Why did you decide to leave the National Farmers Union to take up a role with the
CPA
?
It is an exciting time for farming in general, with demand for food set to increase globally over the next decade. There is a growing world population and one of the key challenges is how we increase our food production.
Crop protection is absolutely integral to productive agriculture.
If we are going to increase production then plant science in its broadest sense and crop protection more narrowly are going to be absolutely fundamental to doing that.
The Commons Environmental Audit Committee has called for on a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, which it says are responsible for declining bee numbers. What is you view?
The problem is that the science inconclusive. There have been calls for a ban on these insecticides because of concerns that they have been impacting on bee health.
There have been studies in laboratories which demonstrate that, but there is no evidence at present that suggest in real life, out in the fields, that they have an adverse effect on bee health.
While there is no evidence of significant impact in the field then these products should be open to use.
If you ban these products it will have a very real adverse effect - these products are incredibly useful for farmers in trying to produce food.
They are used very widely on oil seed rape in the UK. If you take them off the market oil seed rape will become a lot more expensive to grow and a lot of farmers will find it is not worth their while growing it.
Given that oil seed rape is one of the main forage crops for bees that might be a classic example of unintended consequences.
Are you from a farming background?
Yes. I was born and grew up on an arable farm in Hertfordshire, which is where I continue to live and we still farm. We grow wheat, oil seed rape, barley, oats and winter beans.
What are your priorities for 2013?
The
CPAabsolutely recognise that food production has to be balanced against the need to protect the environment and biodiversity - but it does need to be a balance.
While people talk about increasing production and feeding the world, there are fears you might lose sight of biodiversity in that.
The real challenge is how you increase production and protect the environment.
The phrase we use is ‘sustainable intensification’. I think that is a useful term in wrapping up the whole challenge.
How has Government policy evolved in relation to farming?
There was a time in the not too distant past where the UK government’s thinking was that we could import all our food, and the agriculture sector should be focused on other things – landscape management and these sorts of things.
Food production was not a priority - that has changed We had global food price spikes in 2008 commodities in food.
Actually policy makers need to realise it is an important resource and we certainly need to have capacity on these shores to provide a good deal of that.
Is the current Government doing enough to support increased food production by UK farms?
I would say they are supportive - one of the main priorities in Defra’s plan is to increase domestic production and that is crucial.
Some of the noises coming out of Defra around GM crops recognise that while they may not be a silver bullet but do need to be looked at and considered.
Those indications are positive.
There is clearly not very much money in the pot, so industry has to play its part.
We are in the middle of a process of developing an agri-tech strategy.
The UK Government understands the challenges. My concern is more about the EU, which is not aligned to the way the UK looks at these issues.
What role do you see GM crops playing in the future?
The amount of UK agriculture which is GM is negligible, but you look at other parts of the world they make up very large proportion, for example in the US, and have been for decades.
That would suggest that some of the concerns probably aren’t being borne out.
We need to be careful not to make grand claims for GM before seeing what they can do. The potential is there, the research needs to be done.
Why do GM crops cause so much controversy?
It is symptomatic of a broader suspicion of what technology, science and R&D can bring to food production.
There is a kind of feeling among many commentators and decision-makers that some sort of ‘natural’ system of food production is somehow better.
It seems to me that is a bizarre u-turn of the history of the development of the human race that we don’t find technologies to improve our lives.
The last time we were in a position where we didn’t use synthetic pesticides was probably before the last world war.
In Europe that was a time when food security was scarce, malnutrition was rife and food was unsafe, but people still seem to have this rose-tinted view of this non-existent period of natural farming.
There is a real concern that people are unwilling to accept that technology can play a very important part in making sure they have a safe, affordable and healthy supply of food.