Farming Roadmap 2050, what does it all mean?

Today sees the long-awaited publication of the Farming Roadmap, Defra’s plan for farming in England until 2050. This document draws together much of the department’s actions and workstreams into one overarching strategy with the broad themes of profitability and productivity, sustainability, and farm resilience.

Before we dig into the detail it is important to stress that direction of travel is positive and it highlights the right priorities for farming at large as well as those barriers facing the pig sector. That being said, today’s publication is far from a finished article, but more a long-term ambition for how the government sees its work programme evolving over the coming years. While it is to be expected with documents of this kind, it lacks some of the detail in terms of delivery and how and when such barriers will be lifted.

That being said, I have tried to pick out some of the highlights, what should be of particular benefit for the pig sector, as well as other key measures of note.

What is in the roadmap for pigs?

• Planning reform: As many members will be aware, barriers in the planning process are all too often one of the biggest challenges businesses face in modernising and investing in their units. This is recognised throughout the roadmap and Defra have committed to “Strengthening national planning policy to support farming and food production”. This includes updating the National Planning Policy Framework to specifically support developments that benefit domestic food production, animal welfare or the environment. The plan also mentions “speeding up planning decisions and improving the efficiency of the planning system”.
• International Trade: Trade can sometimes be seen as something of an afterthought within agriculture, but it is a vital part of our food production system and there were several encouraging points within the roadmap. On exports, the government have committed to continuing to remove trade barriers, driving forward export driven growth and leading a number of ministerial trade missions to help deliver this. Not only does this help provide new and diversified export markets for British pork, it also ensures we are achieving the best possible carcass balance and return for producers. On imports, it was really positive to once again see the government commit to protecting British agriculture from unfair trade deals, “always considering whether overseas goods benefit from an unfair advantage and any impact on UK producers”. The roadmap specifically highlights pork protections in the recent India trade deal.
• Agricultural skills: Given the work we have done on this subject over the past year, we know again how challenging this particular area is both on farm and further up the supply chain. In fact, over 61% of the NPA members surveyed are experiencing staff shortages on farm, with around 34% of on-farm staff coming from abroad. As such it is encouraging to see that Defra recognises this challenge and are committed to working across government to build the domestic workforce we need going forward. Specifically, Defra will be “working with the Department for Education, [to] create new qualifications at Level 2 in Agriculture, known as Occupational Certificates, as well as creating new vocational qualifications at Level 3, known as V Levels, to support learners who may be keen to explore agriculture as part of their wider post-16 study programme”. What is disappointing, however, is that while the government recognises the value of overseas labour to meet current labour needs, extending the Seasonal Worker visa route until 2030, this only benefits the horticulture sector with no routes for other sectors.
• Animal disease and biosecurity: As part of measures to strengthen the country’s disease resilience, amongst other measures Defra will be bringing forward a dedicated Animal Disease Control and Resilience Strategy. We can expect this to be published sometime next year. Additionally, the roadmap recognised the high threat posed by “illegal imports of meat and dairy products”. The “government is working across departments and agencies, including with Border Force, the Food Standards Agency and local authorities, to tackle these risks and strengthen biosecurity”, this includes the establishment of an Illegal Imports Improvement Project.

Other key measures

While the below measures are not necessarily new or of direct benefit to the pig sector, they are key measures nonetheless and we feel they would be of interest to members.

• Simpler regulation: Defra plan to review a range of regulations to make the whole system more streamlined as well as recognising farmers as central to food production, environmental improvement and climate action. The roadmap commits to working with farmers to ensure regulation is codesigned and advice led wherever possible. However, they did also stress the need for increased compliance from farmers and an expectation that regulations will need to be strengthened in some places to ensure fairness.
• Raising environmental performance: In this vein the roadmap outlines plans to raise environmental standards, including launching a new Nutrient Management Planning Tool to help farmers plan and match nutrient inputs to crop and soil needs. Similarly in terms of water pollution from agriculture, the plan recommits to consulting on extending environmental permitting to dairy and intensive beef, bringing those sectors in line with permitting regime for pig and poultry units. As part of this, the Secretary of State confirmed during her statement to the Commons that Defra are doubling the Environment Agency’s farm inspection capacity over the next 3 years to help drive up compliance.
• Animal Welfare: While there was nothing new relating to welfare, the roadmap again committed to working in collaboration with industry to ensure the measures announced in the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway and the Animal Welfare Strategy “are workable, evidence-based and aligned with real world farming systems”.

Finally, while not formally a part of the roadmap, the government will also review how the economic value of agriculture is measured.

Currently agriculture is valued as 0.6% of Gross Value Added but this is a misleading undervaluation as it only captures primary agricultural activities. Going forward the government will look to develop new supplementary statistics to include the wider food supply chain beyond farm gate.

This will have the benefit in the future of ensuring that farming, and the allied industries that support it, receive greater economic recognition and weight in Whitehall decision making.