Millions in fresh farm funding welcome but 'won't fix problems alone'

But the Country Land and Business Association, which has thousands of members across Shropshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, has also warned 'funding alone will not fix our productivity issues'.

Money will be made available to boost food production, pay for equipment and automation, and fund smaller abattoirs, farming minister Mark Spencer announced at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) conference in Birmingham this week.

Mr Spencer said the money will come from the farming innovation programme and the farming investment fund and will sit alongside the environmental land management schemes (ELMs), which pay farmers for improving biodiversity on their land.

But CLA President Mark Tufnell said: “Agriculture is a vibrant sector for research and development, with huge potential for increased productivity and automation.

"This announcement takes us one step closer to exploiting that potential, and farmers across the country will be looking with interest to see how they can use this support to improve their own productivity.

“Funding alone, however, will not fix our productivity issues.

"We know of many farm businesses who have scrapped plans for investment in, for example, on-farm reservoirs, because the planning regime is so woeful that it takes simply too long to receive the appropriate permissions. So any financial support from government needs to go hand in hand with regulatory reform to guarantee results.

“We warmly welcome new funding to support small abattoirs, many of which are struggling to survive in difficult economic and regulatory circumstances. These local facilities play an often-overlooked role in the sector.”