Direct Payments to Farmers (Crop Diversification Derogation) (England) Regulations 2020

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

My Lords, in the very limited time available, I would like to raise two issues: protecting our current standards and the value of crop diversity in nature as mitigation against climate change and for promoting human health. On the first, a lot of people have contacted me extremely worried about the possible American intrusion into our farming practices and production lines. I have repeatedly reassured them that House of Lords Ministers have repeatedly assured Peers that there will be no lessening of standards, whether in production or distribution. There is also widespread concern about GMOs and I am not sure that the Government understand the danger that they pose to all of us. Therefore, we need tough standards on safeguards for imported food. We cannot allow farmers—a valuable national resource—to be undermined and undercut by imports produced to lower environmental, animal welfare and food safety standards.

On the second issue, I am well aware that less diversity in crop growing could mean less diversity nationally in the food that we grow. If we do not have some sort of national plan, I am sure that that could happen. We are all aware that we do not grow enough food to feed ourselves and we do not grow the diversity of food that we have come to expect in our diets and almost certainly never will. Food security is needed, and that can be helped by self-sufficiency, but even during the last war we produced only 75% of our own food and there was a very restricted range of foods on offer. There is also the point that less diversity can mean monocultures, which are extremely damaging. All our Bills and the strategies—on agriculture, the environment and even fisheries—need to be knitted together. I am sure that we Peers can help the Government to do that.