Eustice tells gathering
Brexit is offering the British farming industry a fantastic opportunity to build a new agricultural policy, defra minister George Eustice told 200 delegates at a farming conference.
He told the Northern Farming Conference that the UK needed to develop sharper regulations and less bureaucracy to tailor the needs of the agriculture industry.
"We need to remove the blinkers of EU membership and work together to build a policy that a decade from now the world will want to emulate. I am confident we can do that," the farming minister told gatherers at the Hexham Auction Mart.
Under the theme 'Farming: Where I see my future', leading farmers from across the country met to examine what the future may hold for farmers.
"I think this is a fantastic opportunity for our industry going forwards. It is the chance of a lifetime and I am looking forward to building a brand new agricultural policy that works for us. The EU got it wrong because it attempted to codify every single feature of the landscape and every single thing a farmer does with his land, which made it hopelessly bureaucratic. The weakness of the EU schemes is that if they get it wrong it takes seven years to sort it out. We need to be much sharper," Mr Eustice said.
'Light at the end of the tunnel'
Sir Peter Kendall, Chair of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and former NFU President said he wanted to build a future for our rural community and make the challenges presented by Brexit 'work for us.'
"I would stake my farm on the fact there is not going to be more money. We need to plan for less support and more competition. Trade is fundamental to our future. It is a massively important issue and we must make sure the government is listening to us every step of the way. Brexit is not just about the city of London."
"Think about your farm business very carefully See where you sit among your peers, and your global competitors. Make plans. Go to your MP’s surgery and talk to them; make sure that farming is at the front of their minds. It is vital we get this right."
Northumberland potato farmer Anthony Carroll told farmers not to panic: "Are you going to come in the farm door or are you just going to hover at the entrance? We have to change. We have to listen to what the market wants but if we can pull together we can make UK agriculture great again."
'Energy and progressive ideas'
CLA President Ross Murray said: "The serious point is that ownership and, in particular, farming is hard work and needs energy and progressive ideas, and the secret is, if at all possible within family businesses, to hand on earlier rather than later, with plenty of warning, training and management of expectations.
"What we all should recognise is that change is a constant. It is to be welcomed and embraced, not run away from. That route spells disaster. Farming as an industry has a queue of bright and hungry youngsters wanting to kick on, frustrated by the lack of opportunity. There are plenty of bed blockers and we all know who we are. Retirement is never an easy subject for a proud community of farmers, and somehow it must happen."
Chairman and Strutt & Parker farm business consultant Robert Sullivan said: "What is remarkable about some of the stories we have heard is the success that can and does lie in farming. At a time when many farms are unprofitable without farm payment support it is clear that there are some trailblazing farmers who are demonstrating that agriculture can be profitable without subsidy. They are a huge inspiration."
A Partner at Armstrong Watson, Andrew Robinson said Brexit has created a huge amount of uncertainty but felt like there was 'light at the end of the tunnel.'