Labour’s Vision for Farmers: Public Sector Food Targets to Heal Divides and Foster Growth

Hospitals, schools, and prisons are being encouraged to purchase more British food. This move aims to mend relationships with farmers following recent changes to inheritance tax.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed plans to announce at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) conference that the public sector should now aim to source at least half of its food from farms that meet high welfare standards. This should help support British farmers and food producers.

Reed has mentioned that public sector catering contracts amount to £5 billion each year. By revising procurement rules, the government wants to prioritize domestic products over cheaper imported options.

“We’re committed to using our purchasing power to support British food,” Reed said. This initiative aligns with Labour’s promise to ensure that half of the food purchased in the public sector is locally produced or certified for high environmental standards.

These new rules are expected to make it easier for smaller businesses to secure contracts, which have often gone to larger companies with more resources.

This announcement comes as the government seeks to repair its relationship with food producers after announcing in October that agricultural properties would suddenly be subject to inheritance tax, leading to significant farmer protests.

An NFU spokesperson welcomed the commitment to source 50% of food from the UK, noting that it will bring some positive news amid the challenges facing UK farming.

Reed hopes to receive a better response at this year’s NFU conference than in January. Back then, during his speech at the Oxford Farming Conference, he faced protests from farmers outside the venue.

In January, Reed stated that the government would start tracking the origin of food bought by the public sector to help farmers get a fairer share of these contracts.

Recently, tensions rose between the government and the farming community. The NFU and other agricultural organizations expressed anger when the Treasury rejected their proposals to ease the inheritance tax’s impact on farmers.

Farmers suggested a “clawback” mechanism. This would mean that those inheriting a farm would only pay inheritance tax if they sold the business within a certain time frame, allowing them to maintain family farms while still generating revenue for the government.