THE National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has responded to the Government’s 25-year environmental plan by emphasising its view that “farming and the environment must go hand-in-hand” and that “producing quality, home-grown food is critical to the future of the country”.

The statement comes just days after the NFU welcomed the pledge by the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to champion British food both at home and abroad.

It is news that could be music to the ears for some, such as Bentworth farmer and former Hampshire NFU chairman Julian Lewis, who can’t wait to see the back of “red tape and restrictions imposed by the EU” and has welcomed the Government’s apparent willingness to put policies in place that will take better, more relevant, care of the environment and concentrate on improving food production for the nation.

Last Thursday, Prime Minister Theresa May revealed details of the Conservatives’ long-awaited ‘green plan’ whose aims include reducing the use of plastics, the creation of a new environmental watchdog, and proposals to boost wildlife habitats.

The NFU has been keen to point out that farmers already manage 70 per cent of the nation’s countryside and take their environmental responsibilities seriously. They have been responsible in recent years for the planting of 10,000 football pitches worth of wildflower habitat, creating homes for wildlife, while more than 18,000 miles of hedgerows have been planted or restored by farmers.

Farming, it believes, is in “a unique position to deliver for the environment as long as there are productive and viable businesses, where food is at the heart”.

NFU vice-president Guy Smith said: “Over the past four decades farmers have carried out a huge amount of work to encourage wildlife, as well as benefitting the landscape, soil and water and reducing their impact on the climate.

“Farming also offers innovative solutions to wider environmental challenges. For instance, the Government’s current concern with plastics highlighted by the BBC’s brilliant Blue Planet series could be met with substituting synthetic plastics with farm-produced, biodegradable, starch-based packaging. But there must be a coherent approach. British farming has a unique role in producing a safe, affordable and high-quality supply of food as well as protecting, maintaining and enhancing 70 per cent of the nation’s iconic countryside.

“That only remains feasible as long as farmers run sustainable and viable businesses. We provide the raw materials for a domestic food industry that employs 3.8 million people and which, as the UK’s largest manufacturing sector, generates £112bn in value for the UK economy. This is why we welcomed the Secretary of State’s commitment last week to create a national food policy and his recognition that food is at the heart of viable farming businesses.

“It’s vital, therefore, that an holistic approach is taken and the environment plan must go hand in hand with a future food policy, where measures for protecting and enhancing the environment are joined up with policies to improve productivity and manage volatility to ensure that we have profitable, productive and progressive farm businesses post-Brexit.”

Speaking about his own hopes and fears for the future, Julian Lewis, a first-generation farmer who farms 1,000 acres around Bentworth, believes that, despite Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments from Brussels, the majority of farmers will have voted in favour of leaving the EU.

“We are overwhelmed by the acres of red tape and paperwork, and the restrictions imposed by the EU regime.”

According to Environment Secretary Michael Gove, in a speech delivered to the Oxford Farming Conference on January 4, CAP payments are to be replaced by payments for ‘public goods’ such as access, planting meadows, woodland, boosting wildlife and improving water quality, all of which farmers do already.

In describing Mr Gove’s speech as giving “a positive signal for the farming industry”, NFU president Meurig Raymond said he was pleased to hear the minister talking about “the need to invest in technology, skills and rural resilience – all of which, he says, are public goods”.

While Mr Gove spoke also about the importance of delivering benefits for the environment, Mr Raymond stressed the need to support food production.

“Without the productive, resilient and profitable farm businesses across the country, we will not have the people to look after the natural environment.”

On Brexit, Mr Raymond said: “A transition period that allows time to prepare properly for the introduction of a new agricultural policy is also welcome, during which an assessment can be made of the impact of Brexit on UK farming – on trade in the raw ingredients farmers produce, on farm business’ access to a competent and reliable workforce, and on the regulatory environment in which they operate. The NFU is up for the challenge of working in partnership with the Government in reframing agricultural policy for the post-Brexit world.”

Mr Lewis believes local farmers’ concerns, post-Brexit, are that future trade deals should not allow for the importation of food produced with lower welfare and environmental standards. He points out that while the UK is currently only 50 per cent self-sufficient in food production, 50 per cent has to be imported and a lot of it is not grown or produced to the same high standards as in the UK.

He firmly believes there is a moral issue attached to the importance of improving food production in the UK based on the need to feed the rapidly growing world population, and that the 50 per cent imported food – enough to feed about 30 million people – is taking food from 30 million of the world’s poorest people.

“Is that morally right when we can still grow more food here and protect the environment at the same time??Farmers just need to be free of petty rules that do no good to man or the environment.”

He welcomes the Government’s determination to invest in new technology but suggests that the UK agricultural industry is more technologically advanced than the Government gives it credit for: most farms are already operating with the use of satellite technology, for example, to steer tractors and maintain the soil by determining where to apply fertiliser, reducing wastage and enabling better use of manpower.

“A great deal of science, technology and effort goes into food production,” said Mr Lewis, who would like to see a reduction in red tape and improvements in terms of clarity and informed, practical rationalisation in Government support and management of the agricultural industry.

Of wildflower meadows, his concern is over the taking of large areas of land out of food production at a time when there will be pressure on farmers to up their game. Most farmers, he said, already have odd corners of fields that are less productive and are turned over to grass areas for the cultivation of wildlife.

On the subject of public access, Mr Lewis said that while it was not practical to allow full public access over cropped land, in East Hampshire there is “a wonderful network of footpaths” that few people use. Most farmers, he said, would support access for anyone wanting to walk on public footpaths.