Opinion Column: Why the farming industry is so important to the city of Peterborough

With the dust settling after the general election, have you ever stopped to wonder just how the result might affect the food you eat each day?

And how that could affect people in Peterborough and other cities and towns in Cambridgeshire? The answer is probably more than you might think.

Every constituency contains consumers, and almost every constituency in the country contains farms. Those that don’t are home to businesses involved in the production and distribution of the food farmers grow.

I am proud to be a Fenland farmer, farming at Thorney, less than 10 miles from Peterborough city centre.

The East Anglian Fens, which Peterborough is a part of, is a truly special place.

So why should the people of Peterborough care about farming?

For one, Peterborough’s food, retail and hospitality sector is vital to the city’s economy. This is underpinned by food production and farming.

The Fens are a real powerhouse for British food and farming.

Figures from the National Farmers’ Union’s Delivering for Britain Report, show the Fens are worth an estimated £3.1bn to the East’s economy, with the whole supply chain from farm to fork, employing more than 80,000 people.

A total 33% of England’s fresh vegetables are grown in the Fens and 13,000 different animal and plant species can be found here. Farmers here play a big role in supporting and protecting that wildlife, through habitat management.

Farming is also an important part of Cambridgeshire’s history and tourism industry, which brings hundreds of millions of pounds to Peterborough. Landscapes around Peterborough are shaped by farming.

In addition, with many people in Peterborough continuing to face the cost-of-living crisis, farming’s ability to provide affordable, climate friendly and high welfare food is critical.

British farmers and growers produce some of the highest quality, environmentally friendly food in the world and work hard to look after the countryside many of us love to visit.

To enable all of this to continue, farmers need the new government to prioritise setting an increased multi-year agriculture budget for at least the duration of the next Parliament, a fact highlighted by

a recent independent survey by the Andersons Centre, commissioned by the NFU.

This isn’t just ‘money for farmers.’ It’s funding that will give farmers the ability to help the government meet its own statutory commitments by giving growers the confidence to invest for the future and help make the government’s aims around sustainable food production, food security, the environment and net zero possible.

The government must commit to establishing core production standards, so the food and drink produced in this country is not undercut by imports produced to health, welfare and environmental standards that would be deemed illegal here.

A secure and resilient supply of homegrown food can only be built on a fair and transparent supply chain that shares the risks involved in food production evenly and thereby giving farmers confidence. Amending the Grocery Supply Code of Practice so more food retailers and businesses fall under the remit of the Groceries Code Adjudicator is a key step to achieving this.

The new government can also show its commitment to food security by being alert to the risk and impact of disease, particularly bovine TB, as we work towards the government’s target to eradicate this terrible disease by 2038.

As the custodians of our great British countryside, farmers share the new government’s ambition to improve the environment and farmers are at the forefront of delivering new legislated environment targets.

We need to continue to adapt and make improvements on our farms to support plans to tackle water quality and to mitigate the devastating impact of flooding. All of these actions will need proper investment and plans developed in conjunction with those managing the land.

We would love to welcome Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes, as well as Cambridgeshire’s other MPs, to local farms to meet with farmers and to understand the challenges we are facing.

Securing a bright future for the British farming industry will be for good of everyone, including the people of Peterborough.