The National Sheep Association (NSA) has responded to the announcements made by Defra Secretary of State Steve Reed, stating that the “necessary details are still missing”.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) made a series of announcements at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) Conference.
Announcements included the reopening of capital, productivity grants and funding for innovation and technology.
Phil Stocker, chief executive of NSA, said: “NSA welcomes these announcements from the Secretary of State, but the necessary details of these is still missing and this is needed to give real confidence to the sector for the future.
“The increase in HLS payments is clearly welcomed but this is guarded until we see what it means in real terms for farmers affected, as it needs to keep pace with inflation. NSA is pleased to learn that the capital grant scheme is to be reopened. The stop start of this sort of support must be avoided in the future, however.”
NSA hopes the investment in innovation and equipment grants will be a clear indication of the future direction of support for agriculture, which it highlighted was something Steve Reed repeated during his speech on several occasions. Reed said that farming enterprises need to get to a point where they can stand on their own two feet without support and farmers will be encouraged and rewarded for providing environmental goods.
“We need first to have a clear strategy for food and how that relates to future land use.”
Phil Stocker, NSA
Stocker continued: “Whilst this is a vision that few would disagree with, we are still in an experimental phase with no real evidence that our farming enterprises can be viable in what has become an increasingly volatile market, still with disparity between players in the supply chain.
“Viability is also dependant on the value of the end product and the bigger portion of this coming back to farmers. Adding value throughout the supply chain will inevitably lead to food inflation and that has negative intonations. But the question then is has food become too cheap? And if this – making farms more viable – is going to work for the future, food is maybe going to have to account for a bigger proportion of disposable income.”
NSA acknowledged that the announcements related closely with the work that was promised in 2025 in the ‘Farming Roadmap, Food Strategy and Land Use Framework’.
Stocker concluded: “We need first to have a clear strategy for food and how that relates to future land use, bearing in mind climate change commitments, natural resources and nature – then, ideally, the Farming Roadmap should be the detail on how we deliver all these elements.
“It has got to come from all these areas of policy development to give clear direction and support for an industry that clearly still needs support to change. Having said that, we should always avoid change for change’s sake. Many of our traditional sheep farming systems are already fundamentally sustainable.”
