It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Nokes. I had not intended to speak this afternoon, but I have been tempted by my colleagues in East Sussex—my hon. Friends the Members for Eastbourne (Caroline Ansell) and for Lewes (Maria Caulfield)—to be a voice for West Sussex and to defend us against charges of spreading avian flu, which my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne seems to be accusing us of. I do not know whether I need to declare an interest as the current president of the West Grinstead & District Ploughing and Agricultural Society, but I do so with great pleasure.
I am delighted that my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne, in whose constituency I was a couple of days ago—I have spent many happy years there, having been born in Eastbourne—has brought about this debate on Sussex agriculture. Those of us who have had the privilege of being born and brought up and having lived most of our lives in Sussex know that the artificial division into East and West Sussex as a result of the local government reorganisation was a most ghastly occurrence, and Sussex wunt be druv, so Sussex is Sussex.
I endorse all the comments that my hon. Friends the Members for Eastbourne and for Lewes made. Sussex is an interesting county in terms of agriculture. It is a hugely rural county, whereas my constituency is largely coastal and urban, although 52% of the Adur council area, which forms most of my constituency, is in the South Downs national park, which places far more restrictions on the council’s powers when it comes to planning and the availability of land for building more houses.
I often speak to the farmers in my constituency who are within the South Downs national park, and I also spoke at a dinner of the ploughing society recently, and the big issue at the moment is food security—indeed, it is absolutely paramount. Furthermore, if Ukraine has taught us anything, it is the importance of energy security and the pitfalls of becoming too reliant on imports of energy from one or two countries. Energy security is absolutely vital, and our farmers want to play their part in restoring and building our energy security.
Our farmers have greater powers and flexibility to tackle those issues now that they are no longer part of the common agricultural policy, which gave rather artificial subsidies based on what Brussels decided it was best to grow around Europe, rather than on what our farmers knew how to grow locally and what was most sympathetic to our agricultural scene and our local environments. I look forward to seeing different colours making up Sussex fields in years to come, as we grow those things that benefit us most and provide the most effective and most needed foods for local people, and help to build our food security, because we still import far too much food—well over a third.
In Sussex, we have very hilly areas because of the South Downs, which are not suitable for arable farming but which are suitable for a lot of rough grazing. Hence,
South Downs sheep and many other breeds of sheep adorn the South Downs, as well as many varieties of cattle. Let us remember that pasture, and active pasture, is one of the best ways of locking in carbon. Those whose protests see them waste milk by pouring it over supermarket floors or who glue themselves to whatever it is they have glued themselves to this week should remember that farmers are probably the most important component in achieving net zero and contributing to environmental stewardship. They are the stewards of the environment. If they undermine and destroy it, they undermine their own livelihoods and their ability to produce food, which is what they are in farming for and have been for many generations. I therefore pay tribute to our farmers, and we should have no truck with people who want to thrust their own lifestyle choices on the rest of us, as if they have a God-given right to dictate what is best for the environment, our health and our welfare.
Many farmers are now moving to shallow plough methods or indeed to no-plough methods, and it will not be long before arable agriculture takes place through minimal ploughing or no ploughing at all, meaning that more carbon will remain locked into the land.