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Andy Burnham has announced £65 million of funding to help farmers manage the devastating drought, as he steps up his response to the climate crisis.
It comes after Burnham's own MPs and Labour's grassroots were critical of the prime minister for not addressing the climate crisis, despite wildfires breaking out across Britain and a drought affecting food producers.
But in new measures, Mr Burnham says farmers must not carry the risks of the climate crisis alone.
Henry Riley is joined by NFU deputy President Paul Tompkins and Matt Frei is joined by dairy farmer Haydn Evans to give their verdict on the funding.
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
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0:00
Farmers must not carry the risks of the climate crisis alone
0:03
I think pretty much everyone in Britain would agree with that, but those are the words of Andy Burnham
0:07
He's announced £65 million worth of funding to help them manage the devastating drought at the moment
0:13
stepping up his response to the immediate climate crisis after facing a backlash from his own MPs and Labour grassroots
0:20
for not addressing the crisis. We heard, indeed on my programme a few weeks ago
0:25
we heard from Tom Bradshaw of the National Farmers Union talking about people having to use, or farmers specifically, having to use winter feeds
0:31
Let's speak with his colleague, Paul Tompkins, who is the NFU, National Farmers Union Deputy President
0:36
and has some rather fetching cows in the background as well. Paul, thank you very much for joining us
0:44
Just tell us firstly what this announcement means, because £65 million worth of funding doesn't sound like a lot
0:52
I don't know what your reaction was. well the job of feeding 29 million households has come under increased pressure due to this
1:01
prolonged dry weather and no meaningful rainfall by the way on the horizon either this year and
1:08
it's a job that farmers take really seriously so this first step of government recognition
1:15
to the crisis that we currently face is an important one but we all know that this is
1:21
not only need short-term measures to address, but also those more medium and long-term approaches
1:27
to ensure that farmers can continue to produce the food that we all enjoy
1:30
no matter the weather. Yeah, and in terms of that long-term stuff, I'll come on to that in a moment
1:35
but short-term, when we hear about the feeds, as I was talking about, for example
1:40
we know that various farmers are having to harvest crops early. I mean, where does that money need to go specifically
1:47
What can be done in the short-term to help, bluntly? so you're right to suggest that yields on farms across england and wales are significantly down
1:56
this year due to this prolonged dry weather and the tar the funds that have been announced today
2:01
50 million of those funds are going into what's called the sustainable farming initiative which is
2:06
a way of government rewarding farmers traditionally to do environmental good we got a really important nuance here henry where we have to make sure those funds are directed to those options which help farmers grow food and be more resilient to whatever winds head against us
2:25
in order that we can continue on that agenda. The environment is extremely important to farmers
2:30
We're lucky enough to work around it every single day. But at the moment, this funding that has been allocated
2:37
additional funding that has been allocated to farming, We must be targeted towards those options that help farmers continue to produce food
2:45
And then longer term? Absolutely. So we need to look at ways in which farmers can capture and use water on farms during winter months and then use them during the winter
2:56
We need to look at exciting and innovative ways of making sure that our plants that are bred for the future are more drought tolerant
3:04
So longer term, we have a number of different ways in which we can look at addressing this food and climate crisis which farmers are trying to navigate today
3:13
I was reading about reservoirs as well for building on-farm reservoirs and the help that would have with regards to your centre
3:20
It's important recognition by government today, actually. Not only that a smaller allocation of money will use to help invest in reservoirs on farm
3:29
But most importantly, that the government will announce on Monday how they're going to ensure the planning system is made easier for farmers to build on farm
3:38
And also, even more importantly, the licensing process is simplified in order that we can fill those reservoirs during winter months
3:46
That three-stage approach is really important. I'm reading in the Times newspaper today, someone called George Tomlinson saying it's been a pain in the backside of slightly changing what he said here
3:56
and that he has had to sell 60 of his cows. It looks like you've bought them
4:01
How many cows do you have? You're right. Behind me, we're currently milking our cows this morning
4:07
so there's 500 cows. Are they on a conveyor belt? They're on what's called a rotary parlour
4:12
which doesn't look unlike a large merry-go-round. It looks like where I pick up my bags from Heathrow Airport
4:19
That's right. They step on at one stage, and it takes eight minutes for them to go around
4:23
whilst they're being milked, and then they leave and they're going back out to their barns and their pastures after they've been on that eight-minute journey
4:29
So you can see they quite content behind me while that process is happening Well I can only see their backsides I afraid I assume they content You would soon know from a backside if they not content I can assure you I take your word for it But who milking them then Have you taken
4:44
10 minutes out of your schedule? Are you going back or are some colleagues picking up? Absolutely, yes
4:48
I'm also a dairy farmer as well as Deputy President of the National Farmers
4:52
Where are they being milked? I can't see. I mean, is it the other side of the conveyor belt
4:56
No, no, these ones have just finished. They're passing behind me. They've just
5:02
finished being milked and it will continue moving and on the other side they'll then step off and go
5:06
back to their okay their barn i'll have to ask you for a demonstration more precisely one yeah
5:11
henry we'll even get you to come and milk some that'd be great well i don't know if you trust
5:15
me to do that but i'm definitely happy to learn this is existential isn't it yes it's very serious
5:19
um at the moment on the farm we are facing a situation where we have no grass it is burnt off
5:28
we're feeding winter rations with no end in sight and we are deeply concerned about the availability
5:38
of food this winter for the stock it is a significant problem now on farm with us
5:45
we're having to take measures which are quite drastic because we are deeply worried about the
5:54
water on the farm on one of the farms where the milking cows are the boreholes we are just praying
6:02
that the boreholes survive this weather otherwise i've got 120 milking cows with no water and that
6:11
is a huge animal welfare issue um we're having what can you do about sorry to interrupt hayden
6:17
if that were to happen what what are the options what i'm looking to do mad is try and bring the
6:23
problem forward and that brings forward a cost so I'm on a small holding across the main
6:30
dual carriageway so we are literally going to ship out with lorries some of the less performing cows
6:40
over to me so that my borehole is okay but I have some mains water as well but that effectively means
6:49
that I will cut production even more from the milk I had a conversation with my milk buyer and we estimate around a quarter of that milk will stop next week going into the supermarkets uh because i have to
7:06
i have to preserve what precious water i've got left and this is one of the headwinds and to say
7:15
it's keeping us awake at night is quite frankly an understatement along with the costs the
7:22
significant costs i've got a neighbor that's spending a thousand pounds a day on feeding
7:28
their stock as well i mean this is really serious stuff it's serious for you it will be serious for
7:34
us you know if the milkshakes are empty in the supermarkets where would you like the political
7:40
discussion around this to be? I agree entirely with your introduction and your previous and
7:47
your speaker because I think it's it's moved beyond prevention we should be talking now about
7:53
adaptation and this is critical going forward farm support is critical to manage the risks and
8:00
volatility water in when the water comes I believe it will be almost biblical we should be storing
8:09
water now and not letting water go off the land because we need it during these prolonged summer
8:16
droughts. And of course the floods will be bad won't they because when the water hits as it I'm
8:22
sure it will do eventually in September, October, when it hits in sufficient quantities and you know
8:27
onto dried earth it'll run off. I mean it'll just you know it won't go into the earth it'll go
8:33
run to the nearest river or road or ditch that's that's a likelihood and that in itself will cause
8:40
problems because that isn't just water on itself when it takes it also takes soil with it and the
8:46
impact on the rivers so yes i i would like to see some adaptation around on-farm reservoirs
8:55
support for on-farm reservoirs holding water back we as farmers can do things with deeper
9:02
rooting crops, herbal lays, but it needs investment. And dare I say, we need to look at things
9:10
like the planning regulations, because they are utterly painful at the moment
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