Budget missed huge opportunity to drive meaningful change for Fenland farmers – say industry leaders

The Budget was a massive missed opportunity to drive meaningful change for Fenland family farms, national and county farming leaders have said. 

Reacting to the Autumn Budget NFU officeholders and farmers said it contained little to improve business confidence and left no breathing space for food production in Cambridgeshire and across the country.

The NFU says that promoting investment to build resilience is essential if Cambridgeshire is to have a sustainable farming industry that drives the rural economy, protects the countryside and helps to delivers national food security.

 NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “This was an opportunity for the government to act on the warm words it made over the summer. It has failed to act and has left farmers and growers feeling abandoned.

 “The OBR (the Office for Budget Responsibility) has reflected that the food price inflation outlook is significantly higher than previous forecasts.

 "Yet the government has failed to link domestic food production to food-price inflation, has missed the opportunity to deliver on its commitment that ‘food security is national security’ and failed to give farm businesses the ‘breathing space’ that the Chancellor said this Budget was for."

Mr Bradshaw said while the extension to red diesel relief was welcome, fuel prices today are already around 65% higher than a year ago, so this gives minimal relief to the cashflow crisis facing the industry.

The government also announced tariffs will be removed on a range of foods and on fertiliser to bring down prices.

The NFU has said while it is right government looks to strengthen its resilience by reducing tariffs on imported fertiliser, in reality, much already comes to the UK tariff free.

 Any fertiliser savings for farms would depend on whether any benefit was passed down the supply chain and if the products covered reflected those actually used by county farmers and growers.

The NFU had lobbied for measures including changes to Annual Investment Allowance, for the family farm tax to be scrapped entirely and for government-backed interest free loans to ensure cash-strapped farmers are able to produce food for next year.

NFU Cambridgeshire Chair Alison Morris, who farms near March, said: “This Budget has done nothing to help our farmers.

“Just imagine if your monthly pay cheque was dependent on the weather. In a heatwave or if it’s torrential rain your pay is cut and then add to it the cost of getting to work has just doubled because of events around the world. You would ask yourself if it’s worth going to work at all. That’s where farming is right now and we can’t carry on like this.  

“We need help now not words of we understand. We urgently need support from the Keep Britain Growing Loan so that we can afford to harvest the crops still in the ground and plant next year’s crops

“Increasing the Annual Investment Allowance to at least £5m, including structures and buildings, scrapping the family farm tax would have gone some way to restoring much-needed confidence.

“NFU President Tom Bradshaw raised these issues directly with the Prime Minister, both on farm during the summer and recently in Westminster.

“The NFU will continue to push hard for the urgent action needed to ensure farmers in Cambridgeshire and across Britain can continue to deliver for the country.”