Andrew Griffith, welcomed around 40 South Downs farmers to his first roundtable meeting of the year, as part of his regular discussions with local food producers, vineyards and landowners.
The Spring meeting was hosted by Petworth farmers Mark and Richard Chandler and was an opportunity for the MP to hear the latest views about a range of issues which matter to this important rural sector.
The meeting followed last month’s announcement of Government investment of £427million for grants towards improving farming productivity. This is alongside £75million for water and flood management to safeguard agricultural land.
Food security and ‘Buy British’ was a key topic of discussion at the meeting, with farmers keen to see more being done to encourage shoppers to buy seasonal British grown produce. Six of the main eight supermarkets with online deliveries have now included a ‘Buy British’ button to their website to help consumers identify local produce.
On Monday (24th) two South Downs farmers were amongst a convoy that arrived in tractors on Parliament Square in Westminster as part of a ‘No Farmers, No Food’ campaign. Andrew Griffith MP is supportive of their message, that British farming needs the greatest help if productivity is to grow, and farmland is to be protected.
Farming has an important role in shaping the countryside. More than 80 per cent of the South East is classified as rural, and employing well over 2,000 people. High quality dairy, meat, and arable production is a part of the South Downs landscape with farming being a key part of habitats protection through responsible and sustainable countryside stewardship.
Andrew Griffith said:
“It was good to see a cross section of farmers and land-owners at my latest meeting this morning. We talked food security, the level of taxpayer funded support for British farmers (flat across this Parliament as many observed to me), the number of land-owners and DEFRA schemes seeking to take land out of food production and how we achieve our shared desire for the UK consumer to buy more high-quality, British produced food.
“I am hugely supportive of our busy South Downs farmers and growers who work hard on their land every day to produce high quality food to put on our table. I value these discussions to get to heart of the challenges they face and be a voice for them in Westminster.”
