I met this week with a group of Wiltshire farmers brought together by the NFU. It was a helpful session for me, highlighting the continued challenges that farmers experience with the different Government schemes.
Farmers raised with me the ongoing difficulties with supermarkets dictating unaffordable prices for some products, whereas in other areas there is an understanding of the real costs of production that is reflected in the prices the supermarkets pay. They also made a very understandable complaint about the bureaucracy involved in the different assurance schemes - for instance with both arable and dairy - that duplicate effort; I heard about the difficulties of planning policy especially in AONBs; and the ongoing confusion about water management, septic tanks and sewers.
One highly positive report was on the performance of Wiltshire Police. We still suffer unacceptable numbers of hare coursers and burglars. But the farmers agreed that recently the police have markedly improved their response times and the visibility of their patrols, and for that Philip Wilkinson the Police and Crime Commissioner, and the new Chief Constable, deserve my thanks. The challenge appears to be in the courts and the justice system, where we lack the capacity to speedily and effectively punish the criminals.
Overall my lesson from the farmers is that we need more joined-up policy, with the different aspects of Government activity better coordinated and aligned around a strategy we can all agree on: sustainability and security. We need a sustainable source of healthy food, a sustainable income for farmers, and security of the food supply for the British public. The Prime Minister last week set out a range of initiatives including significant new funding - read more here.
