The start of a new decade marks a new recognition of farmers as food producers and a vital part of the challenge of feeding a growing population, NFU deputy president Meurig Raymond said yesterday.
Speaking at the Pershore Farming Heroes conference, Raymond said the publication of the Government’s Food 2030 report marks the next step in government recognition of the importance of farmers and growers in the nation’s food security needs.
“DEFRA ministers now accept that if we are to meet the twin challenges of climate change and increasing food production to feed a growing world population, we must have a competitive, resilient and profitable farming sector. We can and must produce more but impact less. But we can only do this with the support of government.”
Raymond outlined the importance of a properly functioning, well resourced near market research and development pipeline to maintain the competitiveness of the agriculture and horticulture industries. He stressed how R&D is also needed to provide new crop protection solutions to fill the gaps left as a result of new EU legislation.
He said: “Our lobbying in Europe meant that the worst excesses of the EU legislation on pesticides were watered down. We must now act to ensure that by the time the legislation begins to bite, our growers have access to new methods of pest and disease control that enable them to continue producing the quality crops that consumers have come to expect.”
Raymond also explained why businesses must have confidence that in the future they will be able to secure sufficient seasonal labour to plant and harvest crops.
“With the current SAWS arrangements timed to run out at the end of 2011, we must ensure that growers aren’t left in the dark about where they can secure their labour needs from,” he said. “That means a new SAWS scheme, as well as enabling and encouraging our domestic population to take up seasonal labour opportunities.”
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