We don’t like change, we farmers. Our businesses need consistency. But then, who does like uncertainty? Deep down, we’re all creatures of habit.
The previous government ran the country against a backdrop of extreme uncertainty. The word “unprecedented” punctuated almost every conversation, on issues ranging from water pollution to world economics. So is the new Labour government inspiring the confidence of farmers, or are we still emotionally wrecked by the climate variability, extreme price changes and “lettuce governance” of the past few years?
Even before the general election was announced, Labour shadow ministers from urban constituencies were seen popping up in farmyards across the land, talking with great enthusiasm about key rural issues. The problem is that when it’s not coupled with the know-how, this eagerness made most farmers feel as uncomfortable as the politicians looked, dressed, as they were, in an urbanite interpretation of countryside apparel.
Our fear was that a new government would see the depopulated, largely -Conservative-voting rural areas as ripe for the picking. In fits of first-term fervour, Tony Blair had taken a wrecking ball to country pursuits, and so we worried that Keir Starmer’s government might be equally insensitive to rural needs, and would raid the fiscal pillars that hold up modern farm businesses, such as agricultural property relief, capital gains tax rollover relief and the newly launched and largely successful Sustainable Farming Incentive. Collectively, these tax cuts and funding-support initiatives make it easier for farmers to live and work, and to pursue habitat and biodiversity projects for the public good.
In January, after I wrote about farmers no longer having a natural political home, I met with Baroness Sue Hayman, then the shadow spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the House of Lords, and Daniel Zeichner, then a shadow minister in the same department. Hayman is a long-term champion of countryside issues, but to my delight, I discovered that Zeichner—whose Cambridge constituency contains barely a scrap of farmland—is also knowledgeable and passionate about rural issues and how farm businesses are run.
I wasn’t about to claim my red rosette, but I was somewhat reassured. Indeed, I was reminded of the old adage “farm under Labour, die under the Conservatives”, with Labour better encouraging farm business productivity and the Conservatives protecting the passing of land and assets to the next generation.
In July, when Labour came crashing to power, the government wasted little time in paving a new path for renewable energy, permitting onshore wind generation and approving solar projects. They announced five main priorities in the environment and food, including supporting farmers to boost food security—plus plans to combat our housing deficit. But the devil will be in the detail.
Will the new government really deliver on what farmers need?And what do farmers need from government? My first reaction actually had very little to do with farming: don’t mess around with tax concessions, improve rural connectivity (most notably broadband) and encourage sympathetic development, especially in housing. If Rachel Reeves wants to keep farmers happy, she also needs to stomach supporting schemes that are good for the environment, even if they were initiated by Tories. And Labour should pursue specialised, local housing projects rather than “copy-pasting” soulless, cookie-cutter boxes where houses should be. This would allow the countryside to thrive whilst retaining its charm.
Here’s a whacky idea: why not permit every farm business in the UK to build one well-proportioned home on their farm? They would be built and fitted by local tradesmen, inhabited by the very rural people who need housing.
A bright future is entirely possible—and boy, do we need it—but to get there, we need building blocks, not wrecking balls.
