In his keynote address to the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) annual conference in Birmingham, president Tom Bradshaw has said that a resilient food system is key to tackling food inflation and driving growth.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw has opened the National Farmers’ Union annual conference with a keynote address highlighting that a resilient food system isn’t optional in a time of geopolitical uncertainty but is a cornerstone of national security and should be backed up by a long-term plan for farming and food production.
The NFU’s 2025/2026 farmer confidence survey results show that short-term and mid-term confidence among farmers remains low, with short-term confidence at -33 and mid-term at -30. In the survey, 64% of respondents said their profits are either declining and 18% that their businesses may not survive.
Opening address
In an address to more than 1,000 NFU members, politicians and other stakeholders at the conference, Bradshaw raised the subject of inheritance tax and thanked farmers on the ground for supporting the campaign that helped secure changes to the policy in December. He went on to say that the lobbying and policy work still continues, and said: ”When the time comes again, and we have the political opportunity, we will be back, campaigning for change. At the next general election, we’ll be demanding that those public promises are turned into manifesto commitments, to scrap the family farm tax.”
Bradshaw then announced the launch of the NFU’s new report ’Building Farming’s Resilience’. He continued: “Investment in food production is critical to the nation’s future. Everyone – young or old, rural, or urban – needs a resilient food system. Resilience means the ability to anticipate shocks, withstand the impact and recover stronger than before.
“Recently the Defra Secretary of State said that farm profitability was vital to enable UK agriculture to grow. I couldn’t agree more. Profit is not a dirty word. Profitability is the first step towards true sustainability. That is the key to growth, resilience, and curbing food inflation.
“When Government is joined up, it makes a real difference. Just look at planning. Ambitious proposals have been brought forward to make it easier for farmers to secure approvals for new agricultural buildings. This is exactly the sort of intent we need to see in other areas such as delivering on its manifesto pledge for half of all food purchased across the public sector to be locally sourced.”
“The events of the past few years have shown us we cannot keep relying on others to produce our food.”
Tom Bradshaw, NFU
Bradshaw continued: “And the Sustainable Farming Incentive. Farmers are the original environmentalists, but they cannot have the goalposts constantly moving if they are to keep delivering for the environment and be profitable, resilient businesses.
“If we get this right, Britain’s farmers will invest in the on-farm infrastructure needed to deliver a resilient food system for 70 million consumers. That investment will boost food production and drive domestic growth at a local, rural level. By growing more here it keeps the processing capacity here, keeps the technology here, keeps the research and development here.
“Even more critical to that, the events of the past few years have shown us we cannot keep relying on others to produce our food. It’s not just us saying this, the National Preparedness Commission highlighted the ‘danger of the UK repeating past mistakes, assuming others will always feed us’. Yet over recent years, the production of staples such as wheat, beef, poultry meat and vegetables have all fallen. The years of UK food production contracting must end now.
“Building farming’s resilience is crucial, because if we don’t, our ability to produce food here, and therefore our food security, our national security, and our economic growth, will be under threat.”
