By Aimee Mahony, NFU chief poultry adviser
We’ve recently celebrated Back British Farming Day which provided a chance to highlight the hard work everyone involved in the poultry sector puts in day in day out. Whilst it’s a good touch point with public facing messaging, we can’t rely on one day alone to raise these key messages and as we approach the autumn focus has turned to engaging with another group of stakeholders via the party conference season.
The UK political parties have all been busy holding their annual conferences and the NFU has secured prime locations at both the Labour and Conservative events as well as attending and hosting a farming reception for the Liberal Democrats.
Thousands of people including party members, politicians, stakeholders, media representatives and charities attend these kinds of events which means they offer a great platform for wider engagement. The NFU has been raising the key issues impacting farmers whilst being sensitive to the backdrop of inflationary pressures which are weighing on families and farmers across the country.
At the Labour party conference in Liverpool the NFU engaged with over 50 MPs including the Defra Secretary Steve Reed and Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner and whilst the Conservative conference in Birmingham has hit the media headlines for other reasons including the attendance of a previous Prime Minister who isn’t in fact an MP anymore, delegates have still been engaged and pledging their support to back British farmers.
With a new government, engagement is more important than ever. Farmers and growers contribute substantially to the UK’s largest manufacturing sector which is worth £148billion to the economy. The food and drink sector also employs more than four million people and so we all need the investment, infrastructure and policies for businesses to thrive.
With producers still under a myriad of pressures, we continue to develop strategies that address not only the problems but also offer solutions. One new way of sharing this important information with MP’s is via a fresh programme, set up to showcase the farming sectors and enable participating MPs the opportunity to witness first hand how food is grown, processed and made available to the public from farm to fork.
The NFU’s new Food and Farming Fellowship Scheme, in partnership with a range of sponsoring organisations including the BEIC will showcase the agriculture sector but also help create a new group of champion MPs. These people become crucial in Westminster as well as when they are in their own constituencies as it means they can speak up on issues impacting farmers and growers across the country.
This new initiative kicks off in November with poultry being first on the agenda and we look forward to welcoming MPs from across the main political parties on farm to see first hand the innovative and progressive nature of poultry production alongside highlighting the tools and knowledge needed to ensure businesses are resilient enough to produce high-quality food not just for today but also tomorrow.