Government Could Boost Rural Areas By Buying More From Smaller Food Firms
I read Sir Keir Starmer’s call to the Government to buy more UK food in a speech to the National Farmers Union with considerable interest. During his speech, Sir Keir, leader of the Labour Party, said more of the government’s catering budget should go on British produce. The public sector spends about £2.4bnannually on food for schools, hospitals and the armed forces.
He also argued that money from his proposed CovidRecovery Bond scheme could go towards helping rural communities in particular. More business for smaller food producers could bring tangible benefits for rural communities.
I have frequently urged that priority be given to local food and drink producers by procurement bodies here. Smaller companies, in particular, could benefit substantially from inclusion in procurement for councils, public bodies such as hospitals, care homes and schools of all sizes. Such an investment in local food sourcing would be extremely important as we seek to rebuild our battered economy post the coronavirus pandemic.
I’d also like to see Agriculture minister Liz Truss prioritise local food sourcing as an integral part of her desire to see the UK “lead the world in food and drink” especially in terms of quality and safety. Our hygiene, safety and animal health standards really are “second to none”. Building a better future begins at home with our companies, farmers and people. They must come first in any recovery strategy.
I was, however, gravely concerned to hear of a trade memorandum signed by the Government with Brazil that is likely to open our markets to beef from this country, one of the world’s biggest producers of meat. What this will probably mean is that Brazilian beef will be able to challenge our companies who have long supplied the highest quality meat to Britain. Campaigners have been warning that the scene is being set for the importation of beef produced using growth-promoting hormones to our most important market.
Farm Week regular columnist, the beef and sheep farmer Stevin McAuley, also set out the severity of the threat, pointing out that our beef industry would be jeopardised by any ‘flood’ of beef from Brazil into the UK.
I’ve not seen much publicity about the accord from the Government. Under EU membership, Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK employed the stricter precautionary principle that food would not be imported unless its country of origin could prove that it was safe.
Brazil shares with the US, another key trade target for the Government, an enthusiasm for growth-promoting and production-boosting hormones on its livestock, and has an equally aggressive trade policy aimed at exporting to high value markets like the UK. And it seems that Brazilian beef will undercut the competitiveness of our meat in terms of pricing.
This threat has to be set against Government pledges not to allow UK food standards to be diluted in any post-Brexit trade negotiations. It’s a bit like the pledges to ensure unfettered trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland! Brazil’s government has already announced that it expects the UK’s sanitary and phytosanitary regulars to gradually move away from EU parameters and to become “more aligned with international rules”.
There is clearly a need to step up pressure to ensure we maintain the crucially important position of our beef producers in Great Britain, our biggest marketplace.
