Farming Road Map and Profitability Review

Sarah Bool Excerpts

Wednesday 24th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Emma Reynolds]

Farmers face lots of different challenges, one of which is volatile global commodity prices, along with some of things my hon. Friend mentioned. On public procurement, we are working to establish an accurate baseline of what percentage of the public sector gives contracts to our farmers. We are also looking at what more we can do to enable farming co-operatives to access those public contracts.

[Sarah Bool (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

The UK-EU SPS agreement is going to be vital, and we need to understand its terms, particularly about the implementation period, as it will have an impact on our trading deals with other nations. Given that it is due to be implemented next year, and time is ticking, can we have more detail on the agreement, or can the relevant Minister come in front of the EFRA Committee to explain further details?

[Emma Reynolds]

As the hon. Lady knows, I am always happy to appear before her Committee. There is an ongoing discussion with the EU about implementation timelines. I cannot give her a running commentary, but I can say that we are working closely with the National Farmers’ Union about the implementation timelines. We want a smooth transition to what comes next. As I said in my statement, we know that farmers plan along longer timescales, and they are using products now that they have in the ground. We are looking at transition timelines, being careful about them, and engaging closely with the sector.