Britain’s farmers and growers have been named as one of the public’s most favoured and valued professionals, second only to nurses, a new survey commissioned by the NFU can reveal.
The NFU commissioned OnePoll to survey 2,000 adults in England & Wales between 3 and 9 May 2024. Results found that 74 per cent of the public have a favourable view of farmers and growers, recognising how hard they work through rain and shine, to produce food for the nation.
Of those surveyed, 91 per cent said they feel that farming is important to the UK economy, demonstrating the key role agriculture businesses play in kickstarting growth for Labour’s new mission-led government.
NFU President Tom Bradshaw expressed his gratitude to the public for their continued support of British farmers and growers.
“When we’re out in our fields, sheds and glasshouses we never take it for granted and it spurs us on to get the food onto their plates,” he said. “The results of the survey show it is vital the government recognises how much the public value our farmers and growers and the climate-friendly, nutritious food we provide.”
Key figures at a glance:
- 89% of the public feel it is important that Britain has a productive farming industry
- 85% of people support increasing self-sufficiency in UK food production
- 87% of people think it is important that trade deals ensure animal welfare standards are the same in countries we import food from as in the UK
“As outlined in the Labour manifesto, food security is national security,” Bradshaw added. But, he said, the key to delivering this shared mission is confidence, which is currently at an all-time low for agricultural businesses.
The NFU’s recent farmer confidence survey of almost 800 member businesses scanned horizons across all major UK farming sectors and saw short-term (one-year) confidence fall from -8 last year to -25 this time around, on a scale of -100 to +100, mid-term confidence (three year) only marginally higher at -22.
“It’s imperative that policies from the new government revitalise the confidence of farm businesses,” Bradshaw said.
The NFU has said the government’s number one priority must be to set a UK wide agricultural budget of £5.6 billion.
The NFU commissioned the independent Andersons Centre to model the public funding needed to deliver statutory environment, climate and policy ambitions in England over the next Parliament. It showed an annual agriculture budget of around £4 billion would be required which would translate to a UK-wide budget of around £5.6billion.
Bradshaw added, “It is not just ‘more money for farmers’ but an investment that means farmers and growers can do more of what the public value them for; delivering more climate friendly, high welfare food, delivering for the environment, increasing clean energy production and kickstarting economic growth.”