Farming unions and politicians have come out in support of the National Farmers’ Union’s (NFU‘s) Back British Farming campaign.
The campaign marks today (Wednesday, November 2) as Back British Farming Day, and aims to unite farmers and growers with the food sector and the general public to bring about positive changes for the industry.
MPs were asked to wear their wheatsheaf pin badge (pictured top), now an emblem of the day, to show their support.
Farming unions and MPs have taken to Twitter to show their support for the campaign.
The National Sheep Association (NSA) said the event “is an opportunity to celebrate British farming values and highlight the importance of agriculture to our rural communities and wider society”.
Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Mark Spencer, said: “Farmers play such a crucial role as custodians of our countryside as well as growing and rearing great British produce for us all to enjoy.
“It’s been a challenging year in the fields, so on Back British Farming Day I encourage everyone to show their support.”
NFU President Minette Batters said: “As producers of the nation’s food – with world leading standards of animal welfare, as custodians of our working environment, and as an employer of 301,000 people – British farmers across the country will be celebrating Back British Farming Day.
“This year’s event comes at an extremely important time for British farming, and for the country.
“As the nation faces continued economic challenges, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s immediate priority will be to establish economic stability for the whole country.
“British food and farming is currently worth more than £120 billion to the nation’s economy, and we are an industry that wants to drive growth both in home markets and overseas,” she said.
Farming heroes
The NFU announced its community farming heroes today, at the seventh edition of the annual Back British Farming Day.
The awards aim to celebrate the role that local farmers play in their communities.
Over the summer, MPs visited farms across England and Wales and handed out their constituency winner certificates and spoke to members about the work the constituency winners do to support rural communities.
For the first time, the NFU asked MPs to nominate an NFU farmer in their constituency who they believe goes above and beyond for their community. This could include:
- Supporting their community during hard times;
- Fundraising for charities;
- Providing services beyond farming to the community; or
- Helping people to enjoy the farmed landscape.
The NFU received 115 nominations who automatically became constituency winners of the community farming hero award. The constituency winners were then put forward for a regional award.
Panels made up of county advisers, regional directors and council members were convened to determine the regional winner for each region.
Batters said she was “immensely proud of the farmers we have had nominated for our community farming heroes award; people who go above and beyond every single day”.
The regional winners are as follows:
- Morgan Tudor – Wales;
- John Duggleby – North East;
- James and Emma Loder-Symonds – South East;
- Cathy Leahy – East Anglia;
- Olly Harrison – North West;
- Andy and Lydia Eadon – West Midlands;
- Andrew and Alison Musson – South West;
- Ian Watson – East Midlands.
