Carla Lockhart said:

“Our farmers are the guardians of our countryside, and take this role very seriously. The developments in terms of soil and land management, and farming practices, in my lifetime have been transformational. Farmers are playing a key role in ensuring the farmland and environment that is passed to the next generation is in better condition than what they inherited.

Of course whilst this component of farming is important, we must never lose focus that the primary purpose of farming is food production. We have world leading standards here in the UK, in terms of animal welfare, environment and overall production standards. From farm to fork we have the assurances needed to give the consumer the utmost confidence in British food.

I urge the Government to continue to support food production. Our farmers are facing record input costs, and interest rates that have not been seen for some time. We also see the increasing need for domestic food security. The answer to that is to back our British farmers, both in terms of financial support from Government, but also by buying British.”