Farming Road Map and Profitability Review Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Geoffrey Cox
Main Page: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)Department Debates - View all Geoffrey Cox's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Farming Road Map and Profitability Review
Geoffrey Cox Excerpts(1 month, 1 week ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Emma Reynolds
I could not agree more. We have to look at the agrifood sector overall. It is a huge part of our economy, employing 4.1 million people, and its gross value added is equivalent to the automotive sector. My hon. Friend is right that there has been a tendency to underestimate the value of farming. We have to look at it in the wider agrifood ecosystem and in the context of the GVA that the sector brings to the economy.
Sir Geoffrey Cox (Torridge and Tavistock) (Con)
Once upon a time, it would not have been necessary for a Secretary of State for farming to come to the House to say that the primary purpose of farming was food production. The central recommendation of Minette Batters’ report was to make food security a national strategic priority. Does the Secretary of State not realise that unless her road map contains a commitment to make food security a national strategic priority, everything she says in that report will simply be like trying to fill up the bath with plug out? At a time when the generals are telling us that we could be at war in 10 years, surely it is time for the Government to commit to real, precise targets.