Speech by Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP to the National Farmers' Union Centenary Conference, London – 18 February 2008
Good morning. Happy birthday. And thank you for inviting me to join you here today on this very special occasion for the NFU.
I congratulate you on your Centenary. You have always been, and are still today, a formidable advocate for farmers and growers. I can vouch for that personally, believe you me as someone who spent over 20 years of his life working for a union, your subscription is money well spent!
The great thing about an occasion like this is that it is a chance for all of us both to look back at 100 years of your proud history and forward to the great challenges of the century that lies ahead.
In our jobs – mine as well as yours - we are, of course, pre-occupied with the "problems of today". But taking a step back helps us to view things in perspective; to see where we have come from; to understand our story and by doing so help us make sense of the future.
Those who founded the NFU might, I suspect, regret some of the changes that have taken place over these past 100 years, but they would certainly applaud and be astonished by many others.
In 1908 many more people had a connection with the land – 11% of those working compared with 2% now. There were far more tenanted farms than there are today. In 1905 the value of food and drink exports represented just 8% of the value of food and drink imports; now it’s risen to over 40%. In 1900 agriculture accounted for 6% of national income; today it’s 0.5%, and yet we are more self-sufficient in food now than we were for most of the last century. And as for public funding for farming, there was hardly any of it in 1908; today it is worth £2 billion a year and the Rural Development Programme for England will be worth £3.9 billion over the next 6 years – double the size of its predecessor.
There are those who look at all these changes and say that they have made farming and agriculture less important than they were.
I profoundly disagree!
To me they tell a different story. A story of an industry that has innovated and adapted and increased its productivity out of all recognition to meet the needs of a rising population. A story of the onward march of technology in agriculture. A story of entrepreneurship on an immense scale. A story of British farming becoming stronger in an increasingly interdependent world.
And all of it founded on your understanding of our relationship with the land. One of the changes I think we should mourn is that we have mislaid some of that understanding. We simply cannot afford to lose that unique appreciation of how we need to live in harmony with the earth and how we need to protect our natural resources for the generations that will come after us.
No-one appreciates that more than you; that knowledge of the land and of the living world that farmers have passed from generation to generation to generation over the centuries and have helped to make our rural communities what they are.
And we need agriculture because you are a vital industry, contributing £10 billion of exports in food and drink a year.
Because you look after nearly 80% of our glorious landscape, and have shaped its beauty which lifts our spirits.
Because the demand for what you produce - and for the land on which you produce it - is rising, with record land prices and growing demand for cereals and dairy products, with increasing prices to match.
Because with 6.5 billion of us on this planet already, and probably 9 billion of us by the middle of this century, farmers have a pretty secure future as we will need you to feed us and to feed the world.
Because pressure on that most valuable, but finite, resource – the world’s soils – will grow. And we will not be able to respond without a strong farming industry.
And that’s what you have just spoken about this morning Peter. And can I say that from the very first time I met you, you have been absolutely clear about the challenges that lie ahead and confident about the opportunities that will come with them.
How climate change will influence what we produce and where we produce it as we become a low-carbon economy.
How we deal with the increased risk from adverse weather and invasive pests and diseases.
The pressure on our natural resources as population rises.
The impact of high oil prices on your costs.
The shifting patterns of demand, both globally – as countries like China and India become wealthier – and here at home.
The potential to use cutting edge science to increase production.
And as a society becoming increasingly conscious of the importance of what we eat to our health, increasingly interested in where their food comes - just look at the success of farmers markets - and increasingly aware of the impact of consumption on the environment.
I am committed to farming and its future. As a society we must value the productive capacity of our land and of our farmers. But let’s be honest. If looking back over the last 100 years has taught us anything it is this: what you do, and how you do it will change!
And whilst we may not see eye to eye on every issue, I very much value the relationship I have had with the NFU over the last few months – particularly during a very difficult autumn.
Now I know there are a number of things you are concerned about - that I am concerned about them too - and I want to deal with each of them.
First, the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease last year which should never have happened.
I am only too aware of the terrible consequences this has had for the livestock industry, and especially sheep farmers. I believe in telling it straight, and that is exactly what I got when I sat round the kitchen table at Thomas Binns’ farm last October.
Thomas, your friends and neighbours made it very clear to me how the outbreak was affecting their businesses then and how it would affect their livelihoods for months to come.
Thankfully, things are now starting to recover, with sheep prices up on this time last year including for the export trade. Fatstock cattle are also up on last year. And we can all see the confidence shown in the strong prices paid at sales of breeding stock. But I know that rising feed costs are making things very difficult for livestock farmers, especially for the poultry and pig sectors.
Secondly, single farm payments. The RPA is continuing to make progress. By the end of December, nearly 50,000 farmers had received their 2007 payment. That figure has now risen to more than 90,000 farmers, with over £1 billion now paid out. I am determined - as is the RPA – that the outstanding payments will be made as soon as possible.
Thirdly, bovine TB. Last week, I listened as Peter and his colleagues came to convey to me the depth of the anguish and despair it is causing. I understand that. I have heard from farmers whose herds have TB and I appreciate the difficulties, stress and financial hardship they face. I accept that levels are too high.
Debate on this issue has centred on cattle measures versus badger culling versus vaccination. What we need is a shared view between Government and industry. But let’s be honest with each other about this too. If this was an easy problem to solve, then it would have been solved a long time ago. It isn’t. That’s why we had the ISG study and its report, and we all know what it said.
And I just want to say to you today that the decision I will take – and I will – it will be on my watch, not someone else’s - on what we are going to do together about it will be based on four things: what the science tells us, what impact the proposed measures would have on the disease, how practical is the solution and what is its public acceptability.
I know there are many of you who don’t think that is a factor that I should take into account, but my job means that I have to.
Fourth, regulation. I understand the argument, and some regulation – including from Europe – has had unintended consequences. But regulation is for a reason - to protect soils, preserve biodiversity, improve water quality - all things we would agree on, surely. And I think the best way to deal with these is to listen to, and work, with each other.
And that’s just what we are doing in dealing with the threat of bluetongue.
When I talk about cost and responsibility sharing – something which Ian Anderson said in his report on the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak we should pursue – the way Government and industry have worked together in response to Bluetongue is, in my view, just how we should do so in future.
Through the Bluetongue Industry Core Group we developed a plan for dealing with the disease. We have listened carefully to what you said on the surveillance boundaries.
Having all seen the terrible damage bluetongue has done, we know that vaccination offers the best hope. So, that’s why we are the first country dealing with the current outbreak in northern Europe that has placed an order - for 22.5 million doses of vaccine.
The deal is the government pays for the order up front and the full cost is then recovered as the vaccine is used by farmers. I am today publishing the UK plan - developed closely with the industry - for bluetongue vaccination over the months ahead. It outlines how farmers will be able to purchase vaccine from the bank to help protect themselves – and their neighbours – from the disease. And we will adopt a voluntary approach – because that’s what you said you wanted - which will allow vaccination to go ahead as quickly as possible. And together – when the vaccine arrives - we will get the job done.
That’s how to do it – a true partnership – and that’s how we should do it in future.
Why?
Because it’s a better way to handle things. Because it rewards farmers who manage the risk of disease. And because the £400 million a year the Government is currently spending on animal disease, with the costs of any exotic disease outbreaks coming on top of that, is simply unsustainable.
Sharing costs does however go hand in hand with sharing responsibility for decision-making. If the industry is to take a greater share of the costs of animal health and welfare, as it should, it is only right that the livestock sector has a direct say in the decisions that affect them. No-one understands farmers and farming and the challenges they face in dealing with animal disease better than the industry itself.
That’s what the consultation on how responsibilities and costs might be shared in future is all about. It is a vital part of the process for getting the new structures right.
My offer is – get stuck in and we can design something together. And while I am only too aware of the sensitivities on bovine TB as you have heard – and as Jonathan Shaw heard at the consultation in Exeter last week - I am equally clear that responsibility and cost sharing is the future.
On nitrate vulnerable zones - the evidence is that we need to extend the zones and we’re looking at the results of the consultation.
But the truth is that we all pay, including you, for cleaning up the nitrates that go into our rivers, so two things we are doing to help are in the new Water Strategy launched earlier this month where we have recommended that OFWAT and the water companies work with farmers to provide ways of cleaning up the problem at source rather than at the end of the pipe. And we will be continuing support for farmers on Catchment Sensitive Farming.
I have listened too, on set aside. Faced with the possible loss of considerable environmental benefits – over a large area of land – almost overnight, we did not rush to regulate. I discussed the environmental implications with you Peter and you said – trust us to protect the environment. So I asked Sir Don Curry to bring together a group of all those with an interest to find out the facts. The early results indicate a reduction of just over 50% of former set-aside land, and the group will look at the implications. But as we measure the impact – for example on farmland birds – because action should be based on the evidence.
And let me give you two other examples. In the wake of this summer’s catastrophic flooding, a group of you met me at the Great Yorkshire Show to ask for help. Within 24 hours of that meeting, Defra had temporarily suspended cross compliance regulations preventing farmers from using mechanical equipment and vehicles on waterlogged soil, and allowed farmers to use set-aside land for grazing or harvesting feed for their own animals.
And on the soils directive, last December we succeeded in blocking it in Europe because we did not think that it had got the balance right and nor did you. We listened to what you and local authorities had to say and we acted accordingly.
That’s a Government getting the message but also saying what it thinks. Because I believe that telling each other the truth is a much better way to face the challenges and seize the opportunities of the future.
That’s what I am interested in. And to do that we must "encourage and enable" each other as we deal with the changes that are coming.
First, science and research. We need to get the best out of all the investment that is going in, and I have a proposal. Let’s get all those who are investing in farming and agricultural research – Defra, BBSRC, the Levy Boards, and the private sector – together to look at what’s being spent and where, and let’s see if we have got the priorities right. I will ask Bob Watson – our chief Scientific Adviser – to lead this and I know you’ll be keen to take part.
Secondly, the CAP health check. We’ll consult with you formally when the legislative proposals come out in May, but we know this a chance - as well as to move away from the old system of production subsidies - to ‘free farmers to farm’ and to simplify some of the rules. We’re also alive to some of your concerns about limiting higher levels of payment and introducing new EU risk management measures; we share them.
The Commission is also talking about the ‘new’ challenges on bio-fuels, water management, biodiversity and climate change. There are real opportunities here for agriculture to provide environmental benefits for the public, and be rewarded for doing so. But sustainability is everything.
I really welcome the leadership the NFU has shown on climate change. Your own Climate Change Task Force, and your involvement in the Rural Climate Change Forum.
And the Farming Futures project which is giving practical advice to farmers on how to reduce emissions.
I agree with you that agriculture can be, must be, "part of the solution" to climate change, but that does mean us playing our part. And the best way to export solutions is to do at it home. Responding to the change that is already happening by providing habitats to help species adapt and taking advantage of the opportunities for new crops. I am told that at least one farmer in the south west is now growing olives, apricots and lemons.
And taking action to reduce GHG emissions, including by providing energy crops to replace fossil fuels, protecting carbon stores in woodland and soils, and using anaerobic digestion to generate biogas.
I think the last of these - anaerobic digestion – has a lot of potential, not least because it will help us meet three of our needs at the same time by:
- producing renewable energy;
- reducing uncontrolled methane emissions from
agriculture; and
- helping to divert organic waste, especially food waste, from landfill.
Those who are working on this already have told us that we need to show more people this technology operating if we are to get more investment. Demonstration plants are a great way to do this. So, I am pleased to announce three things today.
First, through the Environmental Transformation Fund we will invest around £10 million to help build a number of commercial-scale anaerobic digestion demonstration plants. I am really keen to try and make sure that agricultural feed stock and food waste can be treated in the same place by getting farmers and local councils to work together.
Secondly, we will also be making resources available from the Environmental Transformation Fund to enable the Carbon Trust to expand its successful innovation activities. As part of this the Carbon Trust is working on a major research project aiming at speeding up the development of second generation bio-fuel technologies. The Trust will potentially commit over £5m to one or more commercially-focussed research projects.
Thirdly, we will be making resources available to fund new rounds of both the Bio-energy Capital Grants Scheme and the Bio-energy Infrastructure Scheme. The Capital Grants Scheme supports the installation of biomass-fuelled heat and combined heat and power plants, including anaerobic digestion, in the industrial, commercial and community sectors. The Infrastructure Scheme supports farmers, foresters and businesses to set up supply chains to provide biomass fuel for heat and electricity end users. The launch date and details for both schemes will be announced soon.
Finally, you’ve asked for a new strategy for farming. Well, following the Farming for the Future Conference in November we’re now in the process of doing just that, building on the foundations laid by the Sustainable Farming and Food Strategy. That’s why we met recently with all those who have an interest to discuss what the ‘Framework for Action’ – to be published this Spring - should contain so as to ensure that farming fulfils its potential.
So, I agree with you Peter. The outlook is bright for farming as the NFU embarks on its next 100 years.
This is a moment of opportunity.
An opportunity to remind us that the future of the world depends on farming.
An opportunity to demonstrate that the industry has the capacity, the ideas, the new products and the skills to increase production to meet the challenge of a rising and a more discerning world population.
An opportunity to enthuse and encourage the next generation of farmers to come forth and take forward what you are building.
An opportunity to show what tomorrow’s agriculture is capable of.
Will everything look the same in another 100 years? No, of course it won’t. Farming, like humankind, has to adapt to prosper. But its story – your story - shows exactly what farmers can achieve.
And as you rightly celebrate your centenary, I think you know that your proud history means that you can face that future with confidence.
Page last modified: 19 February 2008
Page published: 19 February 2008