I beg to move,
That this House has considered the future of farming.
It is a privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger, and to bring this timely and important debate to the Floor of the Chamber. I did not think that it would be being debated at the same time in the other place. However, we will progress.
Farming has long been the backbone of our nation, underpinning food security, providing jobs and delivering significant environmental benefits. The agrifood sector across the United Kingdom contributes £148 billion to the economy and employs over 4 million people, including 462,000 directly in agriculture. It is an industry worth protecting and speaking out for.
Today, I speak not just as a politician, but as someone with farming in my blood—the daughter of a farmer, the wife of a farmer, and the mum of a little boy who dreams of becoming a farmer. The future of farming is deeply personal to me, as it is to many of the 209,000 farm owners across the UK, including 26,000 in Northern Ireland. These people work 17 million hectares of land to feed the nation, and care for the countryside. Their average farm size is 82 hectares, and their contribution to the UK economy amounts to £13.7 billion annually. Yet, they now face an existential threat from the proposed changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief.