Farm Business Sustainability

1. What steps she is taking to support the long-term financial sustainability of farm businesses.

16. What steps she is taking to support the long-term financial sustainability of farm businesses.

My hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth South (Stephen Morgan), the new farming and food Minister, and I published our new farming road map, which is the first ever long-term strategy for farming. It sets out a vision for a more productive, profitable, sustainable and resilient sector. The primary purpose of farming, as set out in the road map, is food production, which goes hand in hand with improving the environment. We are driving towards a lower-input, more nature-friendly farming system.

Farmers across Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages know that one of the most important things for them to make their businesses work is access to fertiliser at a price that allows them to be profitable. What can the Government do to ensure that fertiliser prices do not spike, as we have seen in the last couple of years, and remain stable in the long term?

My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue. We are engaging with the National Farmers’ Union on this; we know it is a great concern for farmers. We have asked the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board to increase fertiliser price reporting, so it is now doing that weekly rather than monthly. We have already consulted on suspending tariffs for certain fertilisers, and we have rolled out an online tool to help farmers use fertilisers more efficiently.

Food producers in South East Cornwall, including our farmers and fishermen, are at the heart of our community, economy and food security, so I really welcome the work the Government have done to develop the new farming road map in partnership with farmers and the recognition that profitable farm businesses are essential to food security. As I will be meeting farmers at the Liskeard show later this week, will the Secretary of State set out immediate opportunities in the road map and explain how the Farming and Food Partnership Board will ensure that farmers like mine continue to shape its implementation, giving them clarity and confidence to invest in the long-term profitability and resilience of their business?

I pay tribute to the work my hon. Friend does representing her local farmers, and I hope the Liskeard show goes well later this week. The Farming and Food Partnership Board, which has already been established, is working on two sector growth plans, starting with poultry and horticulture, to bring down barriers to growth. We are taking forward the road map’s vision to ensure that farmers are more productive and profitable; that is how we will proceed.

Attracting the next generation of farmers is key to the long-term sustainability of the sector. I recently visited Great Smeaton young farmers’ club, and it was wonderful to see both their contribution to the local community and their commitment to farming. Groups like that are vital to engaging young people in farming. Will the Secretary of State join me in paying tribute to Great Smeaton YFC and the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs for their important contribution to our national life?

I could not agree more. I absolutely pay tribute to the right hon. Gentleman’s local young farmers’ club. As he knows, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs supports the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs, and we engaged with it on the drafting of the farming road map. We always have young farmers in our minds when we are designing policy, because we are committed to ensuring that the next generation can enter the sector. We are looking particularly in the road map at encouraging longer-term tenancies, which we know is an easier way to get into the sector. We have also asked the Law Commission to review legislation on farming tenancies. Like him, I am committed to ensuring that the next generation has a voice in our policies.

The NFU is concerned that the £240 million allocated for new sustainable farming incentive agreements in 2026 does not match the scale of farmers’ environmental ambitions and will not allow all farmers with expiring agreements a reasonable opportunity to access ongoing environmental land management schemes funding. How will the Government support farmers like mine in South Devon, who are keen to protect the environment while producing food but are unable to secure a new SFI agreement under this limited budget, to continue their valuable environmental work?

I reassure the hon. Lady that those farmers whose agreements are coming to an end towards the end of this year or early next year—there are obviously thousands—will be able to apply in the second window. We have made the technological advances necessary to ensure that that can happen. I know that issue has been raised with me in previous DEFRA oral questions, and we have taken it forward since then. We have a record farming budget for sustainable farming of £11.8 billion over the course of this Parliament. This is obviously not just about public funding; it is about how we work with the sector and how parts of the sector collaborate with each other. That is why we have put £30 million into a farmer collaboration fund and why we are also backing agritech.

I call the shadow Minister.

Delinked payments dramatically reduced; SFI stopped and started and ultimately made competitive; targets to dramatically reduce livestock numbers recommended; the state given more power to buy farmland below market value; the fertiliser tax; the double cab pick-up tax; the introduction of family farm and family business tax; Natural England given more power; an EU realignment deal that is set to cost our farmers thousands and result in job losses; and the annual grant for young farmers removed for the first time—oh, but beavers have been released. Which one of those measures that the Secretary of State has introduced in the last two years does she think will support the long-term financial sustainability of our farming businesses?

I would take our record over the hon. Gentleman’s record any time. The Conservatives could not even be bothered to spend the farming budget when they were in power. They sold farmers down the river on various trade deals, but we have not; we have protected farmers in our trade deals. We have set out the first-ever long-term road map and vision for the farming sector, and we have worked closely with it. We commissioned Minette Batters, the former president of the NFU, to do an independent profitability review, and we are taking forward the vast majority of her recommendations. We are working in close partnership with the sector. That is all in stark contrast with what happened under the hon. Gentleman’s Government.