Can Sunak save British farmers?

Rishi Sunak vowed to back British growers as he hosted the Farm to Fork summit at Downing Street today, amid warnings that the domestic farming industry faces an existential crisis.

The PM welcomed representatives from across the food supply chain – including farmers, food trade bodies, bosses of Britain’s largest supermarkets, and even Kaleb Cooper, the star of Clarkson’s Farm – to thrash out plans to bolster domestic food security.

With food inflation running at its highest level in over 45 years, the timely summit “couldn’t be more needed,” said Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers Union (NFU). 

This year saw the NFU report a 40-year low in domestic salad production while Britain wasted £60m worth of crop last year due to a shortage of pickers.

Ahead of the meeting, the government unveiled a raft of pledges to address the plight of British farmers. Sunak has promised to put them first in future trade deals, as well as announcing that 45,000 seasonal worker visas will be available again to the horticulture sector next year, opening the door to foreign pickers. 

He has also pledged to cut the red tape the sector previously faced when looking to diversify incomes by changing barns to farm shops – a policy thought to have been inspired by Clarkson’s Farm. 

Farmers’ struggles, as well as food inflation and shortages, aren’t solely driven by domestic issues or Brexit. The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have both disrupted world-wide food supply chains, while a global energy crisis has placed immense strain on growers who rely heavily on gas to heat greenhouses. Additionally, extreme weather in southern Europe and North Africa has wiped out crops, resulting in reduced imports and empty supermarket shelves. 

Yet global supply chain disruptions have only highlighted the importance of supporting domestic growers to increase Britain’s food security. At present, the major challenges facing UK growers have left them in no position to make up for poor harvests abroad. 

Lea Valley, the largest hub in the UK’s glasshouse sector, often coined Britain’s cucumber capital, experienced a 40% shortfall in workers in 2022. Many growers blame the government’s poorly designed post-Brexit seasonal workers scheme which requires foreign pickers to return home after six months, forcing farmers to recruit and train many more workers. 

War has exacerbated labour shortages on UK farms. Of roughly 30,000 seasonal-work visas issued to workers to pick the 2021 harvest in Britain, 67% went to Ukrainians. 

The NFU will no doubt be keen to grill Sunak about the fine details of his proposal to grant 45,000 visas. The union has been calling for a five-year rolling seasonal worker scheme, insisting one that has to be renewed annually is not fit for purpose. 

Sunak’s announcement also highlights a potential rift within government. While the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is said to be pushing for an easing of rules around imported labour, only yesterday Home Secretary Suella Braverman declared there is “no good reason” that Britain cannot train its own fruit pickers to bring immigration down, as opposed to relying on “low-skill foreign labour.”

Sunak faces a tricky task navigating these various conflicts of interest. Yet at least the PM does appear to have finally recognised that the plight of British farmers is something he can no longer afford to ignore. 

Write to us with your comments to be considered for publication at letters@reaction.life