Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Robert Barlow (RAS 16a)
1. Thank you for what you did in organising
the event yesterday at the Royal Show. I appreciated the opportunity
to speak to the Committee. You will recall that we were invited
to send in further comments/observations that we might wish to
make to the committee.
2. DEFRA STAFF
While I have no doubt that what has been said
about Defra staff not understanding agriculture and the needs
of farmers, I hope that you will not assume that is the whole
picture. Defra have a large office in Worcester and I have met
with some of the staff and know a few of them quite well. In the
main, they are competent and professional, sometimes as frustrated
as the farmers are at the bureaucracy of the system. I have noticed
instances of farmers' sons and daughters unable to work in the
family farm (because the business is not large enough to support
another salary) wanting to retain links with farming and thus
working for Defra. I don't want to minimise the damage done by
Defra staff that don't understand agriculture, but I wouldn't
want you to think that is the whole picture.
3. PRICE AND
VALUE OF
FOOD
It seemed to me that in discussion there was
concern about the price of food, but perhaps we need to try and
promote an understanding of the value of food. The BBC did research
last year that showed that in the UK we throw away uneaten around
a third of food produced. The economic price of this waste is
the equivalent of the entire national Council Tax bill. If we
valued food as the basic need that sustains our life and produced
at the cost of animal life (this is true of all diets except vegan)
then we might make better use of it. There is no need for consumers
to pay more for food for farmers to get a fair reward, the same
amount spent more wisely could have the same effect.
July 2006
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