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Food, Farming and the Environment
2.29 pm
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Hilary Benn): I beg to move,
That this House has considered the matter of food, farming and the environment.
May I begin by giving a warm welcome to the Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Canning Town (Jim Fitzpatrick), who has joined the DEFRA team and to, in his absence, the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Wansdyke (Dan Norris)? I also pay tribute to the enormous amount of work done by my right hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Jane Kennedy) and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath. They did a terrific job and we will miss them both. I apologise to you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Nick Herbert) and to the House if I am not able to be present for the wind-ups because of responsibilities relating to the oral statement that I made earlier.
I would like to update the House on the difficulties faced by the employees and farmer members of Dairy Farmers of Britain. As I told the House last week, that dairy co-operative, with 1,700 employees and 1,800 dairy farmer members, was put into receivership on 3 June. Since then, the receiver has found it necessary to close three dairies and 17 depots, but he has been able to sell two creameries and five depots, saving about 650 jobs.
I am able to inform the House that, as of yesterday, of the 1,800 farmer members on 3 June, about 1,600 had found alternative buyers for their milk, which represents about 96 per cent. of the 1 billion litres of milk that were being supplied by Dairy Farmers of Britain at the beginning of June. That is a major achievement in such a short time, so I pay tribute to the hard work of the receiver, the member council, the employees at Dairy Farmers of Britain’s headquarters, and the rest of the industry who have stepped in to buy the milk. However, about 190 farmers are supplying their milk to the receiver at the end of this first fortnight. They are scattered around England and Wales, but the majority are in the north-east and the north-west. The job now is for all of us to find buyers for the milk produced by those remaining farmers. Although I am optimistic that buyers will be found for more farmers, we must recognise that some might not be able to find a commercially viable outlet for their milk.
Mr. Michael Jack (Fylde) (Con): I—like others, I am sure—have been moved by some of the interviews on “Farming Today”, especially those with small-scale milk producers in remote rural locations. The Secretary of State said that “all of us” needed to work hard to find other outlets. Will he tell us who, apart from the receiver, the rest of “all” are? Does he have specific measures in mind to assist farmers in remote locations?
Hilary Benn:
“All of us” includes the other milk buyers, the regional development agencies and DEFRA. Last week, in conjunction with One NorthEast, DEFRA took the step of offering finance to try to provide a little time to determine whether a management buy-out of
the Blaydon plant could be achieved. Sadly, the possible source of finance did not materialise the following day, and at that point the receiver decided he would have to close the plant.
Mr. David Anderson (Blaydon) (Lab): I thank the Secretary of State for his intervention last week on behalf of the Blaydon dairy in my constituency. I am worried that some of the work force believe that one reason the finance package did not hold together was that it would take four weeks to set up a bank account. Was my right hon. Friend aware of that and, if not, will he try to find out about the situation for me?
Hilary Benn: I shall do my best to get hold of further information. In the end, if a management buy-out is to be successful, finance is required. I thought that it was right to try to buy a little time—that was why I took the decision with One NorthEast—and I am sorry that that has not proved possible.
I was glad that the right hon. Member for Fylde (Mr. Jack) asked his question. We will determine whether we can provide any assistance by using the rural development programme for England flexibly, but I assure him that we continue to work closely with RDAs and others, including the Dairy Farmers of Britain member council, which continues to take responsibility for those affected by the collapse. I will, of course, keep the House informed about developments.
Despite such difficulties and other pressures, agriculture overall is pretty strong. When the Office for National Statistics published figures earlier this year showing that every sector of the UK economy had shrunk over the previous quarter, there was one exception: agriculture. As the House will be aware, the food and drink industry is the UK’s largest manufacturing sector, although it is not always recognised and understood as such. It employs more than 3.5 million people. In the EU, we are part of the world’s biggest agricultural exporter. The UK alone exported £12 billion-worth of food and drink in 2007, and farming incomes rose last year. I want—indeed, the whole House wants—a thriving farming industry. Farmers want that, too, but the sector faces some very big challenges and we have to be honest about them.
Food security hit the headlines last year, as soaring prices abroad caused unrest and put pressure on family budgets here at home, and, although prices may have fallen back again, the events of 2008 served as a warning to us all. The question is, how should we react in those circumstances? We should not, I would argue, aim for self-sufficiency, create targets for food production or go back to the subsidies, intervention and environmental degradation of the past. We need to take food security seriously, however, and that is why we will publish an assessment of our food security, setting out how we are doing, and why the UK’s best way forward will be not only to produce its own food, but to trade with others.
As I have said, I want British agriculture to be able to produce as much food as possible, and, as I told the Oxford farming conference, no ifs no buts. The only requirements are that, first, consumers want to buy the food and, secondly, the way in which it is produced sustains our environment and safeguards our landscape.
Mr. James Paice (South-East Cambridgeshire) (Con):
I would not want, in any way, to suggest that I do not accept the Secretary of State’s sincerity on British
agriculture. However, does he think that it is helped by the fact that his own Department’s website still publishes the 2005 document on its vision for agriculture? It clearly states that domestic food production is not necessary, as he well knows, because I have chided him on it before, and, in a number of places, the document says that that is the Government’s policy. It does not go along with what he is telling the House.
Hilary Benn: The document was indeed published in 2005, and it says what it says, but the hon. Gentleman will also have heard very clearly what I have just said to the House and what I have said previously.
Mr. Paice: Why is it on the website?
Hilary Benn: A document once published is a fact, and it cannot be un-published. It is important that we do produce as much food as possible, and one great challenge that we will face in seeking to do so is climate change. As we discussed during my earlier oral statement, increased temperatures and changing rainfall patterns will affect yield and increase the risk of pests and diseases, so farmers will be among the first businesses to feel the impact of climate change. Indeed, when we surveyed farmers last year, from memory about half said that they had already felt its impact, and they will have a very important role to play in helping to tackle the problem.
We know that agriculture, land use change and forestry are responsible for about 7 per cent. of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, for more than one third of methane emissions—from livestock and manure—and for more than two thirds of nitrous oxide emissions, mainly from inorganic fertilisers. So, bluntly, we need to change the way in which we do things, and, as we increase production to meet demand today, we must ensure that we do not destroy our ability to feed ourselves tomorrow.
The issue is not about a choice between the environment or production; that is a false choice. It has to be about both: agriculture needs to be truly sustainable. Farmers know all about sustainability, because they are, after all, the stewards of our land. They manage three quarters of it in England and play an absolutely vital role in preserving our landscape, our environment and the natural resources that we look after in the interest of future generations. Stewardship schemes have ensured that thousands of farmers and land managers have funding and advice to conserve wildlife and its habitats and to protect the natural environment. Some 5 million hectares are now managed under environmental stewardship schemes—that is, 54 per cent. of our agricultural land.
How do we meet these challenges? First, the industry needs skills for the future. Farming and food production are highly skilled businesses, but we know that skills are critical to profitability, to productivity and to helping farmers and food producers to respond to consumer demand. So, the initiative was taken about a month ago to call together industry representatives to discuss what needs doing, and the industry itself is going to develop an action plan on how it can meet its skills needs and on what help the Government will need to provide. The House will also recognise that we need to attract the next generation—the farmers of tomorrow—into farming. That is why we are providing a new diploma in environmental and land-based studies for 14 to 19-year-olds. It starts this September.
Mr. Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con): I appreciate the Secretary of State’s good intent. However, there is no use in trying to reskill an industry such as dairy farming, given that the number of dairy herds has halved in the past 10 years. That represents a massive erosion of the farming skill base. Recently, I met local farmers at their office in Weekley village in my constituency of Kettering. They said that the introduction of the nitrate vulnerable zones will be the last straw; already, only two dairy herds are left in the borough of Kettering. Given all the slurry costs and gold-plating regulations that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is introducing, there is no use in talking about reskilling—the economics of farming are going down the pan.
Hilary Benn: As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, the dairy industry has become much more productive in recent years. On NVZs, I claim no credit or responsibility for the original nitrates directive. Those in government at the time, in 1990 or 1991, will have to answer why they thought it right to agree to it. We are required to ensure that the directive is applied properly and we have carried out a consultation on NVZs. We have worked hard to get a derogation from the whole farm limit, and have made progress on that. Furthermore, we have tried to apply NVZs as flexibly as possible.
I do not accept that we have gold-plated the regulation; actually, we have gone out of our way to try to understand the pressures to which the hon. Gentleman has referred. However, we are talking about European legislation, which we have to apply. We all bear the cost of the pollution of our water courses that results from agriculture. I remember visiting a water treatment works in Headingley run by Yorkshire Water. The company’s representatives said that they had to put in kit to deal with the result of the run-off from farming. In the end, we have to pay for the consequences. If we can take steps on farms to reduce the likelihood that nitrates and other things will get into the water course, that is a good thing. However, I recognise the pressures, particularly on dairy farmers, in the current circumstances.
Mr. Alan Reid (Argyll and Bute) (LD): While we are on the subject of European directives, I should say that the directive causing great concern to sheep farmers is the one on electronic identification, which is due to come in on 1 January. I know that the Secretary of State shares hill farmers’ concerns, but will he update us on what he is doing in Europe to make sure that the directive does not come in on 1 January? If it does, the hill farming of sheep will become completely impractical.
Hilary Benn: I will gladly do that. The hon. Gentleman should bear with me a little; I shall come to regulation and I will tell the House about the latest situation.
I turn back to the issue of skills. We continue to support apprenticeships in agriculture, horticulture and animal care, and about 4,500 young people enrol in them every year. We are supporting the fresh start academies, which are a really good idea. They give business skills to those who are currently farming and those who want to come into farming, and they offer mentoring to new entrants to the farming industry. The initiative is one of the most successful undertaken.
We must also work together on animal diseases. Last year, the industry and DEFRA, working extremely closely together, ran a successful campaign of vaccination
against bluetongue across England. That was genuinely impressive, and I pay tribute to all the farmers who vaccinated swiftly. There was a very high take-up of the vaccine—between 80 and 90 per cent.—in the south and east of England, although the rate was not so good further north. The result was that the UK was free from circulating disease; indeed, the only examples of the disease resulted from imports.
That makes the point that farmers importing animals from parts of Europe where bluetongue is found have a responsibility to ensure that those animals do not have the disease before they are brought into the country. That joint action was cost and responsibility sharing in action. That is a better way of doing things and a model for the future. That is why we are consulting on the responsibility and cost-sharing proposals that we have produced.
Mr. Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire) (LD): Has the Secretary of the State any estimate of the percentage of stock that has been vaccinated against bluetongue in England this year?
Hilary Benn: I would need to check, and then I will write to the hon. Gentleman to give him the up-to-date figure based on the best information. The important thing about the programme that was run last year is that there was a choice between a compulsory and a voluntary programme. The industry reflected on that, and came to me and said, “Actually, you know, we’d like a voluntary programme but we’ll give it all the support and encouragement that we can.” I said, “Well, if that’s what you want, that’s exactly what we’ll do.” That is an example of sharing the responsibility. In the end, it is down to farmers to make that choice, but why would one not want to protect one’s livestock in these circumstances when one has a vaccine that has proved to be effective?
Mr. Paice: This is a genuine inquiry; I am not trying to make any particular point. The Secretary of State knows that we supported the approach of voluntary bluetongue vaccination, which, as he rightly said, was handled pretty well last year and was a great success. However, we are now facing the future—and, anecdotally, a significant decline in the amount of animals vaccinated this year. That is a great shame but, as the right hon. Gentleman says, it is down to the industry. Scotland has gone for compulsory vaccination; that is its decision to make. As a result, however, we are facing increasing trading difficulties across the English-Scottish border. Cattle and sheep are widely traded across the border; it is an essential part of the industry. What discussions has the Secretary of State had with Richard Lochhead, or anybody else, about how we can overcome those problems and ensure that Scotland does not somehow end up with a slightly different status, thus hampering trade?
Hilary Benn:
The hon. Gentleman raises an extremely important point. We have been discussing this issue with the Scottish Government. I know that the industry is very concerned about it. Indeed, if I remember rightly, we talked about it the last time I met representatives of the core group. We will have to find a way of trying to resolve it. One of the other reasons we did not go for the compulsory programme was that although with it would
have come the offer of European funding, the industry came to the view, having looked at what would be involved, the time it would take, the bureaucracy and so on, that it was not as attractive a proposition as it might first have appeared. If I may, I will come back to the hon. Gentleman on that important point, because we need to try to march in step in these circumstances.
On bovine TB, which I could not make this speech without mentioning, the whole House recognises, as I do, how extremely hard it is for farmers and their families living with this devastating disease. We now have the TB eradication group, with which we are working closely. Secondly, we have committed £20 million to the vaccine programme, and we expect an injectable badger vaccine to be ready and licensed for use in 2010. The TB eradication group has considered the six areas in which a deployment project could be started as soon as the vaccine is available.
The third thing that we have to do is get the regulation right. Sometimes there is a clear case for regulation. An example of that would be the decisions that were taken after the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak. Tough movement controls were put in place—that is a form of regulation—and lessons were learned. The benefit of those was seen in 2007 when, by applying them quickly, the outbreak that occurred was concentrated in a small part of the country and did not spread everywhere like wildfire.
Mr. Jack: The Secretary of State mentioned the trials for vaccination to deal with bovine TB. Many people would like to know when the announcement will be made on where the trials are going to take place, as 2010 is not far away. Secondly, does he yet have an answer to the question that I have now put to him twice—what will be the protocol when diseased animals are found as part of the capture process involved in enabling the vaccine to be injected?
Hilary Benn: On the right hon. Gentleman’s first question, in all honesty the answer is as soon as possible. Discussion is taking place at local level, not least because for the trials to be successful we need people in the areas that have been identified to be up for taking part. I hope that he will bear with that process, because I believe that the right approach is to win support and involvement so that the trials work successfully.
On the right hon. Gentleman’s second question, I repeat what I have said before about badgers with TB. As he will be well aware from his knowledge and expertise, there is a practical difficulty in attempting to identify badgers that have the disease, because there is not yet a reliable in-field test. There is provision in legislation for those responsible to take what they regard as appropriate action on badgers or any animals that are clearly very sick and on their last legs, if it is to relieve easily visible suffering. That is on the statute book and has remained there for quite some time.
If regulation is wrong, we take action. Why did we appeal against the judgment on pesticides in the Downs case? It was precisely because we thought it was right to do so. We have opposed Europe’s wish to get us to agree to new controls on pesticides, because nobody can answer the question of what that would mean for the availability of particular substances. The Government have been leading in Europe on arguing that case.
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