Baroness Minette Batters’ Government-commissioned Farm Profitability Review has been published, setting out a number of recommendations on how Government can work with industry to strengthen farm businesses.
In the review, Batters emphasised the importance of using data to boost productivity, simplify regulation and to provide more targeted support for innovation.
She went on to highlight the need for a partnership between farmers and the wider food industry. Meanwhile, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Emma Reynolds revealed the creation of a new Farming and Food Partnership Board, which she will oversee with Farming Minister Dame Angela Eagle.
In her announcement, Reynolds stated the new board would “help shape decisions, remove barriers to investment and tackle the challenges the sector faces”.
Baroness Minette Batters commented: “I want to thank all those that have responded to the Farm Profitability Review and I encourage everyone to read the Review in full.
“I’m pleased that the Secretary of State recognises the need to establish a new approach to growing the British brand at home and abroad by producing, creating and selling more from our farms in a measurable way.
“With ever more extreme weather, the horrific, ongoing war in Ukraine and 69.7 million people in the UK, now is the time to deliver food security as national security.”
National Farmers’ Union
Responding to the publication of the Government-commissioned Farm Profitability Review, NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “This is a thorough and complex report, and we will take our time to digest the details and analyse the recommendations made by Baroness Batters to improve the profitability of Britain’s farming businesses.
“As we continue to face huge and wide-ranging challenges from geopolitical uncertainty and trade deals that threaten to undermine our marketplace, to uncertainty around the future of environmental schemes, extreme weather events, continued price volatility and the unfair family farm tax, this report is right to recognise that reform is needed. Changes that will drive competitiveness and profitability, which are critical elements of thriving farming businesses, are also crucial to achieving the Government’s own targets for economic growth.
“This is about enhancing the financial resilience and long-term sustainability of British farming – the bedrock of the nation’s largest manufacturing sector, food and drink, worth £153 billion to the economy and an industry that supports more than four million jobs.
“In the NFU’s submission to this review, we set out our key priorities which we believe are needed to provide stability and restore farmer confidence. It’s therefore encouraging that the five priority areas singled out by Defra are consistent with what the NFU has been calling on Government to prioritise.
“The creation of a new farming and food partnership board with profitability and food security at its heart will enhance collaboration and ensure the Government and industry can work in partnership delivering on the issues that matter most for the sector.
“A commitment to continue working on supply chain fairness is a top priority for all farming sectors, while delivering planning reforms will help underpin growth for the industry. Refocused efforts on growing our exports is also welcome and vital to adding value for domestic producers.
“And while private finance can play a big part in delivering new income streams and delivering for nature, we can’t hide from the fact that significant challenges remain to this beyond the pilot stage to a truly scalable market delivering financial opportunities for farmers.
“The ball is now in Defra’s court. Ministers have to drive these priority areas forward. But alongside this, there are other immediate actions that are needed to boost British farming like providing much-needed clarity and certainty on the future of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and doing the right thing on the pernicious inheritance tax changes.
“Secretary of State Emma Reynolds recently said that farm profitability was vital to enable the UK agriculture sector to grow. We couldn’t agree more. The NFU stands ready to work with Government to deliver our collective ambitions for economic growth delivered by a British agriculture sector that is set up to thrive.”
National Sheep Association
National Sheep Association (NSA) chief executive Phil Stocker stated: “NSA is pleased to at last be able to read the extensive review. I’d like to thank Baroness Minette Batters for all her work in compiling this review and I am pleased NSA was able to contribute in a number of ways.
“We welcome the review’s emphasis on greater recognition of the wider economic importance of farming, strengthening market foundations and putting an economic value on nature provision, improving fairness in the supply chain and ensuring that farming businesses are better equipped to manage volatility and rising costs, something that almost every farmer in the UK has been all too familiar with in recent years.
“Many of the review’s recommendations have clear relevance for sheep farmers, particularly those operating grazing livestock systems in upland and marginal areas, where it has been identified that margins are tight, exposure to volatility is high, and access to SFI intermittent.”
Carter Jonas
Chris Turner, a partner at property consultancy Carter Jonas, said: “Many of the points raised in the Farming Profitability Review will resonate strongly with farm and estate owners who want to deliver food, environmental outcomes and resilient rural communities.
“Our clients have the intent and the willingness but, over the past decade, well-meaning policy and ideas have been undermined by trade-offs, duplication, and delivery challenges. Given what landowners know about the UK’s budget for agriculture, there will also be doubts over whether the money required to deliver greater farm profitability exists.
“Many of the recommendations are for reform at the very top of Defra, which we know will take time. To achieve greater profitability, there is also a requirement for a significant increase in public understanding of domestic food production. Again, this is not a quick process.
“Whether farmers and landowners will adopt and support the ideas Baroness Batters has put forward will hinge on whether the Government intends to release a budget for agriculture which enables schemes to be viable, and commits to them for the medium-to-long term.
“What our clients need most is clarity and certainty so they can plan.”
