12/1/2022

‘Farmers are the only working conservationists we have’ NFU President tells Oxford Farming Conference

Minette -batters

Speaking at this year’s Oxford Farming Conference, NFU President Minette Batters hailed the positive impact of Britain’s farmers, describing them as working conservationists and urging politicians to remember the people who lay at the heart of a better future.

‘We cannot do it any other way than through the farmer’ said Mrs Batters as part of a panel discussion on the new landmark report on Natural Capital, produced by Green Alliance and WWF.

She highlighted the important local impact of farming as ‘living, breathing communities that underpin some very fragile parts of the country’ before promoting the essential role that farmers can have in delivering the aims of the report and national and global targets to improve natural capital.

The panel debated how to achieve the report’s aims, such as sequestering carbon on working farms and creating a credible, domestic on-farm agri-carbon sequestration market. In response, the NFU President was keen to show that all farmers have their part to play as working conservationists:

“70% of the country is a farmed landscape” she stated, “whether they’re a landowner, whether they’re a tenant, you’ve got to have a fair approach whereby all of these new farmers can develop these new trades”.

As showcased in our series of cases studies, many farmers are desperate to deliver positive change for the countryside and this was evident in the closing statements as Mrs Batters emphatically said that “there is so much that is working so well. There is so much energy and enthusiasm out there. Farmers are the solution to so many of the challenges that the world faces.”

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Comments

Many farmers are doing great work, we need more

at 11:47 on 09/02/2022 by J McKendree

Farmer are hardly the "only" working conservationists, but they are certainly critical as they are in charge of 70% of the land in the UK. Many farmers are doing brilliant work on transitions to farming practices that are less harmful to the environment while producing food. However, it is by no means all farmers and we need to fully support those who are just starting the journey or haven't yet considered it. The WWF "Land of Plenty" initiative, launched on 8/2/2022, is actually very supportive of the innovative farmers in the UK and, while encouraging people to eat less meat, emphasises the need to "eat local, eat better". They also are adamant that we cannot let cheap imports flood the market and undermine the good work being done. I think if the NFU were to work more closely with organisations such as this (and the people in them who are most certainly "working conservationists"!) rather than seeing them as opponents, it would send a message to government in shaping policy that works for farmers and puts responsibility not only on them but on the players in the whole supply chain, including consumers. As the daughter of a cattleman and an environmental scientist working with farmers, I think it is high time we all got together to find solutions that protect our farmers, protect our landscapes, and create a system where everyone plays their part. https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/land-of-plenty

Minette Batters

at 10:10 on 13/01/2022 by Tim Palmer

Well, sometimes in life the cards fall right and for us to have Minette as NFU President at this time, utterly in command of her brief, delivering all the right messages in a way that's persuasive and engaging, firm and clear without being divisive or aggressive while still championing The Farmer, is the best thing that has happened to this industry in a long time.

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