NSA urges farmers to respond to Defra consultation on the future Agriculture Bill
1st May 2018
Time is running out, but the National Sheep Association (NSA) is encouraging all sheep farmers, regardless of their farm size or type, to respond to Defra’s Agriculture Bill command paper – a consultation exercise that will share the future of farming for many years to come.
Phil Stocker, NSA Chief Executive, explains: “Most sheep farmers will never have heard of a ‘command paper’ before, and now one exists that will directly influence their future. The Agriculture Bill command paper marks the start of a consultation process to pass legislation in advance of our departure from the EU, and it is vital that those on the ground make their voices heard at this early stage.”
The deadline for responses is Tuesday 8th May, and NSA says that while the process is not a short one, individuals unable to go through the whole paper in detail can go online and just answer the select options and choose the questions that interest them.
Mr Stocker continues: “Defra is making a real effort to listen to views and so it is essential that a significant number of those views come from the people who will be affected by this process to determine the future farming, food and land management direction. Farmers can be assured that many individuals and organisations with other views will be responding, and we should aim to outweigh them in voice, knowledge, intellect and reason.”
NSA has been working on its own response for several months now, gathering views from its members throughout its network of regions and committees. Despite the consultation exercise being an England-only one, NSA is working hard to be involved in similar work in the other UK nations and link it all together.
Mr Stocker concludes: “NSA will be submitting a detailed response and, in doing so, will aim to take many members’ views into account from across the UK, not just England. Our response will consider the future success, sustainability and viability of sheep farming as a central part of UK farming in our hills and uplands, our lowland grassland areas, and in our arable areas too.”
The Defra Agriculture Bill command paper – called Health and harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a Green Brexit – can be found www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-future-for-food-farming-and-the-environment. A link to the online response form is on the same page.
