Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will take steps to ensure that farming business is market-led rather than production-led.
George Eustice
The UK has some of the best farmers in the world, producing food to the highest standards of quality, safety, traceability and animal welfare. To make the most of this talent and quality, we need to work with farmers to raise our productivity and close the gap with some of our leading competitors. This means that we shall be supporting more UK businesses to sell their top quality produce around the world; trebling the number of apprenticeships in the food and drink industry to bring new skills and innovation; and reforming tax averaging and investment allowances to help farmers plan capital spending for the long term.
Our new 25-year food and farming plan has been developed jointly with food and farming businesses. It will set a joint vision for increasing productivity, exports, resilience and consumer confidence, thereby boosting demand for British food and the contribution of farming to our economy.
