Staffordshire County Show: Farming sector needs food strategy

Minette Batters was attending the opening of the two-day Staffordshire County Show on Wednesday

An urgent plan of action is needed to stop food price rises or the industry will keep contracting, the National Farmers Union (NFU) has said.

Minette Batters, president of the NFU, appealed to the government at the start of the Staffordshire County Show.

The event returns for the first time in June since the start of the pandemic.

Ms Batter said farmers "desperately" needed to see the government's food strategy, due to be published this month.

The annual event has returned in June after in the 2020 show was cancelled due to the pandemic and the 2021 show moved to August

"It's rather hard for people at home to think that we don't have one," she said.

"We obviously had a recently-launched energy strategy and we've been waiting 75 years for a comprehensive food strategy.

"We're told by government this strategy for food will be out in June, but it cannot come soon enough."

England's National Food Strategy is an independent review of the food we eat and could see sugar and salt being taxed and vegetables prescribed by the NHS.

Building in resilience now for farmers was essential "for food production", Ms Batter said, as the industry faced "a complex picture".

"We've seen over 10% contraction in the national pig herd, we're seeing the poultry sector contracting, we've absolutely got to make sure we are working together with government to make sure we don't see further contraction."

The 2020 Staffordshire County Show was cancelled due to the pandemic and the 2021 show moved to August.