In an interview with the Observer, Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union, said the ambitious proposals to help farmers increase food production, first made last year by government food tsar Henry Dimbleby, had ” naked to the bone “. in a new policy document, and meant that farmers would not be able to produce food at affordable prices. Butters said she told the prime minister on Friday that farmers – including those in the western counties of Tiverton and Honiton, where the crucial June 23 election will be held – were outraged by post-Brexit policies that they thought would make them poorer. and can not compete with foreign producers. The re-election, sparked by the resignation of Tory MP Neil Paris for watching pornography on his Commonwealth phone, is seen as crucial to the chances of Boris Johnson remaining on Downing Street after being ousted by 148 Tory MPs. Last week. The Liberal Democrats are trying to overthrow the 24,239-majority Tory in what would be one of the biggest election shocks of recent years. If the Conservatives lose the election to the Liberal Democrats and the Labor Party recaptures Wakefield on the same day, many Tory lawmakers believe Johnson will not be able to survive as prime minister. Last night, farmers in the West Country headquarters said the rural community would vote en masse against the Tories. This was because they faced a combination of loss of subsidy income and pressure to prioritize the environment over food production when the country needed to become more self-sufficient in food. A large-scale agrarian uprising in the midterm elections would have exacerbated the prime minister’s problems over Partygate and the cost-of-living crisis, which are already affecting Tory support. Commenting on the new government strategy on food, which leaked to the Guardian on Friday, Batters said she was “delighted to see a commitment to food security” but added that the original strategy had been “revealed” and that there was no plan left in the way. implementation of its general objectives. “We want to eat more British and more local food, but I still ask how,” he said. Batters said she met Johnson on Friday and told him that farmers wanted support for food production as well as helping the environment. “I said this is what farmers in Tiverton want to see. “Farmers want the detail.” He said there was no clear policy at the moment. Boris Johnson meets voters at the Royal Cornwall Show. Photo: Andrew Parsons CCHQ / Parsons Media The Ministry of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it would not comment on the strategy paper until it was published on Monday. Farmers have become increasingly frustrated, promising that previous EU subsidies will be completely replaced after Brexit. Instead, they are being phased out, with basic payments down 20% this year. In addition, they say the regime intended to pay them for green policies, such as planting new trees and fences and building new ponds (known as rewilding), remains unclear and confusing. Jake Fiennes, a sustainable farmer and author of Land Healer: How Farming Can Save Britain’s Countryside, said: “It’s a rather weak 27-page document that says nothing. I see the agricultural sector frustrated, I see environmental ambitions falling, I see a very short-sighted view. “Food security and environmental resilience are the challenges of this generation and it is so depressing.” John Wescott, a Bampton beef and sheep breeder near Tiverton, told the Observer that “most farmers would vote against the Conservatives not because they wanted to in the long run, but because their policies did nothing to help them. it was hurting their businesses. “ Tim Faron, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats and now the party’s spokesman for agrarian affairs, described the new strategy as “timid” and did not represent “any real change”. The government commissioned Henry Dimbleby to conduct a review of the obesity crisis and the affordability of healthy foods. He was also asked to show how this could be done in an environmentally friendly way. However, its ambitious recommendations, including the extension of free school meals, a 30% reduction in meat and dairy consumption and strong protection for British farmers by not undermining their trade agreements with other countries, have not been adopted. His method was hailed by organic farmers as a plan to make Britain self-sufficient in food without compromising on the environment and to help farmers move through intensive farming.
