NEW YEAR MESSAGE OF NFU PRESIDENT BEN GILL

16 December 2002

For farmers and those with an interest in the countryside, 2002 will
be remembered as the year of the inquiry - one after another they have
reflected on the past and reassessed the way forward.

In the meantime, another 15,000 jobs were being lost from farming in
England alone.

2003 must be the year that Government finds its way and gets behind
the wheel of what is one of Britain's last remaining primary
industries.

We must move on from deliberation to implementation of policies that
allow British agriculture to recover profitability, competitiveness,
and deliver sustainability.

Farmers have been working hard to respond to the general soundings for
change by developing branded regional products, by entering
environmental schemes, by getting closer to their customers and
developing farm assurance schemes for the industry.

Indeed, there was a slight increase in the total income from farming,
mainly from the reduction in the wages bill resulting from so many
leaving the industry, but also from increased efficiency. This was
very welcome, but was built on individuals working unsustainably long
hours for desperately poor returns. This has to be addressed.

Farmers want to see action from a Government that demonstrates its
intention to work with the industry and to nurture the formation of
"grown-up relationships" across the food chain and with environmental
organisations where partners respect the need for all participants to
make a profit.

The creation of the Food Chain Centre and more recently the English
Farming & Food Partnerships will be critical in turning around the
lack of profitability in the farming industry. These two organisations
have the potential to deliver answers that are so desperately needed.
Crucially, they must resolve one key issue: how is it that with food
prices in Europe no higher than in Britain (even including a VAT
element) that their farmgate prices are higher than ours? In the last
five years while UK farm incomes have fallen by 42%, in Germany they
have risen by 34%. Solve that and we can go a long way to putting the
entire UK food industry on to a secure footing for the future.

There must also be greater recognition by Government of the impact of
regulation on the industry's bottom line and its decision to remain
outside of the euro.

Only a profitable agriculture can deliver for the environment and the
economy. Just over 70% of the British countryside is agriculturally
managed - through a diverse range of food and energy crops or native
woodland and grassland.

The new "entry level" scheme is a step in the right direction in
recognising the environmental contribution and the cost of additional
environmental work to farmers. But the issue of chronic under funding
for the UK's rural development plans and agri-environment schemes must
be challenged. UK farmers should not suffer from the funding shortage
created by the UK's decision of more than a decade ago not to draw
down structural funds. Currently, France and Ireland, for example,
have five times as much developmental funding.

Farming has demonstrated its skill not just in producing food,
wildlife habitats, and the backdrop for our tourism and rural
industries but also as a producer of alternative green fuels and the
raw materials for products based on natural fibres and oils. These
crops are the critical new element of future farming that have the
potential to transform the whole industry’s profitability base. And
yet the promises of Government continually seem to fall tantalisingly
short of the target.

2003 must be the year in which the Government acts to re-ignite the
country-wide pride. It must be the year in which it puts at the top of
its agenda the rebuilding of the trust that has been so badly damaged
in recent times. Trust not only between sections of the food chain,
but also between the food industry and Government. To do anything else
would be short sighted, futile and costly for us all.

Above all it must be the year when the framework is created that
allows us to achieve a fair price from the market for the top quality
goods we produce. The year when we put the profitability back into
British food and farming.