I apologise for being late, Mrs Murray—I was stuck on the train. I also apologise to the hon. Member for Neath (Christina Rees) for missing the first part of her speech, but I congratulate her on bringing this issue forward and on championing an extraordinary campaign that has seen well over 100,000 people across the country sign a petition of the utmost importance—one that is trying to make farming work, make farming pay and make farming fairer. I commend the Riverford campaign for all its work not only to create the organic market but, once again, to speak up for small farmers across the country.
The five principles have been mentioned already, but it is important to ensure that they are hammered home: buying what you committed to buy, paying on time, committing for the long term, agreeing on fair specifications and paying what you agreed to pay. Those are not radical ideas or concepts that would be out of place in any other sector, yet farmers often find themselves on the wrong side when supermarkets change tack. We often talk in this place about certainty and about how we want to create it for businesses, small and large, across this country, but where do farmers fit into that? We should strive every day to ensure that the people who fill our bellies and put food on our tables are supported, so that they can carry on doing so.
Having listened to the speeches made in this Chamber already, I find it extraordinary that the Liberal Democrats have at no point mentioned the legislation that has been passed, which might facilitate some of the things they are asking for. We could talk, for instance, about the Procurement Act 2023—I accept that many colleagues
might not be interested in it, because it is perhaps one of the most boring pieces of legislation that has ever passed through this place, but it is also one of the most important. It is designed to shorten supply chains, to help small businesses and small farmers access the supply chain, and to ensure that they can provide food for public organisations. That then opens up the idea—this came up in the debate I held a few weeks ago on this very subject, at which none of the Liberal Democrats were present—that we could use the £4.6 billion of taxpayers’ money we spend in this regard to support small farmers in the fruit and veg markets and farms across this country. The opportunity is there for us to be constructive in this place and to come up with ideas as to how we can use that legislation to the most effect. I ask the Minister, when he stands up to speak, what steps he will take to ensure that the Procurement Act comes forward and that we look at how we can change our methodology.
I agree entirely with my hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Alicia Kearns) about ensuring that the Agriculture Act is used to the most effect, amending the supply chain and updating the Groceries Code Adjudicator. I also point out that there is a requirement in the Act for the Secretary of State to update the House on food security every few years. What is the purpose of that, if we have no farmers producing food? If that threshold of just under 50% of farmers go out of business, we should be deeply alarmed. Not only will we see our food security targets reduced, but our whole structure of supporting and rewarding our farmers will go down the can. While we have time, can we use the Agriculture and Procurement Acts to proper effect on a cross-party basis—there is clearly agreement on this—to find ways to make sure the food security target is heading in the right direction?
As I have said many times in this place, we should sometimes think about being a little more French. We must think about how we structure our farmers’ markets and how we can allow them to diversify. There will be no telling what we can do if we ask for fairness in a contractual agreement that can create certainty and opportunity for small farmers and ensure that taxpayers’ money is spent in the right way—to support those farmers, while also opening up new avenues for them. We could create a new generation of farmers who will be able to supply us with our needs.
My last point is about ELMS. Even the Guardian columnists who live in my constituency have commented that, in their eyes, the one benefit from Brexit has been the invention of ELMS—the end of our involvement in the common agricultural policy and the introduction of the new environmental land management scheme. As colleagues have mentioned, there is no doubt that there have been positive steps, but to make the scheme as effective and impactful as possible, we must ensure that ELMS goes further for small farmers, who do not always have the ear of Parliament or the ability to raise their voices—although, obviously, the Riverford campaign has shown what small farmers can do. We must make sure that their voice is always heard at our meetings and that we can diversify those markets.
There is a huge opportunity in front of us. I hope the Minister will listen, because not only could there be a cross-party working group on this issue, but we could start it in rapid order as well.
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