Conservative Party Conference

Food security at the heart of policy

REDUCED red tape and increased trust to achieve environmental goals, plus a commitment to domestic food production, were just some of the promises laid down to farmers by Shadow Agriculture Minister Jim Paice.

He told the conference on Wednesday, that food security was at the core of the party's Quality of Life report which lays out its policy proposals for farming, the environment and other issues.

“Production of our indigenous food has fallen from 81 per cent to 71 per cent in the last 10 years. Two years ago the Government said food security was not a policy objective.

“That is an abdication of responsibility. It is incredibly short-sighted and that is the great divide between us.”

Food security was a Conservative priority because climate change, water shortages and growing global demand for food were squeezing supplies, he said. “The Government's view is that, having abolished production subsidies, farming is on its own and it doesn't matter if it survives or not.”

He promised ‘to set farmers free to farm' by reducing the burden of regulation. “It is easier said than done but we will do it by trusting farmers to achieve the desired outcome rather than by assuming farmers are all intent on breaking the rules.”

He also pledged to improve food labelling, and country of origin in particular, which would help farmers ‘reconnect' with their customers.

Mr Paice also gave a commitment to encourage more loyalty to home-produced food within public bodies, including schools and the Army.

Protecting British agriculture from imported disease was also a concern. Conservative efforts to improve security would be more than ‘just increasing the number of sniffer dogs from six to 10, like Labour'.

“We will ensure that food imports are properly inspected and not just the paperwork,” he promised. The party would trial the use of detection methods to find risk material in passengers' luggage.

The Conservatives understood that farming was about more than just food, said Mr Paice. “The landscape was created by farmers. If we want to maintain and protect our landscape we must work with farmers.”

Rural tourism was worth £14million a year, he said, yet without farming there would be no countryside for tourists to enjoy. “The truth is, no cows no countryside,” he said, quoting the slogan from the Farmers Guardian Fair Trade for British Farmers campaign.

He pledged to give rural communities real local powers as many policymakers ‘did not have a clue' about what life was like in rural areas. “And if they are part of the Labour Government they don't care.

“Our countryside is fed up with being ignored and treated with suspicion and of having everything to do with it well and truly cocked up.”