National Farmers’ Union members in the South Holland area met three of the prospective parliamentary candidates to set out their five key policy challenges for today’s General Election.
At the meetings, held at the NFU offices in Spalding, candidates Voyteck Kowalewski (Labour), Dan Wilshire (Green) and John Hayes (Conservative) were urged to back British farming by:
• Making Brexit a success;
• Investing for growth;
• Safeguarding short, fair, and secure supply chains;
• Placing science at the heart of policy making and;
• Caring for our countryside and rural communities.
NFU members and group secretaries Phil Ingleby, Andrew Cross and Andrea Thorpe spoke to candidates.
NFU’s South Holland branch chairman Stafford Proctor, who farms at Sutton Bridge, said: “The General Election is a great opportunity for the farming sector to impress upon our parliamentary candidates of all parties the value of British farming to the economy, as well as the importance of putting safe, trusted, affordable and tasty food on our plates.”
“In the South Holland constituency, farming and horticulture are especially important industries; they produce the raw materials for the many thousands of production, packing, processing and transport jobs and the ancillary and connected businesses in our area.
“The food chain in Lincolnshire is estimated to generate a gross value added figure of over £2.5billion and employs 56,000. Many are in this area, contributing enormously to the local economy: it is essential that we underline the importance of a profitable, productive and progressive farming industry, post-Brexit.
“Over the next parliament we want to work in partnership with our local representatives and the new Government to achieve this. The nation needs a food and farming industry to produce safe food, care for the environment and contribute to a vibrant UK economy.”