Agriculture Bill

Baroness Redfern Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Wednesday 10th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Redfern (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his introduction. I welcome this Agriculture Bill, executing as it does the most major reform of the industry for over 50 years. No doubt it may prove challenging during transition, but the Bill will help build a brighter, better, greener future for British farming, clearing away the rigidities, complexities and perversities of the CAP. Moving away from a focus on the amount of land ownership to outcomes, it will be a catalyst and a driver to prevent any further decline in our self-sufficiency. The Bill will make improvements and create more robust and resilient domestic agricultural and horticultural sectors, giving scientists, farmers, plant breeders and animal breeders the same access to new gene editing technologies as the rest of the world.

I welcome within the new framework the important inclusion of environmental protection and the health and welfare of livestock and plants. After years of being subjected to the rules of the CAP, our environment has suffered. Policy which has been implemented in England, for instance, has discouraged tree planting by farmers, and of course agroforestry is not a short-term investment, as forests and woodlands are vital to supporting valuable habitats which have been eroded in the course of different farming directives and quotas. Consequently, farmland bird populations have suffered.

The health of our soil, on which future food production depends—quality and quantity—has been eroded. This should have significant importance in the Bill. There is much greater emphasis on removing certain practices and improving sustainable farming practices, including removing the dependency on pesticides, to ensure the protection of not only soil but water and air, as climate change is reflected in our ecosystems coming under increased pressure.

I welcome the commitment to increase food security, and to improve transparency and fairness in the agri-food supply chain, together with increased protection for agriculture producers selling to business purchasers and the protection of market standards. Of importance in the Bill is the requirement for regular reporting to Parliament on food security, including on where food comes from, its availability and the resilience of the food chain.

With overall annual funding remaining at current levels for this Parliament, and with a transitional period to phase out direct payments in England, we will maximise the potential of land for food production and the delivery of public goods. To deliver all this, greater support has to be given to those trying to access jobs and to helping new, talented entrants get into the sector, ensuring that they will be the future custodians.

With agriculture occupying over 70% of the land mass, investment and growth is necessary in our rural economy, not only for food production but for diversified industries such as renewable energy, tourism and the manufacturing sector, which generates £121 billion for the UK economy. Investment in new technology and equipment will also be necessary, to reduce costs, drive up food production and increase profitability.

I cannot stress enough the importance of having in the Bill a provision that all food imported into the UK must have been produced to standards equivalent to ours. Endorsing high standards of animal welfare must be embedded in the Bill. The same is true of the environmental protections associated with good food production that are required of our producers, and there must be an ability to ban imports that do not meet these ethical high standards. I will be so pleased when shipments of live animals are banned. This is not protectionism; it is about welcoming future trade deals, so long as they are on fair and level terms.

Finally, there is a need to keep customers well informed, with attractive information and labelling, so that they can easily make informed choices. In supporting our industry, from farm to plate, we all can gain.