THE NFU president has launched a scathing attack on the contradictory nature of Government policy, branding its handling of the pig crisis a disgrace and a disaster and demanding that it come up with a coherent plan that delivers for British farming.
Speaking to delegates on the first day of the National Farmers Union Conference in Birmingham, Minette Batters said the past year had been a rollercoaster and that it was the Governments duty to pre-empt crises rather than repeatedly running into them.
Mrs Batters did not hold back as she took Government to task over a series of failings notably in the pig sector which has seen 40,000 healthy pigs culled and which she said could have been avoided. She also revealed that some pig farmers were approaching debts of one million pounds which were rising week on week.
She said: This, truly is, an utter disgrace and a disaster for the pig industry. This is down to Governments poorly designed change to immigration policy and what I can only say appears to be their total lack of understanding of how food production worked. The pain and emotional anger from those pig farmers who feel utterly let down and abandoned is palpable.
Mrs Batters spoke at length about the many challenges the industry was facing, including rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine and threat the former posed to wheat and ammonium nitrate exports, the cost of living crisis, climate change, inflation and shortages in the labour market which would inevitably lead growers to go out of business.
The NFU president also pointed to positives including the Governments decision to listen to the NFU to provide eight agricultural attaches who could sell British farming overseas and to fight the industrys corner in the face of rising competition from global trade deals.
Mrs Batters also used the platform to launch the NFUs Blueprint for the Future which outlines the unions proposals for the industry including, education, labour, connectivity and access. But the overriding demand was that the Government and the industry should be working to the same objectives.
She said: There needs to be a plan. A plan which enables Britain to keep on farming and to continue to be world leaders in high quality, safe and sustainable food. Food from your farms.
