Conference Event 2014 Minutes click here

Minutes of Crag Conference Event held on 29th September 2014 at Austin Court, Birmingham
Central
Crag Chairman, Mr. Richard Haddock welcomed distinguished guests, Minister for Agriculture, George
Eustice MP,Rt Hon Secretary of State, Liz Truss MP, Lord Plumb, Neil Parish MP, and members for
attending. He particular thanked CLM and Lord Abergavenny for kindly hosting the event.
He outlined the current issues affecting the industry, bTB, CAP,and business support, and called for a
clear message of unity to gain a Conservative majority at the next election. He said we produce the
highest quality food in the world and we should be proud of what we do.
Neil Parish MP
Crag Parliamentary Liaison officer introduced George Eustice MP, and said he was a great Minister for
Agriculture being from a farming background, and said he noted that there was good friendly
competition between the counties regarding regionally produced food. They served on a Defra Select
Committee together.
George Eustice MP began his address by noting the excellent standard of locally sourced food here
today, and thanked CLM for hosting the event.He knew the great work Crag does and has done for
many years. He was from a family farm which had south Devon cattle and pigs and to represent the
farming brief for the industry was a privilege. He said Liz Truss MP was a champion of the countryside.
He outlined the issues at present, CAP which he said occupies much of his time. He said despite the
best efforts CAP had resulted in becoming more complicated. He spoke about greening regulations
and the 3 crop ruling, he said there was a real problems. He stated the RPA work on mapping hedges
was a big task, and added that most farms could satisfy this requirement already. He said there was
technical arguments with the 3 crop ruling. He said Rural Development grants could support enterprise
and rural growth, with Leader element supporting new business and employment. He supported
“earned recognition” and wanted a lighter touch inspections in future, with greater proportionality to
deal with the appeals process for cross compliance. Next the strategy to tackle bTB was outlined, with
the pre and post movement testing and the rolling out of the culling policy, together with the vaccine
which was not fully effective only 60- 70% effective with big limitations but had a role to stem the
spread of the disease. To do the right thing is not always popular. He said Liz Truss MP would make
overseas visits to promote and support UK export trade.
Peter Clark raised the issue of Ministry staff and the level of training they receive in dealing with
vulnerable people? George Eustice replied he would look into this, and said the independent appeals
panel can help. He wanted a review of verifyable standards and he said he would do all he could.
Meurig Raymond NFU thanked the Minister for the support to culling and said it was a difficult
decision. He raised issues of neonicitinoid sprays and CAP review and EFA’s. He urged the Minister to
drive the message to new Commissioner. John Dawe spoke strongly regarding the free fall of milk
prices and the supermarket offers for free milk. George Eustice MP replied firstly to say we will review
CAP at mid term 2016/17, the 3 crop rule is hard wired in the short term but a review of the
interpretation and right of proportionality on EU regs would be done. To John Dawe he said that the
dairy industry had seen high confidence back in February with feed prices low. The summer had seen
a down turn and this created challenges,with milk production being higher. He noted the 6 months
dairy forum with discussions with supply chain processors, and that the Dairy code had ensured the
conditions of producers contracts. He said protecting the code was a priority and the key thing, The
free market economy made a limit on what we can do,but the Dairy code is in place and remains.
Discussion proceeded with members raising issues of poor mobile phone reception, Conservation
issues and new habitat initiatives, Renewable energy planning, land uses protection issues and the
support for brown field development rather than green field sites and the use of outskirts of villages for
permission for housing needs.The new ELMs was discussed with announcement due soon, they were
committed to improving bio diversity and conservation and this would ensure this under Pillar 2,
Considerable investment had been made to this end. George Eustice noted the work Owen Paterson
MP had done, and he concluded by stating Crag could help deliver good Agriculture and food policies.
Thanks was given for his address.
Neil Parish MP
Crag was a good organisation he said, it was a broad church, and covered a range of subjects, such
as broad band which was hard to deliver to rural areas. He outlined the work in Somerset where
considerable investment had been made. He said this improves businesses opportunities and can
affect house prices. We are very politically aware of this. Solar wind farms was raised by a member
here and I say the answer is to cut the subsidy, if these projects are not profitable then there will be
fewer planning applications and not the same level of problem as seen now. Wind turbines he said
were not efficient and work sometimes only 30% of the time, can we have efficient green energy
please. He praised the work done by Owen Paterson MP previously. He then proceeded to make the
case for a strong Conservative majority Government and gave the opposition position as regards to
Agriculture. As a farmer he said that if Labour got in then they would do a great damage. We need
green policies but in the end it is a balance that is needed. He concluded with the price of food, the
supermarket wars are good for consumers and bad for farmers he said. He encouraged export as the
way to go, and also always ensure you give people a good choice, with regional products.
Next a presentation was given by CLM and summary can be seen on the website,
www.conservativeruralaffairs.org.uk
Anthony Weston spoke regarding current issues including Nelms targeting maps, and the limit to
permitted development rights with Government decision to ease the controls but with EU directives
restricting the decisions. He said local authorities pursued their own agendas. He wanted a vibrant
rural economy and not over burdened by regulations. He wanted to look at the concept of coproduction for sustainable land use policies. He called for a National Land use policy which he felt
would highlight injustices in the cross compliance presently and would aid drivers for business.
Martin Parsons from Suffolk asked about chinese lanterns.Could we have a draft new by-law please?
Ed Martin from Produced in kent an organisation that represents 250 businesses spoke about the
budget cut for regional funding and supported export opportunities.
Lord Plumb, Crag President spoke next and said we had a lot to do in the next few years to increase
food production,he wanted to raise the profile for UK producers at a House of Lords Reception. He
said this issue does not come onto some Member of The Lords radar and this made him cross. He
wanted a debate on this issue, of agriculture and food role and the economical benefit to the country.
Peter Stevens supported a rural service network to co-ordinate the approach against chinese lanterns.
The Secretary of State, Rt Hon Liz Truss MP was welcomed to the meeting by Chairman, Mr.
Richard Haddock. He said that this conference was very important as this was the last before the
General Election and stressed how important it was that we did not have to be in coalition again.
Liz Truss MP agreed and said yes a Conservative majority was a much better option, and she recalled
the last Labour Government record in office and that bTB had spread 9 fold as a result. She outlined
the investment that this Govt was making to the countryside, Rural broadband and transport. She
spoke about the national curriculum and the cook it nutrition initiative. We have re-balanced the
budget. The food and farming input was 100 billion into the economy more than Aerospace and car
production together, and she was proud of the industry which had the finest innovation.Regarding
flood defence policy, she said dredging was on course for end of October in Somerset. She was a
huge champion for local food and for opening up markets overseas. We do a great job here at home,
but 2/3rd of cheese we eat is imported. Surely we can improve this, and we need to eat more of our
own produce. As to bargaining powers with the supermarkets she said EU regulations make this
difficult. A member felt the Grocery Trade Adjudicator was important, but noted it needed more teeth.
Liz Truss MP stated she was interested in the structure of the industry and would like some feed back
of what works and where. She said the crime unit was important to ensure that it is British beef we are
getting. She was a huge supporter of local food and said We need a living environment but a
productive countryside.
Peter Stevens stated that we need to win back doubters and was concerned with the rise of UKIP who
he thought were a fantasy party, he wanted the PM to visit more rural areas. He said the National
Marketing Boards had gone by and suggested that there was an inbalance to address.
Mr Green spoke regarding the spread of bTB and the arm lock that supermarkets had on producers,
GDP - strong agriculture will improve it and do the job for you.
Richard Haddock said that producers must have an average cost of production.
Liz Truss MP outlined the comprehensive strategy to deal with bTB. She progressed with the barriers
we face, the rise of the emerging new supermarkets and said the poultry sector was doing well. She
supported better labeling, with the country of origin and UK food guarantee. A question was raised by
Matt Thompson from CPRE regarding wind turbines affect. Liz Truss MP gave a round up of her
approach with support for all size rural businesses and those that supply food here and overseas and
urged a broader range of products delivering for the countryside excellent quality of food.
The Government was committed to delivering better broad band and mobile phone reception and to
that end she had several meetings with the Culture Minister.
Richard Haddock thanked Secretary of State for attending. Next the 3 Vice Chairmen were introduced
to the meeting with a summary of their role. Thanks by the Chairman was given to Alan Mak, Crag
Treasurer, for stepping into the role,and to Mary Wylie who spoke to reassure members that the
system was being updated as quickly as possible. The Chairman once again thanked Lord
Abergavenny and CLM for sponsoring the event, and Lord Plumb for his offer of assistance with a
House of Lords Reception. Last but not least thanks to Debra Murphy, Executive Secretary for her
assistance in liaising to arrange Ministers to attend and for organising the Crag Conference event.

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