As we lurch back from yet another blow from Government with the closure of SFI it seems difficult to understand how they intend to pull together a 25 year plan when they don’t seem to know what they are doing tomorrow. With that in mind, I appreciate it often feels like there are much better ways to spend a Spring day but it has never been more important for us to contribute a rural and farming voice to this work. Over the last month we’ve made individual, County, Regional and National contributions to the Land Use Framework, we’ve contributed to the NFU submission to the Infrastructure Bill and Food Strategy, and more locally we’ve been meeting with HIWWT to look at their beaver strategy and licence application in seeking a wild release. What I keep coming back to with all of this is that no one of these things can be looked at in isolation, and we do so at our peril. As a headline if you influence land use to achieve house building and to reach environmental targets you impact food production potential and you offshore that production which makes access to nutritious healthy food that much more difficult. Reflecting on that at a local level we are bringing this to the attention of both the local Council and institutional landowners at every opportunity, as not only does reducing food production on the Island offshore it somewhere else, but it also drives out the economy and reduces the sustainability of businesses.
As you may be aware, thanks to the support of Claire Richardson Counsellor for Chale / Niton we secured a motion with the Council which asked government to revisit the announcements made in the October budget and going forward that the Council will work more collaboratively with Island farmers. In the first step for that we met with the Planning Dept to resolve ongoing issues around new barn applications which we hope will assist members going forward. We have also since met with the Council Cabinet to raise awareness with them of the challenges in the sector currently, the influence of national policy locally and to look at other ways in which Island Farmers can proactively engage with the Isle of Wight council going forward. Councillors were very interested in what farmers are doing for the Island and how we can better align to achieve both our and their priorities.
We have also continued to engage with our Island MPs and met with Mr Quigley on farm where members showed him the impact of SFI closure, the investment they are making in the efficiency and income options for their business and the environmental work they are undertaking. We will continue to push Mr Quigley to publicly show his support for Island farmers and whilst I know many of you have already and it can feel, like contributing to consultations, like you are shouting in the dark but every but every voice adds weight. Please keep writing, emailing and meeting with your MPs — it matters more than ever.