Rural Affairs
Ben Goldsborough Excerpts(1 week, 3 days ago)
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Ben Goldsborough (South Norfolk) (Lab)
I would like to address four issues in the short time that I have. The first is water security. We have heard a lot about flooding today, but as my hon. Friend the Minister will know, in Norfolk we have the opposite issue—water shortages are more of an issue for us. I will also speak about controlled environment agriculture—a new development phase that we can turbocharge in this country—as well as the horticultural sector, which is vital for us, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
In Norfolk, as in the Minister’s constituency in Cambridgeshire, we need to look at water security in a lot more detail. When speaking with farmers last Thursday, one of the issues that came up was the building of reservoirs on agricultural land. Unfortunately, the Environment Agency and other planning authorities are proving to be more of a barrier than a supporter of this construction, which means that our farmers have to tap into more drinking water, which is more expensive and drives up prices for them. The floods Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice (Emma Hardy), who is not in her place, has been working closely with me, and I look forward to working with her to push forward new policies that ensure that reservoirs can be built on agricultural land to develop water security.
It is important to talk about new innovations in agriculture. All too often, we think of the more traditional methods—the herbicide era and the pesticide era—but we are going into a new era of vertical farming and controlled environment agriculture. I believe that these are vital not only because we can get higher yields from less land, but because they are better for the environment and help us meet our climate change targets. However, there is an issue in the current legislation on biodiversity net gain, and I would appreciate it if the ministerial team would consider it. Because these are closed structures, in their essence they are not net gain providers of biodiversity.
At the same time, these structures decrease land use because they can increase production on a smaller site. They also use fewer damaging pollutants that leach into the area because they are, by their nature, closed systems. They reduce carbon emissions because they are able to precisely grow and engineer the plants that we need. To follow a bit of a theme, they have a smaller water footprint—going back to my first issue of what is important for Norfolk, we need proper use management of our water system. It would be great if my hon. Friend the Minister would look into BNG requirements on controlled environment agriculture to make sure that we can grow this industry, tackle our climate emission targets and be at the forefront of this sector around the world.
Next up, horticulture is important for my constituency of South Norfolk. I have Viking Nurseries, which I will visit in couple of weeks’ time. Hon. Members’ teams may have noticed that I sponsored the Horticultural Trades Association in Parliament, which gave out 153 house plants. I hope that we brightened up the Houses of Parliament and all offices across the estate. It was a fantastic event, and it was important to raise awareness that horticulture should not be overshadowed by agriculture. Both are aspects of our economy.
The House of Lords report on horticulture recently showed that the sector supports 674,000 jobs and contributes about £28 billion to UK GDP and about £6 billion in taxation. It is not something to be sniffed at. We also need to bear in mind that our country was the forerunner in horticulture, and we have lost that crown over the years to the Dutch. There is no reason why we should not regain that crown, and we should be pushing for that as a new Government.
The other issue that I would like to concentrate on is biosecurity and the APHA. As was mentioned by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, bluetongue was sadly first found in Haddiscoe in my constituency. The outbreak spread across the eastern coast, and we are living with the consequences. There are extremely sad situations when people take animals to market and lower prices are being charged for no reason, even though they are being moved within the market control area. That is an issue that we see with our biosecurity. This week we have also seen the first measured case of the new variant of avian influenza coming to our shores, which should worry us greatly.
From speaking to the APHA, it concerns me that it is fighting on so many fronts. Sugar beet has a longer growing season, so there are aphids for longer because they are not killed off by the frost, and we therefore have more yellow leaf. We have bluetongue and avian influenza and over the seas we have African swine fever as well. These are great risks to UK biosecurity. I greatly welcome what was announced in the Budget—more than £200 million for investment into biosecurity—but we must work closely with the Home Office to make sure that our border security officers are fully trained in this area to recognise the issues coming to our shores and protect our farmers, agriculture and horticulture, which provide so much to South Norfolk and to the United Kingdom.
Farming and Food Security
Ben Goldsborough Excerpts(1 month, 2 weeks ago)
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Ben Goldsborough (South Norfolk) (Lab)
It is an absolute honour to follow the hon. Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage). Hearing her speech and her passion and dedication, not just for the area she lives in but for the environment in general, is inspiring for everyone in the House, so I congratulate her on her maiden speech.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (North Cotswolds) (Con)
I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. I would like to pay tribute to my neighbour, the hon. Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage), for an excellent maiden speech. I am very glad that she appreciates the huge beauty of parts of my former constituency. I know that she will represent it well. I was very sorry to lose it. I have many friends in that constituency and I wish her well.
Ben Goldsborough
It is lovely to hear a bit of cross-party action to start off; I will try not to spoil that tone.
Today’s debate is a vital one on the future of not only South Norfolk’s food security but that of the UK. For too long, those who have put food on our table have worked our land but sadly been taken for granted. I stand here as the first Labour MP for South Norfolk in 74 years. That should show the House that rural communities up and down the country have wanted change, and it is for us to prove that we are ready to take up that mantle.
In South Norfolk we are lucky, because we have the innovation of the Norwich research park. Those who are local—I can see nodding from the hon. Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman)—will know that these are the centres of excellence that will drive our agriculture forward in agritech and high-end industry. The innovation of the John Innes Centre is second to none as it strives to meet the increasing demands and pressures on the national and international food security system. The gene editing techniques that it has been developing and working on have the potential to transform British agriculture by increasing yields and crop resilience, and to help us face the climate crisis that we are all heading towards.
I welcome the news from the Front Bench that the Government will be taking action on precision breeding. That is a great step forward in what we needed to see. There is an incredible opportunity in the heart of South Norfolk to transform our food security and to support farmers on the frontline who are dealing with the consequences of climate change in producing more food with less impact on the environment.
As we address the challenges facing our farmers and the urgent need to secure our food supply, it is important to highlight the amazing work of the Earlham Institute. The Earlham Institute is a beacon of life sciences training and innovation, and its contributions are vital to tackling food insecurity and safeguarding our future. Its cutting-edge research is developing the latest tools and approaches to monitor and predict how diseases evolve and spread. This kind of knowledge is critical for the future of British farming, as it will allow us to anticipate and mitigate the risks that threaten our food security. The Earlham Institute’s contributions go far beyond research. It is also a hub for training the next generation of scientists and ensuring that Britain remains at the forefront of life sciences and agricultural innovation. I am immensely proud to represent the constituency that is home to such important institutions. The Earlham Institute is doing the hard work necessary to safeguard our food security and supply.
Faced with the challenges of water security—sadly, I note that that was missing from the Opposition’s motion—farmers tell me when I meet them that there is a huge barrier in the way of their collecting the water that they need and building the reservoirs that they want on their land because of action taken by the Environment Agency. Why on earth should we stand in the way of farmers who want to protect their land from drought, while also protecting local areas from flood risk, by capturing water to use at a lower cost than tapping into the mains water that we all need? I hope that my Front-Bench colleagues will work with me to secure planning reform on this issue, so that we can build more reservoirs on farming land to help with food security.
Farmers have also raised concerns with me about biodiversity net-gain regulations, which are currently slowing down our progress on food production. I recently visited Fischer Farms, just over the border, and it is a great step forward. I hope that we can adopt these measures.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I call David Chadwick to make his maiden speech.
Oral Answers to Questions
Ben Goldsborough Excerpts(2 months, 1 week ago)
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Mary Creagh
This is a very new policy and has only just come into force, as the hon. Lady will be aware. There are very limited exemptions in place at the moment, such as that on side returns on housing, but we are keeping the issue under active review and I am in discussions with officials about it.
Ben Goldsborough (South Norfolk) (Lab)
The bluetongue outbreak in Haddiscoe is seriously concerning, and it is crucial that the Animal and Plant Health Agency is provided with sufficient resources to conduct testing swiftly. Will my right hon. Friend meet me to discuss this urgent matter?
Steve Reed
I am happy to ensure that the relevant Minister meets my hon. Friend to discuss the issue. However, the APHA and other authorities are doing a good job right now of containing a very worrying incident of bluetongue.