Call comes ahead of the Budget in November
The NFU has called on the government to renew its relationship with farmers and growers in the Budget by introducing measures that will ignite investment and growth in the industry.
The union’s call comes as it says “rock-bottom confidence leaves investment as bone-dry as the fields this summer”.
That confidence has been knocked most severely by the changes to inheritance tax, it stresses, which have left farmers and growers to make choices about where to cut investment on farm to try to save capital to pay for possible tax liabilities.
By way of example, the NFU cited growers in Lincolnshire who have put off investing in a temperature controlled storage unit to keep the potatoes for fish and chips fresh.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “Farmers and growers either choosing not to or being unable to invest in their businesses should worry us all. These are the businesses that produce the nation’s food, underpin the UK’s largest manufacturing sector – which is worth £153 billion to the economy and supports 4.2 million jobs – and manage and protect our iconic countryside.
“This is the same farmed countryside that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet stood in front of on stage at the Labour Party conference with the slogan ‘Renew Britain’ emblazoned on top of sunny rural landscapes.
“The reality is far from sunny in those communities, with confidence levels at an all-time low. This matters because without investment in farming today, we risk food supplies for tomorrow.
“During the Labour Party conference, the Defra secretary said she wanted to ‘make sure the government renews our relationship with the NFU and the farming community’. Even at this late stage, there is still time for the government to do that.
“That’s why ahead of the Budget, I have urged the Chancellor again to take the handbrake off of Britain’s farmers, look at the alternatives on offer to the family farm tax and work with us to unlock the investment British food production so desperately needs.”
