Farmers in Devon react to PM's plans for agriculture

The Prime Minister's announcement of a package of measures to help the agricultural sector has had a mixed reaction from farmers in Devon.

Rishi Sunak was the first Prime Minister since Gordon Brown to speak at the National Farmers Union conference.

He said £220m would be put into new food-productivity schemes, farm technology and automation to "reduce reliance on overseas workers".

One Devon farmer said there was "nothing new" in Mr Sunak's speech.

Oliver Lee, founder of How Now Dairy at Ugborough, said: "There's nothing new there, we've always had the opportunity to apply for these grants and sustainable farming incentive payments.

"It's a great bit of lip service, it's excellent to be in the news and have farming front and centre but there's nothing new that's going to make any drastic changes."

Mr Lee has a herd of predominantly Ayrshire cows and delivers milk directly to people in the area using electric cars and compostable packaging.

He said the government needed to do more to "level-up" contracts in the poultry and dairy sectors with farmers making "miniscule margins".

He said: "I don't think the government has done enough to support farmers and to allow businesses to grow and to change."

Mr Lee said he did not take any government subsidies or apply for any farming grants as he wanted to prove a farming business could be successful independently.

He said: "The government needs to help farmers be less reliant on the government and create their own sustainable businesses both financially and environmentally."

Niall Tewson, owner of South Devon Dairy at Ipplepen, was more welcoming of Mr Sunak's speech.

He said: "There are a few trigger words that stand out for me - championing the countryside, back British and food security."

Mr Tewson has set up a roadside milk vending machine to sell his product directly to the public and believes more grant funding for new technology would help him and other farmers.

He said: "The one thing I really cottoned on to was the grant funding allowed for this financial year which is £427m.

"Coming out of Brexit we've lost a huge amount of labour in the farming industry so allowing us to go into robotics will help with the labour shortage in this country."

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