Farming ‘needs a plan’ says outgoing NFU leader

The leader of Britain’s farming union has said there is “still no plan” for food production in the UK.

Wiltshire farmer Minette Batters, is retiring after six years as President of the NFU.

In that time she has negotiated with the government to create support for farmers, after Britain left the EU.

But four years after Brexit, she said farmers are “still not able to produce food sustainably and produce more of it.”

Ten years ago Minette Batters left her beef and arable farm in the small village of Downton, south of Salisbury, to become deputy President of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).

Farming was always politically controversial, but she had no idea what she would face over the next decade.

Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and then the war in Ukraine would test British farming severely.

When she was elected NFU President in 2018, Britain had voted to leave the EU, but exactly what that would mean for farming rules and subsidies was still up in the air.

“It was an earthquake for farming policy,” one farmer told me.

Hugh Padfield runs 170 dairy cows near Bath, Somerset, and makes their milk into Bath Soft Cheese. His farm is a success, his cheese wins multiple awards.

But like all farmers, government support and the detail of food regulation is crucial to his business.

He said: “When we left the EU we were tearing up what farmers were dependent upon.

“We needed to create a new policy fit for purpose for British farming.

“So it’s been really great to have Minette at the helm arguing the case for farmers.”

The new regulations are still taking shape. Instead of the European Common Agricultural Policy, British farmers will live by the Environmental Land Management System (ELMS).

There is a complex range of subsidies for looking after wildlife, increasing biodiversity, leaving land to nature, even allowing land to flood. Much is still to be decided or announced.

Minette Batters estimates the new rules for England are “about 50% there”.

Some farmers think Ms Batters has not battled hard enough.

“There was not enough challenging of government,” said Liz Webster.

I met Mrs Webster at her family farm near Cricklade, Wiltshire. They farm beef cattle, grow arable crops to feed them, and have a solar farm too.

She is a co-founder of the campaign group, “Save British Farming”, and urges more direct action and tough negotiating tactics.

Recent demonstrations by angry farmers in Spain, France and Greece have prompted many British farmers to wonder if the NFU is too diplomatic, too careful.

Liz Webster recalls one meeting Minette Batters had with Boris Johnson, who was then Prime Minister.

She said she was astonished that Minette believed him when he said he would die before he harmed farming.

“I wish I had been there, we needed more of a fight, a call to arms, and that never happened.”

For her part, Minette Batters continues quiet, steely diplomacy. When Rishi Sunak came to her last NFU conference as President, she smiled, shook his hand, patted him on the back.

But there is a challenge there, nonetheless.

She told the BBC: “Farmers really want to know what the plan for food production is.

“A lot of time has been wasted in politics, I’ve worked with six secretaries of state.

“Focussing on the general election, the question now is this. What is every party’s plan for sustainable food production?

“That’s what farmers want to know,” she added.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk