GYS: NFU campaign outlines how voice of entire supply chain is critical

Only by presenting a collective voice across the whole of the food and farming sector can Yorkshire go on to realise the potential opportunities that the future promises, industry leaders said on the first day of the Great Yorkshire Show.
Minette Batters, deputy president of the National Farmers' Union at the Great Yorkshire Show.Minette Batters, deputy president of the National Farmers' Union at the Great Yorkshire Show.
Minette Batters, deputy president of the National Farmers' Union at the Great Yorkshire Show.

Attending the three-day countryside showpiece for the first time, Minette Batters, deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), said that although Britain’s exit from the European Union was more than the greatest challenge in a generation, the opportunities ahead should not be underestimated.

Wiltshire-based beef farmer Ms Batters, launched the NFU’s Pride and Provenance campaign to demonstrate why the region’s food and farming industries can play a key economic role in post-Brexit Britain, as some 57 businesses worth a combined annual turnover of £2.5bn and with a 23,000-strong workforce united to show their collective worth.

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Ms Batters was joined by the chief operating officer of one of those companies, Chris Aldersley of Hull-based Cranswick Plc as well as James Farrar, chief executive of the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Ripponden livestock and hill farmer, Rachel Hallos.

Ms Batters said: “There is a need now, more than ever, to work collectively together.

“What we have done here is to really galvanise the industry here in Yorkshire. We need to do it because it really is important that we have the best trade access for our world-beating products, a continued and reliable workforce and a farming policy which enables farmers and growers to develop profitable, progressive farm businesses.”

Emphasising the need to present more than just the farming case to government, she said: “The opportunities are there but this is not just about wrapping ourselves in the flag through Red Tractor (the food assurance scheme). I now strongly believe we need to put a Formula 1 engine in the Red Tractor. We need to build a British brand off the back of our (high) standards.”

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LEP chief, Mr Farrar, explained what he thought was needed to make farming more profitable, including clearer food labelling, a concerted campaign to encourage people to “buy local” and for local opportunities to be grasped.

He said North Yorkshire’s Catterick Garrison, which is set to become a ‘super garrison’ as the base for more than 15,000 service personnel and their families, was one such opportunity.

Mr Farrar said: “Just imagine the impact on local food producers and farmers if we had British food for British troops with a local supply chain delivering a food supply into our super garrisons. I think that’s something the Government could do very easily.”

The Government has “crashed and burned” on public procurement of British food for years and now is the chance to make procurement “work properly”, Ms Batters said, adding: “We won’t do it if we work how we have done in the past so the join up that we have seen here today is absolutely crucial.”

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Cranswick’s Mr Aldersley said the firm planned to expand but the agri-food sector is dogged by a worsening shortage of people with the required skillset.

Ms Batters blamed government policy for driving people away from jobs that are now predominantly filled by foreign workers.

“There has got to be a grown up and holistic conversation and we are insistent that the government migratory advisory committee does that work,” she said.

The farming leader added: “It’s not just about farmers now, it’s about if we don’t have a supply chain, farming does not have a future either.”

CALL FOR BETTER SUPPLY CHAIN SCRUTINY

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The Tenant Farmers Association has called for the Government to broaden and deepen the role of the Groceries Code Adjudicator.

Regional chairman Stephen Wyrill said it was no longer enough that the adjudicator was only responsible for direct contracts between retailers and suppliers, as it leaves indirect suppliers and primary producers exposed to unfair practices.

“It is vital we ensure that the groceries market is operating as efficiently as possible and given the clear evidence of the market failure which currently exists, it is time for the Government to put in place measures to extend the remit of the adjudicator.”