NFU chief accuses Eustice of “living in a parallel universe”

NFU president Minette Batters has accused George Eustice of “living in a parallel universe”, after the Defra secretary claimed farmers are recouping cash lost from subsidy cuts via better prices for their produce.

The minister has been fiercely criticised for his comments, made on a BBC news bulletin, as farmers face soaring input costs that are wiping out any commodity price improvements and crippling businesses.

See also: Farmers feeling pressure as Ukraine war sends costs soaring

Animal feed, fuel and fertiliser prices have all sky-rocketed in recent weeks, but Mr Eustice said farmers will cope.

“I think the reforms we are making are the right reforms to do, both for the environment and the resilience of our farming sector, and we are doing it in a context when farm incomes have been generally recovering,” Mr Eustice told the BBC on Thursday (17 March).

“In terms of the reductions that we are making to the subsidy payments, farmers have more than recouped that through the increased income they’ve been getting for the produce they’ve been growing.

“And we are also increasing the payments for all of the environment schemes we’re asking them to do – a 30% increase on average for the Countryside Stewardship scheme.”

It’s official, one of us is clearly living in a #ParallelUniverse https://t.co/7mIBJ7TCUh

— minette batters (@Minette_Batters) March 17, 2022

But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shocked the global food system, and farm industry leaders have called for urgent action to tackle the massive spike in input costs and the threat to food security.

Responding to the comments made by the Defra secretary, Mrs Batters said: “Really… to say I’m flabbergasted is an understatement.

“Unless the world wakes up to the many mouths Ukraine was feeding, we’re headed for disaster – the #ArabSpring will look mild.

“We will need serious global action to ensure vulnerable, poorer countries achieve #FoodSecurity”.

She subsequently tweeted: “It’s official, one of us is clearly living in a #ParallelUniverse.”

MInette Batters and George Eustice © NFU

Self-sufficiency 

Farm sector commentator Robert Forster (@RobertForster3) added: “At no time since early 1950s has Westminster considered maximisation of food self-sufficiency within UK to be important.

“Developments in Ukraine should have already hastened urgent rethink. Unfortunately, nothing more blind than a government that denies a food shortage lies ahead.”

Lincolnshire arable farmer Andrew Ward (@wheat_daddy) said Mr Eustice’s comments were “unbelievable”.

“Not sure where he got his figures from. Most grain stores have been empty before the Ukraine crisis and he can’t [have] forgotten about the crisis in the pig industry.”

In a separate clip on Spotlight, the BBC’s regional news show for the South West of England, Mr Eustice said: “Prices of feed are going up, prices of inputs are going up, but also farm commodity prices are going up, too, and farmgate prices are rising.

“So while there is going to be pressure on prices, there’s no doubt about that in the months ahead, farmers will generally be able to recover those increased input costs from the higher prices they are also getting in the market.”