Farming Industry: Support

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Tuesday 11th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Redesdale, on securing this debate and refer to my interests in the register.

A common strand to all the northern dales, whether Northumbria, Cumbria, Durham or North Yorkshire, is the sheer number of family farms. In North Yorkshire in particular, almost 50% are tenant farmers.

I take issue with my noble friend Lord Lilley. I argue: where is the level playing field? How can it be right that we are imposing higher costs of production in the stringent animal welfare and environmental criteria that our livestock farmers have to meet, yet are going to accept meat produced to a lower standard from Australia and New Zealand? That simply cannot be right, and I ask my noble friend and the Government to look very closely at that.

Also it cannot be right that the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, if my understanding is correct, will outlaw the sale of live animals, particularly the sale of spring lambs to France, which is an outlet that is highly regulated and limited in nature but a source of income to northern farmers. What understanding can my noble friend the Minister and the Government display of livestock farming production? Can she say this evening with clarity what the schemes that replace those under the CAP will contain? Will she endeavour immediately to make the forms simpler at the point of sale at livestock marts, and can she tell us precisely how livestock farmers, particularly small family farms and tenant farmers, will benefit from the new schemes? My wish list this evening is: simpler forms at the point of sale; clarity of the new schemes; and affordable homes for farmers to retire to.