Farming: Financial Sustainability Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Ellie Chowns
Main Page: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)Department Debates - View all Ellie Chowns's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Farming: Financial Sustainability
Ellie Chowns Excerpts(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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Dr Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I will be brief.
It is wonderful that we are having this debate, and indeed that we had today’s statement, although sadly I was not able to be in the Chamber to hear it. We need to recognise that farmers are central to our health, wellbeing and security as a nation, for three reasons. The first is good food: we need to produce as much of our food as possible as locally as possible. The second is good land: we need to care for our land; after all, it is the soil on which everything that farmers produce depends. The third is good livelihoods: rural farming communities, such as mine in North Herefordshire, are entirely interlinked with health, wellbeing, and financial and ecological sustainability.
It is disappointing that the Government sadly got off on the wrong foot with farmers, but I hope today marks something of a turning point. We need two things from the Government. First, we need regulation that works for farmers, with a level playing field. That means consistently applied regulation across the country and internationally. We cannot have our farmers undercut by imports produced to lower standards. Secondly, we need investment in farming, to enable farmers to transition to more nature-friendly and river-friendly methods, and to support the security and sustainability of farming in the UK.