New Farming Minister Dame Angela Eagle visited Hugh Lowe Farms in Kent, together with NFU president Tom Bradshaw and NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board Chair Martin Emmett, on her first farm visit since taking up her role within Defra.
Managing director of Hugh Lowe Farms, Marion Regan, commented, “We discussed with the minister how to unlock much needed economic growth through certainty over the essential and well-managed seasonal workers scheme, help to adopt expensive but promising new technologies, swifter approvals for essential crop protection products, and how grower cooperation should not be held back by arguably ‘zombie” PO structures’”.
The minister met Regan’s daughter and director of the farm, Amelia McLean, and toured several of the farm’s key crops, including raspberries and blackberries. She was shown how robotics is being used within crop protection, with plant health and pesticides discussed as an essential part of a resilient food sector.
The NFU added that, the visit also focused on skills and training, the apprenticeship levy, and creating an enabling planning system. Reservoirs are often cited as particularly troublesome for gaining planning permission, despite the critical need to capture, store and treat water on farms and to reduce abstraction from watercourses.
Following the visit, NFU President Tom Bradshaw added, “It was great to host the farming minister on one of our member’s fruit farms today and show how important horticulture businesses are for the health of our nation and economy. I hope this visit will help Defra champion the policies needed across government to build a resilient and productive food system.
“We also made it clear that investment is sorely needed to overcome the multiple barriers to growth across the farming industry, from access to a skilled workforce to an enabling planning system. The Minister seemed receptive, and I hope this visit will help Defra champion the policies needed across government to build a resilient and productive food system.”
NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board Chair Martin Emmett commented, “This was a great introduction for the Minister into our soft fruit sector and the horticulture sector more widely. We covered a lot of ground, but I was keen to stress the need for certainty over seasonal worker visas, issues with the winding down of the Fruit and Veg Aid Scheme and future funding programmes. I’d like the thank our incredible hosts at Hugh Lowe Farms, Marion, Amelia and Tom, for taking the time to show us around the farm.”
