Industry Eye: Opportunity for a clean slate and fresh sector policies in this brave new political climate

Post election and after all the frenetic negotiations over a coalition government, we at last have a clear understanding as to who will be steering us through the next five years and most importantly, who will be directly affecting the agricultural community. I am quite excited and expectant of some positive policies for the agricultural sector and it's a great opportunity to start with a clean slate.
By The Newsroom
Published 21st May 2010, 16:14 BST
Updated 21st May 2010, 16:14 BST

We will have ministers within DEFRA that have first-hand agricultural experience, a very positive start. So what could we be looking out for?

1 Reform of the RPA and administration of the various subsidies and grants – it would seem that the software administrators are to be replaced; however, they must be careful not to cause more delays for 2010 subsidies.

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I would like to see staff that are consistent in their approach, able to advise and deliver quickly and efficiently and remain within their post. Keeping good staff is key and I suspect they are undervalued and hence the high staff turnover and constant change of personnel. Senior management must be the starting point.

2 The new government will be leading us through the next reform of the subsidy system; we need to lobby hard to protect the UK farming industry, provide food security for our country and ensure we get treated as fairly as our European counterparts.

3 The Liberal's bring a stronger "green" policy to government and with Chris Huhne in charge of DECC, we will see green policies being pushed; anaerobic digestion, we hope, will see a review of the Feed-In-Tariff rate to a sensible level to encourage more schemes.

I would like to see a guarantee of the FIT rate past 2013 now. On many schemes, the commitment in time and cost to achieve planning is significant, and there will come a point in the next 18 months in which some projects will be put on hold. The future past March 2013 is unknown.

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4 I would also like to see Mr Huhne getting to grips with the electric grid operators to speed up the process of grid connection for renewable schemes which at present is a slow and often costly process.

On a practical farming front, the cold weather seems to be taking its toll on some oilseed rape crops.

There are reports that a certain variety of oilseed rape is losing its flower during the recent cold spell, which could impact on pod development.

If you are coming across this, I would advise to take as many photographs, notes, field by field crop yield and evidence as you can in case a claim against the plant breeder is possible.

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The Beef Event being held at Hexham on May 27 looks set to be an informative day out and if any readers are attending, do feel free to come and have a chat about renewables at our stand.

Finally, the closing date for the East Riding Farm Diversification Award to be presented at the Driffield Show is May 31.

CW 22/5/10

Related topics:DEFRA