Emma Reynolds MP: speeches

Speeches

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her comments. We do have capital grants to help farmers procure the kind of equipment she mentioned.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for what he said about the show. I was not able to attend, but it is good that he and other Members were there. We are addressing all those different issues. On the SPS deal, as I said to the hon. Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden), we are very aware of the concerns of the NFU and, indeed, the farmers’ union in Scotland. I engaged with them only last month. We cannot give a running commentary, but I do want to see a smooth transition so that farmers are ready for that change.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  Farmers face lots of different challenges, one of which is volatile global commodity prices, along with some of things my hon. Friend mentioned. On public procurement, we are working to establish an accurate baseline of what percentage of the public sector gives contracts to our farmers. We are also looking at what more we can do to enable farming co-operatives to access those public contracts.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I think my hon. Friend is asking about the expiring agreements, because there are obviously many thousands coming to an end this year. As I have said in DEFRA questions previously, it is the Department’s intention that those whose agreements expire this year will be able to apply in window 2 of the SFI, which will start in September. It is just a technological change that we need to ensure we have pinned down so that farmers can do that through the Rural Payments Agency.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  If the hon. Gentleman looks at fertiliser prices, he will see that they have levelled off.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  As we set out in our land use framework, our intention in working with the sector is to ensure that we have more productive and profitable farms and multifunctional land use so that we maintain, if not increase, food production levels, alongside the land use changes that we need to secure a sustainable farming transition.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  That is very kind of the hon. Gentleman. I thank him for his best wishes, which were a little different in tone from the comments from the Opposition Front Bench. I reassure the hon. Gentleman that we have a separate document that responds to Baroness Batters’ review. Profitability is absolutely at the heart of the road map. There is a lovely diagram on page 18 of the road map—perhaps the words in it were not picked up in his search—showing what we are trying to do, which is to work towards a profitable, productive, sustainable and resilient farming sector. I absolutely agree with him that we need a more profitable sector, and that is the focus of this document.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I am always happy to meet my hon. Friend and the Labour rural research group, and I thank him for what he said about the road map. I have an update for the House. The hon. Member for North Cotswolds (Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown) is no longer in his place, but somebody has done some work for me related to question: “profitability” is mentioned in the road map 17 times, the word “profitable” is mentioned 27 times and “profit” is mentioned 52 times.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I think my hon. Friend’s name is very striking, Madam Deputy Speaker. We are consulting on longer-term plans to change fertiliser rules so that we can diversify the sorts of fertilisers that farmers can use. We are also looking to see how we can ensure that fertiliser markets function more fairly, in the way that I have suggested in previous answers.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  The extreme weather conditions we are facing at the moment bring into sharp relief the need for the sector to have access to better sources of water. I thank my hon. Friend for working closely with my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary on these issues and look forward to hearing more about the initiatives in my hon. Friend’s area.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  As the hon. Lady knows, I am always happy to appear before her Committee. There is an ongoing discussion with the EU about implementation timelines. I cannot give her a running commentary, but I can say that we are working closely with the National Farmers’ Union about the implementation timelines. We want a smooth transition to what comes next. As I said in my statement, we know that farmers plan along longer timescales, and they are using products now that they have in the ground. We are looking at transition timelines, being careful about them, and engaging closely with the sector.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I do agree that we have to get much fairer contracts, which is why we are extending the fair dealing regulations that already cover dairy and pig farmers to other sectors. As she said, we are also transferring the Groceries Code Adjudicator from DBT to DEFRA to make sure that there is a more joined-up grip on food chain fairness.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I did not catch that last word.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I have spent every minute of every day since I have been appointed rebuilding the relationship with farmers. I acknowledge that there have been problems, but I think we are in a much better place.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I agree with the intent of the hon. Lady’s question, which is that we need a focus on food production and to ensure that our farming sector is more resilient to global shocks, such as the kind she spoke about. That is why we are doing serious work on how we can help farmers to use fertiliser more efficiently and move away from chemical fertilisers towards more organic fertilisers. We have introduced a nutrient management tool, and many farms have now taken that on, which is helping them make more efficient use of fertiliser. I agree with some of the things that she said, but perhaps not the recommendation.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is right to raise that question. This week’s weather brings into sharp relief the Climate Change Committee’s report from a couple of weeks ago on the risks of extreme weather—not just higher temperatures but more flooding. As Secretary of State, I am in charge of not only farming but climate adaptation. I reassure the hon. Gentleman that the Government are looking at what more we need to do in response to that report and ahead of the national programme that we need to bring forward in 2028, including at how every Government Department can make sure that we are adapting the public estate to the levels of extreme heat that we are seeing this week and the increased levels of flooding that we have seen in recent years.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  In response to Baroness Batters’ independent farming profitability review, we have already established the Farming and Food Partnership Board, and are already working on sector growth plans for horticulture and poultry. In horticulture in particular, we have seen a reduction in the amount of domestic-grown fruit and veg that we consume in England. We are working out what more we can do to boost the production of horticulture and, indeed, poultry.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  That is precisely why window 1 will be open next week to small farms and those farms without an existing agreement. It is also why we have capped the agreement level per year to £100,000. We want smaller farms to benefit from the SFI.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for welcoming the road map. We have certainly learned a lot of lessons from what happened last summer, and I would absolutely like to see no sudden stops to the system. We are learning the lessons, but also with the capital grants programme, we ensured that there were not the same issues. I cannot always predict the future, but I would like that to be the case.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  That is very similar question to that of the right hon. Member for New Forest West (Sir Desmond Swayne). I am always happy to meet my hon. Friend and other hon. Members. Upland farmers play a vital role. We have increased payment rates for upland farmers, and in the road map we talk about how we can make it easier for upland farmers and commoners to access schemes. As I said to the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron), we have also commissioned Hilary Cottam to do some work on how we ensure that the communities in upland areas thrive.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I could not agree more. We have to look at the agrifood sector overall. It is a huge part of our economy, employing 4.1 million people, and its gross value added is equivalent to the automotive sector. My hon. Friend is right that there has been a tendency to underestimate the value of farming. We have to look at it in the wider agrifood ecosystem and in the context of the GVA that the sector brings to the economy.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  We have announced additional funding for the farming innovation programme, bringing total innovation funding to £123 million. This is to back practical technology, including robotics, soil health and water management. It is about the shift to sustainable farming practices.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I recently visited the Balmoral agricultural show with members of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, and the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee was there too. We had a good old chinwag. I also met Minister Muir and the Ulster Farmers’ Union. We are engaging closely with stakeholders in Northern Ireland. We have close relationships with all the devolved Administrations and are already engaging with them about our road map, but as the hon. Gentleman says, the road map is for England.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I agree with my hon. Friend. The focus of the road map is on reducing the burden of regulation and making sure that we have a simpler system, which is something Baroness Batters asked us to do. As a Co-operative party member, I am delighted that we have references in the road map to the increased role of co-operatives. In other countries—I know the EFRA Committee was recently in New Zealand, which sounds like a nice trip—co-operatives play an even stronger role than they do here. I want to see what more we can do as a Government to boost the role of mutuals and co-operatives in agriculture.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  I will come to fertiliser, but let me first say to the right hon. Gentleman that we are cutting red diesel duty by a third, bringing it to the lowest level in more than 20 years. We are taking measures to help farmers with the increased costs of energy and fuel— [ Interruption. ] Gosh, there is a wall of sound here, such is the excitement on the Opposition Benches. We have asked the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board to look at more frequent official fertiliser price reporting. We are also doing all that we can to help farmers move away from such high use of fertilisers to more efficient use, along with a longer-term plan to change fertilisers so that British farming can make use of more innovative practices.