Soundbites from the Farm to Fork Summit did no favours to British farming - Sarah Todd

In this correspondent’s mind at least, rural communities have been largely forgotten about since the pandemic. Left to muddle along, paying eye-watering council taxes for next to no services. Dragging down a dustbin every fortnight to the end of our lane, it’s impossible not to chunter that it’s a rum job in return for the big bucks payment to the local authority. When did a police officer last turn up to investigate anything, let alone have a wander through a rural village? Suppose they are all busy sat on the A64 in speed vans.

But back to farming. For the last few years all Government ministers seem to have been interested in is sucking up to the green brigade, pushing planting trees and taking land out of actual food production.

Now, it would be pretty petty not to acknowledge Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s good intentions announced at this week’s second annual farming summit to "turbocharge" the UK's horticulture sector, including doubling public funding to £80m; with £10m given to orchard growers. Currently the UK produces the equivalent of just 17 per cent of the fruit and 55 per cent of the vegetables that end up on British plates. In fact, there was a whole raft of measures trumpeted including a pledge to create a Food Security Index, plus desperately needed funding for drainage and abattoirs (red tape has forced many to close resulting in animals enduring longer journeys to slaughter). The pig and poultry sector were also given a nod.

There was also the promise of a new commissioner for the farming sector, hoping to help resolve issues between landlords and tenant farmers. £72m will be directed towards helping combat endemic disease.

However, a few days earlier, the National Farmers’ Union’s annual Farm Confidence Survey had painted a far less upbeat picture, finding confidence among farmers in England and Wales was at its lowest point since records began in 2010. Conducted at the end of 2023, the union said it believed had farmers been asked the same questions after the wet winter and spring the already stark picture would have looked even worse. We have just come through the highest amount of rain for any 18-month period since records began back in 1836.

Of those questioned, 65 per cent admitted fearing for the very survival of their businesses. Figures from rural agents Strutt and Parker showed more than 7,000 agricultural businesses have been lost since 2019.

The alienation of country folk goes a long way back. Perhaps as far 2001, when the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) became the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)? The two titles say it all. Agriculture used to be mentioned first but for over 20 years it has not even made the cut, banished like a dirty word. November last year saw the appointment of the tenth Secretary of State at Defra, Steve Barclay, to hold the position since 2010.

What an absolute joke the seemingly revolving door at Defra has become. Thinking aloud, it’s probably impossible to forgive the Conservatives for thinking they could get away with putting people like Thérèse Coffey and one-minute-wonder former Prime Minister Liz Truss into this role. Talk about as much use as chocolate fireguards.

Life in the country is far from the bucolic image of yesteryear. Just as in many cities, it can be a hotbed of clashing cultures and different values and ways of life. Since Covid, nobody who walks along a country footpath seems to ever have their dog on a lead.

Maybe it infringes the rights of their pet? Whatever it is, none appear to give a damn about worrying sheep and other livestock or disturbing ground nesting birds. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be a day goes by without yet another dog going missing. It must be very sad and stressful for the owners, but the temptation to write under the endless social media posts about different dogs disappearing into the sunset ‘why wasn’t it on a lead?’ is huge.

The complaints about everything from noisy farm animals to mud on the road have gone from being one-offs to just the way life in the countryside is these days. Does it matter? While it’s increasingly difficult to put a hand above the parapet and admit it does, it’s important not to be muted by those who would have us all towing the Countryfile line. We all need to be more Jeremy Clarkson and say what we think.

One thing’s for sure, for all the surveys and summits in the world there is no better barometer of a broken system than supermarket shelves piled high with the likes of Danish pork, chicken from Thailand, lamb from New Zealand, carrots from Israel and asparagus from Peru.

Meat, dairy, arable, fruit and vegetables shouldn’t be left to plough their own lonely furrow. Nor should locals worry about issues such as rural banks and schools closing, transport, jobs and housing.

Sarah Todd is a journalist specialising in farming and country life. Read her weekly column every Wednesday in The Yorkshire Post.