Producing Food in Britain Needs to be Part of Our Objectives in New Framework of Agricultural Support, says Richard Holden MP.
Richard welcomes that we are moving away from acreage based payments to landowners now we’ve left the EU, and welcomes moves to ensure that the environment is better protected.
However, it is important that food production is part of what we drive for as part of that shift. In many cases it makes environmental sense not to move things across the world that can be grown in .
Richard explains that: "[he] will never support us just offshoring carbon emissions (saying we’re environmentally friendly because we import stuff we used to make here from elsewhere so it counts against another countries emissions) and so-called green-washing (where something is painted as environmentally positive but actually has negative effects when you dig down).
I also share the concerns of some of my farmers in North West Durham about excessive incentives to switch good agricultural land to forestry. In some pockets forestry may be the right move but the large scale move of some farms wholly over is a major concern.
So in Parliament I’m supporting Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown’s bid for a debate on food production in the U.K. The video below is of me at the Backbench Business Committee supporting his bid for time for a debate."