Farming and Rural Communities
Earl of Shrewsbury Excerpts(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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The Earl of Shrewsbury (Con)
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Roborough on securing this important and timely debate. I declare interests as a member of the Game Conservancy Trust, now the GWCT, and a retired member of the NFU; both my sons work in land management and agriculture.
The recent news flow from this Government has created considerable concern and uncertainty in rural communities—in particular, in those dependent on farming, both directly and indirectly, for their livelihoods. The Government should also be concerned, as uncertainty at home, in combination with the challenges posed by trends in global markets, means that many farmers will need to intensify production to make ends meet.
While in the past direct subsidy support of the farming sector could be criticised for preventing innovation in farming practices, the new environmental land management scheme, of which the sustainable farming incentive is part, was a very different approach. This scheme was based on the premise of public money for public goods. These public goods are now often embedded in legislation, such as the target for nature recovery in the Environment Act. The withdrawal of the SFI, with no commitment to its resurrection until after the spending review in June, is therefore a very big concern, as it potentially undermines the Government’s ability to meet their 2030 target to halt the decline in species abundance, to which we are committed under international agreements.
Many farmers chose to go into mid-term Countryside Stewardship back in 2020 when the new ELMS was being created, in order to achieve some certainty in support for their environmental endeavours. Many of these farmers would have been early adopters of Countryside Stewardship schemes, having understood the importance of being enthusiastic contributors to supporting biodiversity on the farm. As a result, when their mid-term schemes finish at the end of this year, they will face the real risk of a gap in support for the measures that are already in place and delivering public goods for public money.
Given the domestic and international economic backdrop for farmers of rising costs and falling incomes, they are likely to opt to focus on food production and revert land currently given over to support pollinators or protect watercourses back into crops, which can be sold to bring in income. This will not only impact on species abundance targets. Farming is a fixed-asset, long-term business model and, as a result, any changes incur costs relating to the challenges of adopting new methods. The SFI included a number of options that supported farmers migrating their farming practices towards more resilient models. As a result, the gap in support that the pausing of the SFI creates also affects the ability of farms to change cultivation practices to those that are less reliant on inorganic inputs, such as fertilisers and pesticides, or which improve soil health, such as longer rotations. While these all benefit the farmer, they are also a public good in that they support wider policy ambitions for pollinators, the national action plan for pesticides and progress towards net zero, for example.
The considerable benefits to the attainment of the Government’s nature recovery targets and the resilience of farming systems to future climate and economic challenges have been undermined by the suspension of the SFI. It is therefore vital that Defra acts as quickly as possible to provide some stability and visibility of scheme availability, to avoid the cliff edge presented by the ending of the Countryside Stewardship mid-tier scheme at the end of this year.
I end on a positive note. The pausing of the scheme allows for reflection on where things went wrong. It appears that Defra knew that the money was going to run out, but did nothing to mitigate this risk. It may have been deemed a success to get the money out of the door, but not at the expense of the benefits that agri-environment schemes have been proven to bring. There is much to like about the SFI, so an in-depth review is not needed. Instead, consideration should be given to the fairer distribution of money through asking farmers to register their interest and the land area they are interested in committing. A cap could then be applied, if needed. If this then resulted in an underspend, farmers could be invited to add other measures to their existing schemes.
Farming Families
Earl of Shrewsbury Excerpts(6 months, 1 week ago)
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The Earl of Shrewsbury (Con)
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, on securing this important debate and making such a powerful speech. I declare my interest as a member of the National Farmers’ Union. In addition, my eldest son is a land agent and my youngest son is a poultry farmer.
It is vital that young people are encouraged into the farming industry. They are the seed corn of the future for farming. Becoming a tenant farmer is often the first step into the industry for a young hopeful. In the past, council-owned smallholdings have played a significant role in this process, but over the years the number of these holdings has diminished as councils have needed to draw in their horns and realise capital assets. Many hopefuls rely on becoming tenants of private landlords. Indeed, tenant farmers look after over one-third of England’s farmland and are thus vital to food production.
Now, thanks to this Budget, they will face additional obstacles placed in their path. In this Budget, delinked farm payments have been capped from next year at £8,000, which will inevitably make it more difficult for tenants to pay their rent. The changes to employers’ national insurance contributions will make employing a farm worker more expensive. In addition, the announced changes to APR and BPR may well force landlords to take tenanted land back in hand and sell it to pay their IHT liability.
The incentive for landlords to invest in and improve their tenanted farm will be severely compromised. Who in their right mind would wish to enhance the value of their property and thus risk a higher tax bill? The banks will be far less inclined to lend to farmers and landlords—especially to tenant farmers.
Both the Government and, in particular, the Secretary of State Steve Reed—I listened to his speech to the CLA conference earlier today—have demonstrated that they are unsupportive of, and uninterested in, either the agricultural industry or the wider rural community. Throughout the run-up to the general election, and ever since, the Government have trumpeted that they are fully supportive of, and wish to protect—in their words—“working people”. I ask the Minister: in their definition of “working people”, do they include tenant farmers and owner-occupier farmers, some of the hardest-working people in the land? If not, why not?
The Government should take a deep breath and rethink these Budget decisions. They have lost the trust of the rural community.
Wild Atlantic Salmon
Earl of Shrewsbury Excerpts(8 months, 2 weeks ago)
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The Earl of Shrewsbury (Con)
My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of the Salmon and Trout Association and the GWCT, and I am in my 50th year of fishing on the River Deveron.
In around 1580, salmon was so prolific on English rivers that apprentices’ indentures on my family’s estate specified that they should be fed salmon on only five days a week. Where on earth have we got to from there?
I shall make just a couple of points. First, the demise of the sand-eel population is nothing short of drastic and affects both salmon and sea trout and a wide range of seabirds, in particular the puffin. What is being done and what is the Government’s policy to protect sand-eel populations? Will they do everything they can to enhance sand-eel stocks and not use them as a bargaining chip in their undoubted efforts to curry favour with the EU?
Secondly, the issue of gill nets in estuaries is of major importance. The buying out of commercial netting has had a considerable beneficial effect on a number of rivers. Salmon and sea trout often swim at a lower depth than the three metres mentioned with regard to gill nets. This should be taken into account when dealing with gill nets.
What is the Government’s policy towards the control of seals, which predate heavily on salmon and sea trout in both coastal waters and estuaries?
Finally—this is the quickest speech I have ever made in my life—is the Minister aware of the excellent research carried out over the past 50 years on the River Frome by the GWCT?