VIDEO: NFU president clarifies ‘super farm’ stance

NFU president Peter Kendall has rejected claims the union is calling for ‘mega-farms’ in the UK, but insisted the development of one or two large scale farms should be explored.

In a video statement published on the NFU’s website, Mr Kendall said comments he had made to The Guardian newspaper had been ‘blown out of proportion’.

Mr Kendall said he was concerned the UK was only 62% self-sufficient in indigenous foods and he wanted to see more food consumed by the British public produced in the UK.

“What I was talking about was one or two farms dipping their toes in the water, which could be monitored to see if they were better for greenhouse gas emissions, how they perform in terms of animal welfare, and other similar questions,” he said.

“It’s not how we see the future of farming developing but we do want to see us reduce the decline in domestic production.”

Mr Kendall added that there was a view that the development of big farms would put other farms out of business.

“What I do want, is if we manage to increase the size of some of the farms in the UK we don’t put other British farms out of business we put foreign imports out of business.”