All eyes will be on the Labour conference this September for further announcements on food, farming and the environment. While food and farming are at the heart of UK society, they are not currently a priority mission for the Labour Government. Yet creating a sustainable future for our food system is essential to deliver the Government’s key missions of health, economic stability and green growth.

With the spectre of a potential cut in the agriculture budget in October, the Sustainable Food Trust is calling for the UK Government to rally behind the sustainable food sector and put in place the necessary budget and policies that will enable UK farmers to deliver healthy sustainable food. On Thursday 19 September, the SFT published a dossier of evidence that clearly makes the case to the Treasury and Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department of Health.

The SFT has highlighted eight key priorities for the agriculture budget and wider policy:

  • Align the future agriculture budget with the scale of need and reflect its contribution across Labour’s missions
  • Recognise the scale of transformation needed to deliver these outcomes and work with regenerative farmers to build the expertise and innovation to deliver productive farming systems
  • The agriculture budget needs to reflect the realities of transformation (such as stranded assets and new investment) and to support vulnerable jobs and communities, e.g. in rural upland areas
  • Ensure quality farmer support and advice is effectively funded to drive transformation
  • Create policy that leverages private finance and food sector business strategy to accelerate transformation and multiply impact
  • Underpin the transformation through an integrated approach to food and farming policy, reflecting its reach across Labour’s missions
  • Ensure public money is well spent through the development of harmonised metrics and impact measurement across a range of social and environmental, as well as economic, impacts (for example the Global Farm Metric)
  • Ensure children and young people have the opportunity to build their understanding of the value of nature-friendly food production in the UK through financial support for on-farm visits and other education opportunities.

Read the briefing here.

 

Featured image courtesy of Jason Taylor.