The Environment Secretary will highlight the world of opportunity
for British agriculture if we embrace the opportunities outside
the EU and the wider technological revolution.
Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference today, he will:
-
Recognise the need for farmers to have the certainty to
plan, invest and produce for the long-term. Ahead
of the Spending Review, he will outline his determination to
make the case for long-term investment in British
farming.
-
Reiterate his support for the Prime Minister’s Brexit
deal which will see us leave the EU’s Common
Agricultural Policy, while avoiding the disruption of a no
deal. It will allow us to forge ahead with reforms which can
put Britain in a world-leading position both in food production
and also in the stewardship of our environment.
-
Praise the role of farmers as food producers,
providing healthy and affordable food for everyone. Food and
drink is our biggest manufacturing sector, contributing £113
billion to the economy every year. Defra’s lead non-executive director, the
food entrepreneur Henry Dimbleby, will lead on the development
of a new Food Strategy, visiting farms and food producers and
working with people across the industry.
-
Pledge investment in research, development and
innovation. Accelerating technological advances such
as the drive towards artificial intelligence, more
sophisticated analysis of big data, machine learning and
robotics will allow us to dramatically improve productivity on
farmed land.
Environment Secretary said:
“A week can be a long time in politics, but farming requires
the patience and foresight to see beyond the immediate and scan
the far horizon. It is a quintessentially long-term business, one
that benefits from as much certainty as possible about the
future.
“While I cannot pre-empt the outcome of the Government’s
Spending Review later this year, I can continue to demonstrate
the case for, and put in place the policies that underpin,
long-term investment in British agriculture and the rural
economy.
“It is also one of the reasons why I hope my colleagues in
Parliament support the Prime Minister’s deal. It isn’t perfect –
but let’s not make the perfect the enemy of the good. It not only
gives us a 21 month transition period in which current access is
completely unaffected, it also allows us to maintain continuous
tariff-free and quota-free access to EU markets for our exporters
after that. It allows us largely to diverge from EU regulation
after the transition, to leave the Common Agricultural Policy and
end all mandatory payments to the EU.”
The Secretary of State’s speech at the Oxford Farming Conference
will be live-streamed from 10.15am. Details on how to stream the
speech can be found at
https://www.ofc.org.uk/press-room.
