Suffolk farmer questions whether Government's new farming roadmap will deliver promised certainty
The strategy includes £123 million of funding for innovation, technology and productivity improvements.
A Suffolk farmer has questioned whether the Government's new long-term farming roadmap will provide the certainty ministers say it will, despite welcoming efforts to improve profitability and resilience across the industry.
The Government has unveiled its new Farming Roadmap 2050, describing it as a landmark plan that will give English farmers confidence to invest beyond the next harvest for the first time. The strategy includes £123 million of funding for innovation, technology and productivity improvements, alongside commitments on seasonal worker visas, supply chain fairness and support for adapting to climate change.
However, Glenn Buckingham, a Suffolk arable farmer and former county chair of the National Farmers' Union, said the proposals contain "mixed messages" and leave questions about how some measures will work in practice.
Questions over technology and cost
The roadmap places significant emphasis on technology, robotics and improved soil management, but Mr Buckingham said many farmers are already facing difficult economic conditions.
He said: "For many people, it will be difficult to understand exactly how the money will be spent and how it will change things.
"We could focus on robotics. Are they all available to us out here in the arable world? I'm not so sure that they are."
Mr Buckingham said while technology has an important role to play, the cost of adopting new systems remains a challenge.
"It's frightening the amount of money that's required and whilst the margins are obviously difficult at the moment, there are mega problems to actually bring in new techniques, new systems, when actually you may feel more comfortable with the existing," he said.
He also questioned whether enough support exists to help farmers make effective use of emerging technologies.
Climate change and resilience
The Government says the roadmap will help farmers adapt to increasingly extreme weather through better soil health and water management.
Mr Buckingham agreed resilience must be a priority but argued climate change requires broader action.
"I've been talking about global warming and carbon footprinting for 20 or 30 years," he said.
"We undoubtedly have a problem. We have a reluctance to realise what this problem is.
"It is not a case of head in the sand. It is a case of acting to build a resilient system."
He said farmers were already experiencing the effects of changing weather patterns and argued long-term planning was essential for an industry that works on timescales measured in years rather than months.
Trust and long-term promises
The roadmap aims to provide greater long-term certainty following years of changes to agricultural support schemes.
But Mr Buckingham said farmers have experienced repeated policy changes and political uncertainty.
"There is so much short-termism, isn't there?" he said.
"We flip flop around and change priorities. And that's a really difficult thing for an industry that is a long-term industry, and we really do need long-termism."
He said any successful farming strategy would require politicians to recognise that agriculture operates over much longer timescales than most government policy cycles.
Calls for a rethink of the food system
While welcoming discussions around resilience, Mr Buckingham argued the debate should extend beyond technology alone.
He said he would like to see greater investment in local food production, processing and supply chains to reduce reliance on long-distance transport and create stronger links between consumers and producers.
"The ultimate and only way to become more resilient is to have things close to you," he said.
"Whether that's energy in the form of electrical energy or whether that's energy in the form of food, we need to understand all the externalities of those and then the risks that we are taking by centralising any of it."
The Government says the Farming Roadmap 2050 has been developed in partnership with farmers and will help create a profitable, productive, sustainable and resilient farming sector while improving food security and supporting economic growth.
Measures announced alongside the strategy include a new £30 million Farmer Collaboration Fund, continued seasonal worker visas until at least 2030, legal protections for egg and fresh produce growers, and the opening of the latest Sustainable Farming Incentive application window.