Agriculture

My Lords, I am most grateful to my noble friend Lord Vinson for introducing this debate and to all noble Lords who have participated in it. The awful truth is that much of British agriculture is kept afloat only because of its assets in the form of land, which outweigh its debts in the form of bank loans and unpaid bills. The situation in England is far worse than anywhere else due to the appalling delays in the new single farm payment scheme. I am glad to note that the payments are starting to come through, but that does not take away from the fact that we should never have been in this state in the first place. I am sure the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, will acknowledge that. It is a disgraceful situation and I hope that he will ensure, with his usual robustness, that the outstanding payments are made as soon as possible. Many noble Lords have referred to the noble Lord, Lord Bach. The noble Lord was unfortunate to hold this ministerial position at the wrong time. He inherited a system with which he had nothing to do. As we took Bills through the House he was always courteous and ensured that all noble Lords were given access to the Bill team, for which I am grateful. The latest figures on single farm payments show that 58,700 full payments have been made, along with 31,000 partial payments. This means that 85.8 per cent of the total expected payments have been settled, but some 5,000 claimants with claims of over £1,000 each have still not received any money. I hope that the Minister will be able to update the House on the position. While addressing the single farm payment scheme, can he tell us whether the Government will consider extending the deadline beyond the end of May for the 2006 applications? Let us get everything correct within the Rural Payments Agency rather than insisting that farmers apply early. I understand that penalties will not be imposed, but actually they are not the answer. As other noble Lords have pointed out, the system is complex and needs sorting. At this point I should remind the House of my family farming interests. Several noble Lords referred to the problems faced by hill farmers, an issue I shall return to straightaway. In its briefing the NFU states that it believes that,"““a transition period of two years (2007/8) must be implemented whereby the current HFA scheme is continued, as we are not confident that the current systems in place would be able to meet the proposed deadlines. A new scheme would have to be set up by 1 Jan 2007. In our view the evidence is clear that it is simply not achievable for RPA to draw up a scheme, have it approved by EU, and then ask farmers to apply within that timeframe””." Again, I would be glad if the Minister would comment on that. Perhaps I may turn now to the many excellent contributions that have been made today and pick up on the question of food security and self-sufficiency. I am often rubbished and told that we do not need to be self-sufficient—that it does not matter—but in an uncertain world where, unfortunately, climate change often means that the harvests of some countries totally fail, it is something to which we should cast our minds. With the change to the single farm payment, there is a likelihood that farmers may well move from producing wheat and feed to producing energy crops and diversifying into forestry. This could be reflected in the amount of food we produce, which may well continue to fall. I turn now to British food production in more general terms. Many aspects of the current position give me cause for concern. Chief among these is a realisation of the number of miles that our food travels from farm to fork. Even our daily bread has to be transported many miles to the shelf from which we take it. In the old days, the main street of any British town used to have at least two bakers, two butchers, a greengrocer and, perhaps, a grocer. Now, in some places, they are lucky if they have a convenience store or a corner shop. The noble Lord, Lord Tomlinson, referred to the globalised market. We know that that is where we have to compete, but I believe that we should compete in an even-handed way and it is up to the Government to ensure that that is possible. Within this tale of closures to which my noble friend the Duke of Montrose referred, abattoirs have been legislated almost out of existence, so most of the butchers’ shops they supplied have gone too. The latest EU ruling on beef means that any meat over two years old has to be sold off the bone. There is no great trouble with that, but the bones the butcher removes have to be stained, kept in a separate store and removed from premises in dedicated transport. The butchers could easily return it to the abattoirs, which have all the facilities necessary for marking and destroying, but the rules forbid it. I have been told that the cost to the butcher of the new method will be about 40p per kilo of meat sold. Surely this is ridiculous. Let me move to one or two issues which other noble Lords have referred to and perhaps bring in some new ones. The noble Lord, Lord Plumb, touched on disease and its spread. He gave a figure of some £573 million, which the Government pay towards control of various diseases including TB, scrapie and BSE. I know that the Government have instigated a partnership to consider the sharing of responsibility for the costs of animal diseases and I would be grateful if the Minister could comment on that. Although it is fairly new and getting established, it needs to be clear where the responsibilities lie and how the industry is expected to pay towards some of the costs. The noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, and others have referred to the continuing cost of bovine TB, which is at this stage out of control, with more than 3,500 herds being reported on tests for the first time last year. If the Minister could tell the House when the Government will have a response to the ongoing comprehensive review, that would be enormously helpful. Perhaps he could also comment on the zero-based review which Defra is undertaking at this moment. We all want to see the production of healthy, good food. I should like it to be as locally grown and marketed as possible. I am not saying that there should not be international trade—please do not think that I am—but when the noble Lord, Lord Tomlinson, referred to it, I do not think he built into the equation the pollution caused by the food miles travelled and the pollution from air miles. That does not come into the equation but I believe it should. I was grateful for the contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Young of Norwood Green, and for his reference to the gangmasters. I prayed against the statutory instrument two days ago but only to raise awareness of it and the need to get the legislation enacted as quickly as possible. I think the delay has been unfortunate. The noble Lord, Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, should look to my previous Question on the Order Paper in relation to affordable housing. I am trying to get a response to it as quickly as possible. It is an issue on which I speak on a regular basis in this House. The ability to live and work—and to continue to work—in their own locality is a big problem for many. My noble friend Lord Selborne referred, as others did, to science and research. Everything that we do should be based on good science and research knowledge, with the Government making their judgments on that. If we keep cutting back on research establishments, we run a real risk of losing knowledge and skills. In thinking about where we can go in the future, I have tried to say, ““We are where we are””. It is not a happy situation; incomes are, on average, £12,500. For long-term investment, that is not good. I have tried to say where we think we can go. My noble friend Lord Caithness and others spoke about the need to minimise regulation. We all know that we need regulation, but please can it be as proportionate and minimal as possible? We should not have any more regulation than other countries against which we have to compete and which are allowed to get away with less. I believe that the farming industry has a great role to play in the future of our country, not just in the production of food and energy, but for the life it offers people. Our tourist industry is based on the success of farming. Healthy living and activities are based on people getting out and enjoying the countryside. I have two more things to say to the Minister. First, I would like to highlight the concerns expressed by farmers about the cross-compliance rules being introduced with regard to the single farm scheme. Some are quite worried that this will have a regressive impact on the way in which they farm, and some may well come out of the scheme. Secondly, my noble friend Lord Caithness said that he wanted the Government behind farmers. I would rather have the Government alongside farmers, giving them the lead and showing them where they think the farming community can play a worthwhile role in the future.