Farming: 25-year Road Map

Lord Garnier Excerpts

Monday 28th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

Food security is not just about what we grow in this country; it is also about what we import. We can never grow everything that we need, so having security of the waters is critical. I am certain that the noble Lord would support any work that Defra is doing to ensure that we have that security. Border Force does a lot of work as well, which is critical.

[Lord Garnier (Con)]

My Lords, can we not get too bound up about a 25-year road map, whatever it is called? What we are worried about is a 25-month road map. The farming sector is under great strain as a direct consequence of what the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced quite recently. How many farm holdings does the Minister think there will be in 25 months as a direct consequence of what the Government are doing, and what effect will that have upon the rural, and therefore the national, economy?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I am aware that there are a lot of concerns around some of the recent decisions regarding funding and farming. However, one reason this has been quite difficult is that farming has been facing a lot of challenges for many years now. There has been far too little security for farmers and far too little decent payment to farmers for the goods that they have been producing. The point of the farming road map is to provide some long-term security for the first time in many years.