Climate Change: Support for Farmers

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, I congratulate the right reverend Prelate on securing this debate and welcome the Minister to his place.

I will share with my noble friend Lord Hannan the figures that I have received from the Library. Our exports to the EU of fruit and vegetables combined, in the 12 months to November 2024, were £378 million in value. Our imports from the EU were £5,086 million. There seems to be a bit of a mismatch there, so his plea to remove tariffs does not seem to be working. We are importing millions of pounds-worth more in fruit and vegetables from the EU that we are exporting to it.

Today, we are looking at potential shortages of broccoli and cauliflower, and regrettably also of other greens, such as kale, brassicas such as collard greens, and turnips. This is very disappointing for someone who loves their greens, as I do. The Minister is in a good position to help vegetable growers with how climate change is impacting them. What steps is he taking to protect farmland from loss of crops and vegetables through floodwater, and through coastal erosion? What steps, such as adaptation measures, is Defra looking at to protect farmland? I declare my interest as a vice-president of the Association of Drainage Authorities and join my noble friend Lord Taylor in paying tribute to the work that it does.

Will farmers be reimbursed for storing floodwater on farmland? Can the Minister confirm that this will not breach the current de minimis rules under the relevant reservoir Act? Currently, farmers are not funded to store water on their farmland, nor are they reimbursed for managed retreat encroaching through coastal erosion. Will Defra and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government ensure that internal drainage boards are properly funded and resourced to do the excellent work of draining and dredging that they do? Their work is entirely complementary to the work of the Environment Agency but performs a function that no one else is reimbursed for or paid for on minor watercourses throughout low-lying areas of England.

On the wider issue of self-sufficiency, given the figures I referred to earlier and the increased threat to food security from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other global conflicts, what steps will Defra and the Department for Business and Trade take to boost self-sufficiency at home in fruit and vegetables, and boost opportunities to increase our exports abroad? These trade issues have been debated on many occasions in this House, not least during the passage of the agriculture, environment and trade Acts, and more recently in discussions around individual trade agreements. We must take measures to boost production of fruit and vegetables at home and opportunities to export. Some 62% of the food that we need is produced at home, but only 53% of fresh vegetables and, woefully, 16% of fruit. I hope the Minister takes heed of and looks at this. Will he address it through the land use framework, which we look forward to, and respond to the NFU’s plea to Defra to ensure that all ELM schemes are available and properly resourced?