Farming industry outlines election priorities

7 April 2010 | By Alistair Driver

FARMING and rural organisations have been laying out their priorities for the next Government, as the General Election campaign begins in earnest.

NFU president Peter Kendall said the industry needed ‘farming champions’ in Parliament who would put farming ‘at the heart of policy-making’.

He said farmers and growers needed strong political backing if they are to play their part in tackling the global challenges of increasing population, dwindling resources and climate change.

“This general election is crucial to the future of our industry, when we need to increase food production and reduce our impact on the environment. Parties and their candidates need to understand how to help farming meet its potential if we are to play our part in global food security,” he said.

He highlighted the main NFU manifesto priorities, including:

Avoiding ‘excessive or burdensome’ regulation which ‘damages our productive capacity while providing no benefit’.
Taking a leading role in Common Agriculture Policy reform talks, ensuring a common policy across all EU member states and sectors
Introducing n independent supermarket ombudsman to oversee to grocery supply chain’s code of practice.
Clear country of origin labelling.
An independent body for animal health and welfare issues to tackle serious issues like bovine TB.

Mr Kendall said the high number of rural marginal seats meant NFU members could make a real difference in the election and urged them to use the NFU manifesto to ensure candidates put farming at the top of their agenda.

Country land and Business Association president William Worsley said the next Government must rise to meet the twin challenges of securing both food production and the environmental benefits that land management provide.

He highlighted protecting CAP budget as an ‘absolute priority’ as it was ‘the only way to ensure we have food on our tables and the landscape and natural environment that we all want’.

Other CLA manifesto priorities include:

Reforming the planning system so it is ‘positive, flexible, transparent and efficient to allow the growth of rural businesses’.
Delivering superfast broadband to ensure a speed of at least two megabits per second for every rural home and business before promising to deliver more to areas which currently have access.

The Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) has published a document laying out four key priorities for the new Government - productive sustainable UK agriculture, leading the EU agenda, enhancing supply chain dynamics and leading the food science vision.

Key policies include:

Establishing a high level CAP Reform Industry Stakeholder Group, chaired by Defra.
Ensuring the development of a market-based and fully sustainable bio-energy sector.
Replacing the existing EU policy of zero tolerance of non EU authorised GM events with a pragmatic and workable level.
A mandatory system of clear and unambiguous country of origin labelling.

Click here to see the NFU election manifesto

Click here to see the CLA election manifesto