The Rt. Hon. , Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said in a speech to
Conservative Party Spring Conference in Blackpool:
Good morning,
In recent weeks, we have all been moved by the incredible courage
of Ukraine’s president; by the extraordinary bravery of the
Ukrainian army; and by the fortitude and resilience of the
Ukrainian people. And despite the many harrowing events emerging
from this conflict, we have also seen the morale boosting sight
of Ukrainian farmers towing away Russian tanks with their
tractors - just one of many symbols of Ukraine’s extraordinary
tenacity.
Ukrainian farmers are showing tenacity in another way. Despite
everything, they remain determined to get this year’s crops in
the ground, particularly in Western Ukraine. Spring is the season
of new life and new beginnings. For farmers the world over it is
a time of hope as they sow their crop for the year ahead, with
optimism for what it might bring in future. The determination to
get this year’s crop in the ground shows that Ukraine is a
country that believes in its future and refuses to give up.
Of course, Ukraine is a significant global producer of many
agricultural commodities such as wheat and sunflower oil. The
invasion of Ukraine has obviously caused some turbulence in
international commodity markets. Agricultural commodity prices
have always been strongly correlated to the price of energy. The
turbulence on the market has brought into focus, once again, the
importance of a resilient global supply chain.
Last week I attended a special meeting of the G7. At difficult
times when there is a shock to the market, the single most
important thing that the world can do is to keep markets open.
There is over 200 million tonnes of wheat in store around the
world and those who operate the market need to be able to move
stocks around freely in order to satisfy global demand.
The UK is largely self sufficient in wheat production and imports
a small amount predominantly from Canada. But we are working with
like minded countries around the globe to ensure that trade flows
continue and we are working through organisations like the World
Food Programme to identify vulnerabilities in other countries and
to play our part ensuring that we get food to those nations in
need, including those besieged cities in Ukraine. Within my own
department, we have received many offers of help from farmers,
food producers and water companies.
Recent events and the impact of the Covid pandemic are also a
reminder that domestic food production matters. Domestic food
production gives us national resilience. And we Conservatives
will support our farmers and food producers all the way.
Our new farming schemes in England are supporting our farmers to
improve their profitability and output. We’ve just increased the
Farming Investment Fund for small technology grants from £17
million to more than £48 million supporting thousands of farmers
with their investment plans this year.
Much has been said about the state of the UK’s self sufficiency
in the context of reforming UK agricultural policy, but it is
also often misunderstood. Our production to supply ratio remains
high judged against historical levels. It was running at just 30
percent in the late 19th century and little more than 40 percent
before the Second World War. If you look at the foods we can
produce, then our production to supply ratio today remains
healthy at over 75 percent and has been stable since the turn of
the century.
We are 86% self sufficient in beef, fully self sufficient in
liquid milk and produce more lamb than we consume. We are close
to 100 percent self-sufficient in poultry, eggs, carrots and
swedes. Sectors like soft fruit have seen a trend towards greater
self sufficiency in recent years with an extended UK season
displacing imports.
Of course, food production and environmental protection must go
hand in hand. I’ve always maintained that they are two sides of
the same coin. Many of the steps we will take to encourage a more
sustainable model of agriculture will also help improve the
resilience and profitability of farm businesses.
I grew up on a farm and my family have farmed in the same parish
in Cornwall for six generations. The fields have names handed
down the generations along with advice. My great grandfather had
a perspective forged in the difficult inter-war years. He always
said that, if you wanted to make money in farming you had to keep
the salesmen on the other side of the farm gate!
Today, farmers face the challenge of rising costs for inputs like
manufactured fertiliser because the process depends on gas. The
solution will require us both to pioneer new technologies to
manufacture more organic based fertiliser products, and to
rediscover more older, more established techniques such as using
nitrogen fixing legumes and clovers as an alternative to
fertiliser. A healthy crop requires healthy soils and our new
Sustainable Farming Incentive will support farmers to build the
health and fertility of their soil and to reduce soil erosion.
Last year we took our message about the importance of soil health
to the rest of the world as we hosted COP 26 in Glasgow. There is
growing recognition that climate change will create pressures on
the ability of the world to feed itself. Water scarcity will
become a challenge in some landscapes and the temperate regions
of the world will need to produce food for a growing global
population. Countries around the world are developing a new
appreciation about the connection between successful agriculture
and a healthy environment.
And when it comes to tacking climate change, it is not enough to
focus only on greenhouse gas emissions, important though that is.
The world’s forests are the lungs of the planet and the alarming
and relentless deforestation that we have seen should concern us
all. Not only does the loss of forests have a huge impact on
greenhouse gas emissions, these precious habitats are also home
to an amazing array of species causing a crisis for biodiversity
and the natural world.
That is why our Prime Minister made nature and the world’s
forests one of his key priorities at last year’s COP meeting and
why we continue to build on what was achieved. The UK is leading
the way by committing £3bn of our International Climate Finance
to nature and we persuaded 142 countries to sign the Glasgow
Declaration committing to halt and reverse forest loss and land
degradation by 2030.We had leaders representing over 91% of the
world’s forests signing up – from the northern forests of Canada
to the tropical rainforests of Brazil, Colombia and Indonesia.
There is nothing more Conservative than wanting to conserve the
environment. We believe Conservative governments pioneered
legislation to address pollution in our rivers; improve the
quality of our air and tackle the impacts of greenhouse gas
emissions. As precious habitats are being lost, we, as
Conservatives, are stepping up to take action. At home and
abroad. It is our fight, our party’s fight and our country’s
fight.
It was a Conservative Government that established the Darwin
initiative back in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit. Since then,
Darwin has funded over 1,200 projects in low and middle income
countries helping to conserve biodiversity and reduce poverty.
And our £500 million Blue Planet Fund is supporting developing
countries to protect the marine environment and reduce
poverty.
Last year, our world-leading Environment Act became law –
creating a new domestic framework outside of the EU. Just this
week, I have set out ambitious environmental targets in priority
areas from biodiversity to air and water quality. I want us to
use our newfound freedom to do better for our environment – where
there is more room for science and less obsession with legal
process.
As the Prime Minister said at COP, we have a chance to end
humanity’s long history as nature’s conqueror, and instead become
its custodian – a mantra that has long been at the core of
conservatism. Now is the moment and it is a Conservative
Government that is leading the agenda.
