Im not so sure. Her husband, Malcolm, is not involved I remember reading the Defra press release the night before that interview, and it was a heart-stopping moment for me. Minette Batters is the current president of the National Farmers Union (NFU) of England and Wales, a position she has held for three years. UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE): You have a Conservative leadership battle that ends up with Theresa May becoming Prime Minister. Now with correct twitter handle! Its sort of backfiring at the moment, and we still, I think, really need to know what the future is going to look like, and where the improvements are going to be. MB: In the end, as Deputy President of the NFU, I did take a public position, which was that, on the information we had, we would be better off remaining in the EU. Here's some advice. 2001 The CWA Gold Dagger Award (shortlist): 2006 Quick Reads Learners' Favourite award: 2007 Coventry Inspiration Book Award: This page was last edited on 5 April 2023, at 20:13. Chequers, if Im honest, allowed that to happen. We knew that, during Theresa Mays time at the Home Office, she ended the global scheme, and that had been an exemplar scheme. I think a lot of people were quite relieved to see George staying in the Department, with a level of continuity and knowledge of farming. I think they were clearly split though. We must make sure that even the poorest in our society have access to high quality British food, which they currently do. I think its still yet to be resolved as to what that looks like. I can remember, it was either Justin Webb or John Humphreys, saying, This isnt the Agricultural Bill, this is the Environment Bill. Walters's third novel, The Scold's Bridle, then won the CWA Gold Dagger, giving her a unique treble. Or did you, at that stage, think, This is so catastrophic, its just not going to happen? Were they particularly worried about that? I know where that negotiating team are, so, either one side or the other side has to capitulate between now and June. But certainly France and other countries put forward the same thing. That in itself was controversial with some of our members, but the expertise wasnt in the UK, economic analysis of trade deals was something the European Commission was responsible for. Get personalized recommendations, and learn where to watch across hundreds of Were such a big organisation, representing 50,000 farmers across England and Wales. Andrea Leadsom, a leading light of the Leave campaign, moves over to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), to replace Liz Truss, and the establishment of the Department for International Trade (DIT), to show that new trade deals were going to be a big thing for the new government. It was about saying that this needed to be fair and equitable to all. It was about achieving a new relationship, and that took a long time, as we know. So, it was never about an unfair approach and it was never about a protectionist approach. MB: No more than the rest of Europe did. The EU are now really having these positive conversations, and the Commission has come out positively, saying, Actually, on plant breeding, weve got to look at the opportunities around that resistant crop. Do not just go to government with X, Y and Z as a problem. UKICE: And were there any sensible preparations that you could do, or that you were talking about Defra doing, in that eventuality? Wedding and Corporate events venue. Tom Bradshaw NFU Deputy President Tom farms in partnership with his wife, Emily, and his parents in North Essex. NFU President Minette Batters tells us why it's so important to This arguably makes her the most powerful farmer in the UK; she We recognised how split they were, but all sides were united in that they had a complete thirst for information. Vegan celebrities like Joaquin Phoenix who speak out about animal agriculture have been accused of hurting livestock farmers mental health.. Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers Union (NFU), has accused Phoenix of hurting the mental wellbeing of farmers as a result of his vegan advocacy. But it isnt an opportunity if we lose access to the EU market. Weve always maintained that, in the UK, we dont want to lower standards, but there has always been a concern as to what imports and the future of international trade will look like. With no series character tying her to particular people, places or times, she moves freely around settings a sink estate (Acid Row), a Dorset village (Fox Evil), a suburb of London (The Shape of Snakes) although every setting is 'claustrophobic' to encourage the characters 'to turn on each other'. So, there is a lot of water, I would say, to go under the bridge before that question can be answered. If were going to have checks in the Irish Sea to avoid a border, where do you do the checks? But it was always going to need a bespoke model. I think there was a bit of a fait accompli moment, that we live in a democratic country, democracy has been played out, and our focus was always on, How does this work best for British agriculture? Martin said, I think its going to be close but, without a doubt, it looks like were going to remain. There are a lot of things that need to be done. Contact: Agent | Publisher | General inquiries. Have you been pressurising government-? Movies. UKICE: But this was a government that made very clear that it was willing to contemplate no deal, to get out by 31 October. MB: No, I think its an enormous challenge within government. So, very quickly, this debate became about chlorinated chicken. Minette Batters (MB): Well, George has been in Defra a long time. Minette Batters is the first woman to become President of the National Farmers' Union, representing 47,000 members. But I was well aware that wed burnt quite a lot of bridges with people, who felt that the NFU had behaved badly. Our focus was always based on what agriculture needed. UKICE: In terms of getting ready, we had the negotiations going on, but there was a need to prepare for a rather uncertain change of regime at the end of 2020, when the transition ended. Minette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. Defra has obviously got form on implementation challenges, after trying to roll out what, on the face of it, was an easier payment scheme in the mid-2000s. UKICE: You dont represent farmers in Northern Ireland, because theyre represented by the Ulster Farmers Union. Do you think the Government has yet worked out beyond some of the things youve been worried about like the ban on live animal exports the opportunities of post-Brexit Britain, on regulating differently, more smartly, being more pro-innovation? So, it was incredibly important for me to get to speak to Theresa May, and we were trying to just get agriculture to register on the Richter Scale. I have very good engagement with the Department for International Trade at all levels, and with Defra at all levels. UKICE: Had you anticipated the Leave vote, from where you live and from all the meetings youd been having during the referendum campaign? UKICE: If you look at the whole period together, farming is obviously one of those areas where the big decisions used to be taken in Brussels, but theyre now being taken in a mix of London, Cardiff, Edinburgh. How worried were you that the Government was very keen on a deal with the US? We have commissioned some independent research to look at the viability of the new schemes, of how much will be lost, effectively, from BPS, and how much can be made up through either the agri-environment schemes or through the sustainable farming incentive. MB: There was an element of, Goodness, what is this going to look like? But does the farming industry feel that its adapting okay, or are there surprising new challenges, unanticipated challenges, emerging? [2] Walters spent a year at the Abbey School in Reading, Berkshire, before winning a Foundation Scholarship at the Godolphin boarding school in Salisbury. If you want to find a solution, youve got to pitch them as a solution and youve got to work out what that actually looks like. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) is demanding a written guarantee from the government that Brexit won't undermine British farming standards. WebIt's St George's Day, and that marks the start of Ladies in Beef, Great British Beef Week! Northern Ireland are looking like they will carry on with the status quo. buss type w 30 amp fuse replacement; Books. Minette Batters on her farm near Downton. What are my members going to be doing in future? Some of which, like David Frost, its been impossible to meet. I asked what he thought as the Votes were just starting to come in then, and I think a lot of people were in the same position as me. In all these challenges, we knew that any border would have to be in the Irish Sea. We know that farmers took different views on the referendum, what were people really thinking about in that run-up to the 2016 referendum? The first country to implement animal welfare legislation was the UK. MB: I think the biggest challenge, if Im honest, is the number of different departments, different people, dealing with different things. And we got that. There are a lot of high standards in America. In order to work through a process, people had to understand the technical detail that underpinned all of this. UKICE: Did any of your members, who might have been inclined to support Leave before the referendum, have second thoughts? Youve got all the challenges with Stranraer and other places about access points. WebMinette runs a tenanted family farm in Wiltshire. Set in the 14th century at the time of the bubonic plague, The Last Hours took several years to research and write. UKICE: Theresa May was absolutely clear that Brexit meant ending free movement, but farming and food processing had been very dependent on Eastern European migration for a long time. Its been very much about get a degree, go to university, work in services. Walters's second novel, The Sculptress, which was inspired in part by an encounter Walters had as a volunteer prison visitor,[2] won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award. National Farmers' Union president Minette Batters has urged ministers to tackle an absolute crisis in the food sector, saying that she is determined to solve this situation. During a gap year between school and Durham University, 1968, Minette volunteered in Israel with The Bridge in Britain, working on a kibbutz and in a delinquent boys home in Jerusalem. There are different moving parts to all of these things that, I think, make it a challenge to resolve. Agriculture is up for this global climate challenge. Its not perfect by any means. minette batters @Minette_Batters Wiltshire farmer: beef, sheep and arable. They, of course, looked at the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) impact assessment in 2018, so were very much wanting them to look at that again. DB6031P06 LOCAL farmer Minette Batters gives us an insight into daily life on her farm near Downton with Initially she was an amateur jockey and assistant trainer to David Elsworth and James Toller. Apr 13 2023. We cant have one standard for one and not for another. He was there as Minister of State for Farming beforehand, under Michael, so we knew George very, very well. So, Australia is really just the start of what this is going to look like. Weve had endless statements, from the Prime Minister, from Liz Truss and others, about, Britains farmers will not be undermined in future trade agreements. Weve worked on emergency measures and everything else, but thankfully they were never needed. UKICE: Chequers obviously didnt go anywhere and sunk at the Salzburg Summit, but Theresa May does land a Withdrawal Agreement and Parliament is not passing it. Matthew Parris asks Minette about the challenges of balancing her work with the day-to-day demands of farming and what impact Lord Plumb made on British life. minette batters family They have two sons, Roland and Philip. MB: I think, bearing in mind how vital our market is to them, they could see that it allowed a way through. The EU, of course, are taking that to say, Products are coming into the UK so easily, not getting checked, this is going to be your policy for the rest of the world. Scoops about National Farmers Union . Minette Batters (MB): It was interesting, wasnt it, when Theresa May came in? But Chequers, with its common rule book, allowed for that situation with the island of Ireland to be avoided, and it potentially paved the way for us to transition into an international trading relationship, but with the complexity of the deal with the EU and the UK sorted. UKICE: You seemed to have managed to at least persuade Michael Gove, Secretary of State, of some of that, because he was on the other side of that argument with DIT that summer. There is a lot of detail that needs to be progressed, and rapidly, for farmers to feel confident to get onto the new platform for next year. UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE): Michael Gove was a relatively long-serving Defra Secretary of State, by Defra standards. We wanted government to put its money where its mouth was. I suppose you can say that, in the end, the voice was heard, even if it took three botched attempts to avoid it. After a pause of 10 years in which she wrote two novellas, Walters has decided to write historical novels. UKICE: The perception, for those of us that dont know, is that a lot of farmers did vote Leave, partly because they just hated the bureaucracy of the Common Agricultural Policy, and thought it got in their way. I dont think that agriculture and food have been given, effectively, the opportunity to empower a UK workforce. It was around that time, and certainly when I came in, that I said, Weve got to start talking food, because food is what resonates with people, farming doesnt. Were you at all engaged in the discussions there, or were you very surprised when the Government suddenly unveiled that as its preferred approach? We had a lot of members who were saying, Youre going to have to take a position. But what I did see very quickly with Michael was someone who was very prepared to dive down into every area of technical detail and grasp it. When I see the out-of-home sector has been offline, with everybody buying products out of retail, prices in the red meat are pretty good because retail has become very loyal to British sourcing, because the British consumer has demanded it. Minette Batters (MB): In the run-up, I think we were beginning to think, This is pretty difficult for a membership organisation. That isnt going to happen overnight, because weve actively pushed people away from doing those jobs. Its only when commodity prices are impacted, and the future support mechanism is changed- if that isnt right, that is when things will start to erupt, and that is what weve got to try and avoid. Of course, if in effect you listen to everybody, then it does allow you the opportunity of going away and doing your own thing, because youve got all these dissenting voices. But ultimately, there were two sides to all of this, and the UK wasnt the only party in the negotiations. I remember sitting opposite him at a Sector Food Council meeting and George Eustice remembers this, I might add, as clearly as I do, because he was in the room, and Liam Fox saying, Brexit is going to be great, because we can bring in cheap raw ingredients and add value to them under the Union Jack. As part of the British project Quick Reads, to encourage literacy amongst adults with reading difficulties, she wrote a 20,000-word novella called Chickenfeed. And at the moment, what we are finding is that there are so many moving parts to the level of engagement with different trading partners. It means that the future absolutely has to be got right, and delivery has to work. Are they worried about this unfairness to British producers? But I think, every time we treated no deal as a live reality, we had to prepare for it. That, again, has been driven by Covid, because weve not been eating out in pubs or restaurants, everybody has bought everything out of retail. At the moment, their demand is that we sign up to follow EU rules and the Government, as you know, is clear that we will not sign up to that. Menu. [citation needed]. Straight away she ruled out being part of the Single Market, and we had those big speeches at Lancaster House, Mansion House, that were hard-line Brexit positions. Again, it was the engagement with Number 10 that got the global seasonal scheme of 30,000 over the line. Walters joined IPC Magazines as a sub-editor in 1972 and became an editor of Woman's Weekly Library the following year. It is no good going to government, just saying, I want. So, he did, in the early days, in 2019, sign up to the importance of the Trade and Agriculture Commission, writing in ink that he agreed with the concept and would look to establish such a body. UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE): As David Cameron committed to having the 2016 referendum, first in the Bloomberg speech, but then after the success in the 2015 election, what was on farmers minds? So, the need for the NFU to get this right, to not drop a ball, to be focused on what is needed, to be the lobbyist extraordinaire ultimately, the weight of that falling on my shoulders has felt like a massive responsibility. There have been challenges. And we established some principles of what we were looking for, going forward, whether it was Leave or Remain. UKICE: Are officials more accessible, if you cant get in to talk to Lord Frost? We can, as a source of emissions and a sink, go carbon-neutral, we can get to net zero. MB: We made continual calls, between Nick von Westenholz, myself and the other office-holders, with backbench MPs, talking about how dire a no deal would be. WebMinette Batters NFU President Minette runs a tenanted family farm in Wiltshire. What we have to recognise is none of these things can be done in isolation. That Wageningen piece of research was enormously helpful in how we continued to have the conversations with our members, across our democratic structure, because the NFU is totally democratic in the way that it operates and having independent economic analysis helped underpin the evidence base. Weve legislated to achieve net zero, but there is so much that can be achieved through new policy thinking as to what that looks like, and ultimately, our opportunity to influence European thinking. This has been a political decision by the EU and, to a certain extent, their line is, Well, we didnt want you to leave, were entitled to make it difficult. We were put under a lot of pressure at various times to be part of the Peoples Vote, and call for another referendum. It has also been translated into several languages. So, we supported Chequers, as, interestingly, did Michael Gove. The Department for International Trade, of course, is focused on getting trade deals done. Yet were hearing about a race to achieve a trade deal with Australia before the G7 Summit in Cornwall in June. Youve got Lord Frost leading on the future of the UK new relationship. But he was reshuffled when Boris Johnson came in. Defra had always been a slightly second, third, ranked department, partly because so much of its policy was run from Europe rather than domestically. I still believe that in the longer term, we will have to find ways with the EU to deliver less friction, because less friction equals less cost and thats to the benefit of both sides. Well, that will be really, really damaging. The NFU wanted MPs to have more say on trade of agrifood. That is still ongoing, and we still dont know what the future of checks is going to look like. [6], In 2019 Walters was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset. What did you think of that process, working with the Government on getting people ready for a whole bunch of really complicated border formalities that they havent had to bother with, to nearly as great an extent, over the last 45 years? We need to work collaboratively to incentivise a UK workforce. If government is going to introduce legislation on higher welfare, it needs to effectively put its money where its mouth is, and make sure that our procurement is only sourcing at those standards. While raising Walters and her two brothers, Colleen Jebb painted miniatures from photographs to supplement the family's income. I think the EU member states were always going to be deeply suspicious of us lowering food standards. Within four months, it had won the Crime Writers Association John Creasey award for best first novel and had been snapped up by 11 foreign publishers. So, thats what we did in that very first instance. +(91)-9821210096 | paula deen meatloaf with brown gravy. Yes, we did have very high-quality affordable food, the most affordable in Europe, the third most affordable in the world. Which means there were nearly a billion less eggs produced in 2022 compared to 2019. We use cookies to enhance your user experience. We needed to be able to work together, to shape what the future needed to look like. And this, I think, still remains a very complex political issue. So, it continues just to be a live issue that will have to be overcome, at some stage. Production of salad ingredients like tomatoes and cucumbers are expected to fall to the lowest levels since records began in 1985. The government was clear it would not countenance food price inflation, so the Temporary Tariff Regime was conceived. Its a tense time right now. And of course, we still had the Wageningen work, which proved to be pivotal in having those discussions, and the principles. All of these issues need a pragmatic approach from both sides. MB: I think, genuinely, probably nobody wanted it to play out how its played out, which has been long and protracted and divisive. Do you think it signalled a significant change of direction? To what extent was the Government talking to you, or engaging with you, on its thinking on their common rulebook, which would obviously mean staying aligned to a lot of the agrifood regulations? It was ideology based on three principles: A bonfire of regulation, the easiest trade deal in history, and more money for UK priorities, because we wouldnt be paying it into the EU. Walters's themes include isolation, family dysfunction, rejection, marginalisation, justice and revenge. Minette describes herself as an exploratory writer who never uses a plot scheme, begins with simple premises, has no idea whodunit until halfway through a story, but who remains excited about each novel because she, along with her reader, wants to know what happens next. She supplemented her salary by writing romantic novelettes, short stories, and serials in her spare time. MB: I did. They have two sons: Roland, who is married to Charlotte, and Philip, who is married to Sarah: and three granddaughters: Madeleine, Martha and Hermione. So, once youd gone by those, you were into a no deal scenario by default. The contestants were Brendan Cole, Sherrie Hewson, Kelvin MacKenzie, Matt Allwright, Angela Griffin and Diarmuid Gavin. But doing it well means really working collaboratively with everybody in the food and farming sector. In this conversation. So, I think we engaged on every level. Five generations of her family have run the farm but, like the new NFU president, she is the first woman to take the reins. So, I think, then, there were some very tough conversations. Minette is published in almost 40 countries and has sold in excess of 25,000,000 copies of her books worldwide. Possibly. It took two and a half years to write and was rejected by numerous publishing houses until Macmillan Publishers, bought it for 1250. It launched some plans for new tariffs, which were quite interesting, and it also made clear that it was prioritising regulatory autonomy, sovereignty, over removing friction. Minettes goal is to make history as exciting and readable as any of her psychological crime thrillers. I think officials have grappled with it and understood it for a long time, but politically, its still very difficult. But that F4 group is still trying to work through these thorny areas. She supplemented her salary by writing romantic novelettes, short stories, and serials in her But that didnt stop us from getting stuck in. She graduated from Trevelyan College, Durham in 1971 with a BA in French. Fundamentally, we need to be producing much more of our fruit and veg here. To get to wholesale ways of trading, whereby you have one truck full of one thing, is going to be easier to resolve. My predecessor, Lord Henry Plumb, had taken a position when we entered the Common Market in 1973. Minette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. Youve got Defra, effectively, leading on border controls and things like export health certificates. [13], Walters' first five books were adapted for television by the BBC and her eighth book, Acid Row, is currently[when?] under option with Company Pictures. Go to them, saying, This is the solution to that problem. Dont forget, Michael Gove did not hold back in this arena, he is well documented and publicised. So, Liam Fox was obviously very engaged at that time as Secretary of State at DIT on the opportunities of global trade. 1995 The CWA Gold Dagger Award (shortlist): 1995 The Best Translated Crime Fiction of the Year in Japan. We need a really transparent approach to how agriculture fits in all of this. So, having been the preferred destination for European seasonal workers to come to, we now had this huge challenge that we were going to pull up the drawbridge. At this moment in time, its lacking in detail as to what the future scheme looks like. Helped by her husband Edwin and son George, Jilly manages 600 acres on the River Exe floodplain, raising native breeds like South Devons and Red Polls. MB: I think they were in a difficult position. And a support aid budget of 3bn, a lot of talk is made about that. But more generally, he was embarking on a quite radical reshaping of agricultural support and the post-CAP regime. RT @RainNewtonSmith: Great podcast with the brilliant @Minette_Batters of @NFUtweets passionate about the role of farmers in nature restoration, energy and food security. But given the issues at hand went well beyond the economics argument, into issues such as immigration and sovereignty, it was also decided that the NFU would not campaign for Remain, nor would we advise our members how to vote. But then he left. Was the move to George Eustice an easy transition? So, I continue to hold them to account on that. MB: What wed been talking about, accepting that we were no longer going to be a part of the Single Market, was how free and frictionless trade was needed on both sides. We went to Wageningen University, a world leading Dutch University with experience in running agricultural trade models. When that government came in in December 2019, there was, I felt, quite a bit of rebuilding to do with backbench MPs because of Brexit. She runs the farm largely on her own, and her husband works in another industry. Minette Batters could not have chosen a more difficult time to become the first female president of the National Farmers Union (NFU). They have two sons: Roland, who is married to Charlotte, and Philip, who is married to

Diesel Vom Burgimwald Net Worth, Tj Maxx Louis Vuitton Bags, Articles W