Farming Road Map

Lord Hintze Excerpts

Thursday 16th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

The war in Iran has highlighted a number of areas where there is cause for concern in the long term. Clearly, there has been a lot of concern around the availability of fertiliser. As I mentioned earlier, it is a global market. While we do not see that there is an immediate risk in UK supply, we are looking at this very seriously. For example, Defra has asked the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board to increase the frequency of its fertiliser price reporting; that is now being published weekly to support farmers in their decision-making. We have also issued a fertiliser survey, aimed at farmers and land managers, so that we can build a better picture and get a better understanding of any direct impacts. We want to work closely with industry and farmers on how we move forward with this.

[Lord Hintze (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my farming interests in Somerset and the Cotswolds. More importantly, how many civil servants are actually working on this and what on earth are they doing? Are we back in analysis paralysis? This is not the first delay we have seen because the Government “want to get it right”. What are they doing?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I assume the noble Lord is referring to the publication of the farming road map. I have said that it will be published by the end of this year. Civil servants are working extremely hard on this.