NFU: We need to see policy ahead of general election
The president of the National Farmers' Union has said that parties must present their plans on policy for British food production, and details on how much investment the agriculture sector will be getting. Minette Batters said "I can't stress enough the importance of this general election... We're missing what the future of food production is going to look like, and that is what I want to see outlined." Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Transcript
00:00 I've worked with three different prime ministers.
00:02 They might as well have come from different parties.
00:04 They've had very, very different approaches.
00:07 What I do think with the prime minister, Rishi Sunak,
00:09 is it is a different government right now,
00:13 as far as farming goes and as far as food production goes.
00:17 We've fought for a long time to get this annual reporting
00:21 on food security.
00:22 When we left the European Union,
00:24 I was very clearly told that it was going to be
00:26 every five years.
00:27 We managed to move it to every three years.
00:29 The prime minister announced today
00:30 that it's going to be done annually,
00:32 and the government is going to put food security
00:35 as part of our critical national infrastructure.
00:37 That's a massive step change.
00:39 We don't have enough policy from any party.
00:42 So my challenge to Labour or the Lib Dems or the Greens
00:45 is what is your plan for British food production?
00:49 How much money will you be investing?
00:52 How are we going to manage our water security
00:54 to underpin our national food security?
00:56 We've got many parts of the country underwater,
00:59 and no party yet has a policy position
01:03 on the future of our food.
01:05 I can't stress enough the importance
01:07 of this general election, a clear plan for farming,
01:10 a clear plan to be producing more food here.
01:12 Farmers are up for delivering for the environment
01:15 and for nature, but we're missing
01:17 what the future of food production is going to look like,
01:19 and that's what I want to see outlined tomorrow.