We focused all our lobbying on, I guess, the outcomes that we wanted to see achieved, not our means of getting there by some of the existing avenues; the Single Market, customs union, EFTA. How do we resolve an issue that kept the United Kingdom together and allowed us, effectively, to transition into a new relationship? And how is the state going to be able to pay for them to effectively just plant trees? Her first full-length novel, The Ice House, was published in 1992. Minette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. We knew that we could have a global scheme, that it didnt all have to be about Europe, but with a reliance in the seasonal workforce, of 80,000 seasonal workers, to pick and pack and plant our fruit, veg and flowers. I cant speak for the Ulster Farmers Union. So, in June 2020 we had over a million people in two weeks saying, Weve got to have a Trade and Agriculture Commission, MPs have got to be able to have their say. In 2019 Minette was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset. Webminette batters family. Set in the 17th century, it explores the division and devastation of the English Civil War. Well, we were just getting a flat no Get back in your box and be quiet, because weve got a majority government and we can do what we want. The end of this will be judged in the years to come. Minettes goal is to make history as exciting and readable as any of her psychological crime thrillers. But weve got to be able to do it in a way that has the right policies in place to deliver whats needed. UKICE: Theresa May was absolutely clear that Brexit meant ending free movement, but farming and food processing had been very dependent on Eastern European migration for a long time. What was your expectation about how the Government would involve farming representatives in the development of their position on Brexit, going forward? The latter was published for World Book Day 2006 as part of the 'Quick Reads' initiative. WebMinette has also been a member of NFU Governance Board and served as NFU Deputy President for four years from 2014 to 2018, before being elected as president in February I remember sitting opposite him at a Sector Food Council meeting and George Eustice remembers this, I might add, as clearly as I do, because he was in the room, and Liam Fox saying, Brexit is going to be great, because we can bring in cheap raw ingredients and add value to them under the Union Jack. She graduated from Trevelyan College, Durham in 1971 with a BA in French. What did you think of that process, working with the Government on getting people ready for a whole bunch of really complicated border formalities that they havent had to bother with, to nearly as great an extent, over the last 45 years? buss type w 30 amp fuse replacement; Books. In fact, weve probably actively driven away people from some sectors. We decided that in order to be compliant with the Electoral Commission rules, which of course had limited spending for unregistered bodies to 10,000, that we would need to take a position to comply with those rules. MB: Well, Brexit wont be felt until its happened, but the impact hasnt happened yet. But I think, as the farming unions, we were all in the same place of wanting an approach that kept the UK internal market functioning fairly, and that there werent winners and losers. He was there as Minister of State for Farming beforehand, under Michael, so we knew George very, very well. Has farming and agriculture gone up the government agenda in prominence, now that its not just an obscure Agriculture Council that nobody really can understand, that comes back with a protected budget that gets implemented? Which, of course, it should never have been, because that was about food safety and what we were wanting to talk about was food values, and the laws of our land. Despite its majority force to put the Trade and Agricultural Commission on a statutory basis and other things like that, does the Government recognise it doesnt necessarily have a parliamentary majority for its vision of future trade in agricultural products? So, we supported Chequers, as, interestingly, did Michael Gove. Minette Batters 0 Batters calls for Government assurances over impact of UK-Australia trade deal on UK farmers June 15, 2021 NFU president Minette Nov 13, 2021. farmbusiness.co.uk . Weve now got the two licences in place for that. So, in my opinion its been a phenomenal return on investment and it can be an even better return on investment, if we all work together. UKICE: And were there any sensible preparations that you could do, or that you were talking about Defra doing, in that eventuality? I went out to the Republic of Ireland to the massive ploughing match that they have, talked with the Irish Farmers Association, as we have done for our entire time, within COPA-COGECA, and also visited the Northern Ireland border and our colleagues in UFU. WebCall Us Today! We are really asking Defra to keep looking at the impact assessments. Youve got to have agriculture as a key part of trade policy. Minette Batters is the first woman to become President of the National Farmers' Union, representing 47,000 members. So, from our point of view, it was important to have bilaterals with our opposite numbers and allow them to lobby their governments on what was needed. We were hearing the mantra of its going to be great because its going to be cheaper. We need to work collaboratively to incentivise a UK workforce. Within four months, it had won the Crime Writers Association John Creasey award for best first novel and had been snapped up by 11 foreign publishers. That is still ongoing, and we still dont know what the future of checks is going to look like. We had implemented laws that were based on food values, and yet we werent prepared to look at that in other parts of the world. MB: There is a lot of talk that says farmers voted unanimously Leave, but I dont think they were any different to anyone else at all. Effectively, thats what weve got now, with the Trade Cooperation Agreement. dune fremen language translator. I suppose you can say that, in the end, the voice was heard, even if it took three botched attempts to avoid it. I can remember challenging him at our February 2019 annual conference. The gnarly issues that remain today are still to be resolved, and who knows how we will resolve them. Then weve got political issues, like seed potatoes- there is no reason why seed potatoes should be blocked out of the EU market. WebMinette Batters is known for Midlands Today (1964), Kay Burley @Breakfast (2019) and Sky News Today (2001). Which means there were nearly a billion less eggs produced in 2022 compared to 2019. If we set the legislation bar above domestically , for international trade, that is just going to add more cost and price ourselves out of the market. But I think, every time we treated no deal as a live reality, we had to prepare for it. MB: Covid, in many ways, with food supply, helped, actually, because the engagement was there with agriculture and food and government. And of course, goods have proved, with Agri-food in capital letters, to be the problem child in all of this. MB: I did. Which is very similar to what they do in countries like Australia and America. In competition with works by other best-selling authors, such as Ruth Rendell, Maeve Binchy and Joanna Trollope, Chickenfeed has won two awards as the best novella in the 'Quick Reads' genre. MB: Yes. But then he left. What we wanted to do primarily was to open doors, doors that were shut due to some seeing agriculture as a problem. She runs the farm largely on her own, and her husband works in another industry. In fact, the solid line from the NFU had been that we wanted to maintain our high standards of animal welfare. At this moment in time, its lacking in detail as to what the future scheme looks like. MB: I think there were some. And a support aid budget of 3bn, a lot of talk is made about that. Vegan celebrities like Joaquin Phoenix who speak out about animal agriculture have been accused of hurting livestock farmers mental health.. Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers Union (NFU), has accused Phoenix of hurting the mental wellbeing of farmers as a result of his vegan advocacy. WebMinette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. Bring everybody into the room, have a massive discussion, and then he would leave the room and you were never quite sure as to who had been listened to. The government was clear it would not countenance food price inflation, so the Temporary Tariff Regime was conceived. Walters joined IPC Magazines as a sub-editor in 1972 and became an editor of Woman's Weekly Library the following year. At the end of the day, this will land on the Prime Ministers desk as to which way he wants to go. They have two sons, Roland and Philip. WebMinette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. With Theresa May, it was about trying to say, Were here, dont forget agriculture, because its going to be the complex area. As part of the British project 'Quick Reads', to encourage literacy amongst adults with reading difficulties, Walters wrote a 20,000-word novella called Chickenfeed. Because of the size of our population, because of the size of the sector, food and farming employs one in eight people. Trade is such dry policy, that a lot of people, particularly in the media, were not taking the time to understand it. If government is going to introduce legislation on higher welfare, it needs to effectively put its money where its mouth is, and make sure that our procurement is only sourcing at those standards. Weve obviously got a lot of trucks coming over and a lot of trucks going back empty. Wedding and Corporate events venue. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. She said: "Back in 2009, my friend Minette Batters and I saw that positive messages about Red Tractor-assured British beef were not getting through to the I think we all knew what problems were coming, but I think the challenge was, what was going to be done about them? Covid, and the out-of-home sector being offline, is masking the issue at the moment, of what things will look like going forward. While raising Walters and her two brothers, Colleen Jebb painted miniatures from photographs to supplement the family's income. But his way of operating is what I would call big tent politics. Worst of all, you didnt know whether you had a market. We had other members who were saying, You cannot take a position, or, If you do take a position, it must be vote Remain, or, It must be vote Leave. Ms Minette Batters (MB): Well, George has been in Defra a long time. How are you going to do that? It was about saying that this needed to be fair and equitable to all. She graduated from Trevelyan College, Durham in 1971 with a BA in French. And I think the likes of Daniel Kawczynski, too, supported it, on that very basis. You have to go there with what I used to describe to Michael a magpie moment, the glittery jewel that makes government think, Oh yes, that looks exciting. So, it was incredibly important for me to get to speak to Theresa May, and we were trying to just get agriculture to register on the Richter Scale. I think its still yet to be resolved as to what that looks like. If were going to have checks in the Irish Sea to avoid a border, where do you do the checks? I always remember Faisal Islam saying that agriculture had managed to beat the rest of manufacturing in getting its voice heard in this arena. For some sectors, if you take upland livestock, youre looking at an 80% drop in farm business income, which is enormous. They have two sons, Roland and Philip. Did it make a difference having Andrea Leadsom there? In 2017, Minette realised a long-held ambition to publish an historical novel. Of course, getting your voice heard in all of this was quite a challenge, I think, for the goods sector. Lovely to listen while running through Oxfordshire farms. Batterss 17-year-old twins, who are studying for their A-levels, havent decided if they will take over running the farm, but it remains a family business. UKICE: Weve got Defra about to implement the new farm payment scheme. It wasnt actually needed in the end, because the weather changed. So, there was that seasonal focus. She said: "Back in 2009, my friend Minette Batters and I saw that positive messages about Red Tractor-assured British beef were not getting through to the consumer. UKICE: We saw the very hostile reaction from EU political leaders to Chequers, but I wondered whether you got any sense from your sister bodies in France, Denmark, Netherlands, places that were concerned about UK lowering standards and the implications for that on agri-food farming, that they thought Chequers was quite a clever wheeze? Weve got higher standards, with many of the producers sitting above European level. Weve got the climate here to be growing it. That, above all else, United Kingdom farmers remained the number one supplier of choice to their own marketplace. Walters joined IPC Magazines as a sub-editor in We had a government that really believed you should take every decision up to the wire, and that was the way of getting a short-run better deal. MB: In the end, as Deputy President of the NFU, I did take a public position, which was that, on the information we had, we would be better off remaining in the EU. Having worked through the technical detail and this is where I think Michael came into play this became quite an obvious solution. And its still not resolved, which just shows how complex it is. My meeting with the Prime Minister in October last year, 2020, was absolutely pivotal in getting the Trade and Agriculture Commission over the line. Officials suddenly became very energised, because they had someone who was really digging in on every area of detail. So, once youd gone by those, you were into a no deal scenario by default. WebOn 19 April our Environmental Change & #FoodSecurity inquiry heard from @HenryDimbleby; @Minette_Batters, @NFUtweets; Peter Dawson, @dairyuk; @suepritch, @FFC_Commission; and Chris Brown, @asda. MB: From the very beginning, weve been part of what have been called the F4 Groups. I think we were quite at arms length, I would say, from influencing the European thinking. I think its essential that we can meet with him, bearing in mind weve still got active engagement with member states trying to resolve these issues. Minette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. I dont think DIT and Defra are aligned in their thinking. Youve got Defra, effectively, leading on border controls and things like export health certificates. But certainly France and other countries put forward the same thing. I think Im right in saying that we were one of the first trade bodies, across any sector, to commission economic analysis and absolutely the first in the agri-food space. Walters's third novel, The Scold's Bridle, then won the CWA Gold Dagger, giving her a unique treble. Its obviously still a strange time, because weve still got Covid. I havent been able to get a meeting with Lord Frost yet. Minette Batters - President, National Farmers Union of England and Wales. Or was that something you thought was a big opportunity? Did you think, I need this like a hole in the head, I could just go back to my farm and live a quiet life, rather than get stuck into this political morass? The union's president Minette Batters will make the call at their conference later today amid growing concerns about the implications of Brexit for farming - whether a deal is struck or not. And more importantly, well beat your target and well do it by ten years. For me, the issue was, How do we pivot this back to the policies that are needed for sustainable food production?. UKICE: In terms of getting ready, we had the negotiations going on, but there was a need to prepare for a rather uncertain change of regime at the end of 2020, when the transition ended. So, we kicked off this campaign. Checking everything against the principles was pretty key, because if you are leading an organisation, which I wasnt then, Meurig Raymond was, it is really critical to have that solid evidence based foundation from which to operate, and from which to build our policy and lobbying position from. abril 26, 2023 0 Visualizaes jason elliott, newsom. I remember going to bed on referendum night and texting our Director of Strategy, Martin Howarth, who has been with the NFU a long time, and was in our London Office. So, very quickly, this debate became about chlorinated chicken. But ultimately, there were two sides to all of this, and the UK wasnt the only party in the negotiations. Defra had always been a slightly second, third, ranked department, partly because so much of its policy was run from Europe rather than domestically. We havent prioritised different skill sets of job opportunity in the UK. Weve worked very closely with them throughout, so weve always known that it is a very, very difficult area. Australia is the sort of precedent FTA because that will be the first one, potentially, that is concluded. It is no good going to government, just saying, I want. WebA round-up of all the video updates from NFU President Minette Batters on how we're representing British f More More Play all Shuffle 1 5:25 Putting the lamb market on Minette Batters is the current president of the National Farmers Union (NFU) of England and Wales, a position she has held for three years. [2] Walters turned freelance in 1977 but continued to write for magazines to cover her bills. But does the farming industry feel that its adapting okay, or are there surprising new challenges, unanticipated challenges, emerging? In competition with works by other best-selling authors, such as Ruth Rendell, Maeve Binchy and Joanna Trollope, Chickenfeed has won two awards as the best novella in the Quick Reads genre. minette batters family But what I did see very quickly with Michael was someone who was very prepared to dive down into every area of technical detail and grasp it. Minette Batters, who is the president of the National Farmers Union (NFU) of England and Wales and has been called the most powerful farmer in the UK, was We needed to be able to work together, to shape what the future needed to look like. That was a manifesto commitment, dont forget, in the 2019 election not to undermine our farmers in future FTAs. He said at our conference that it would be disastrous for farmers to have a no deal. Its only when commodity prices are impacted, and the future support mechanism is changed- if that isnt right, that is when things will start to erupt, and that is what weve got to try and avoid. Australia can move livestock not only across the country but across seas, thousands and thousands of kilometres, and we have just banned it here. But more generally, he was embarking on a quite radical reshaping of agricultural support and the post-CAP regime. Do you get the sense that this is a long-term policy, that the Government doesnt want to invest in the border? I think, again, we need to be looking at producing more here. Still, what keeps me awake at night is this desire to raise standards here. And we established some principles of what we were looking for, going forward, whether it was Leave or Remain. Minette Batters (MB): Well, George has been in Defra a long time. Theyve got a lot to do. We have commissioned some independent research to look at the viability of the new schemes, of how much will be lost, effectively, from BPS, and how much can be made up through either the agri-environment schemes or through the sustainable farming incentive. You know, vote for this, because it will be cheaper. They have two sons, Roland and Philip. Its also so complex, this area. Of course, dont forget, then Covid-19 is hogging the news agenda, so its even harder to get your voice heard. I think most definitely, in the run-up to those no deals, many farmers were thinking, This really does look terrifying. And of course, a lot of European workers were working within the food and farming sector, so that very quickly became, like trade, one of the things that we had taken for granted, that we were now very aware we couldnt take for granted anymore. Chequers, I think brought a level of understanding. At the moment, the Crown Commercial Service contract for the NHS, for prisons, schools, is set so low that you cant even get fresh produce into it, let alone free-range eggs. It has also been translated into several languages. And we got that. Northern Ireland are looking like they will carry on with the status quo. At the moment, I feel weve got a lot of warm words, and we just need to know the nuts and bolts of what the genuine ambition is for this country. How worried were you that the Government was very keen on a deal with the US? It was one of the most affected departments by Brexit: did you get the sense that they could get the staff and resources they needed, or were they struggling through this? Baroness McIntosh of Pickering with NFU Vice President But I wondered what conversations you were having about the potential problems of what we now call east/west trade, and north/south trade, within the island of Ireland, if Brexit happened. She supplemented her salary by writing romantic novelettes, short stories, and serials in her spare time. Webshreveport obituaries minette batters family. I think there was a sort of realisation then that, actually, they hadnt got this quite right, and they needed to be talking about farmers, about food production. [5] The first of these novels is The Last Hours, set during the Black Death, followed by a sequel, The Turn of Midnight. MB: What wed been talking about, accepting that we were no longer going to be a part of the Single Market, was how free and frictionless trade was needed on both sides. Her third historical novel, The Swift and the Harrier, was published in 2021. Did you go back and say to the NFU, This is what we now need to do? But Defra, government, really only focused on bail-out packages in a no deal scenario, that would allow farmers to effectively restructure. But for us, all the way through, it was about fairness, and making sure that trade was fair. What I did feel, and what I do feel, is enormous weight of responsibility to get this right. The daffodil-growers in Cornwall will have faced enormous losses. Or did you think it was a clever solution to a seemingly intractable problem? Well, we still dont actually know, publicly, what trade policy is. And what I wanted to say was, Agriculture is the solution in all of this. Do you think the Government has yet worked out beyond some of the things youve been worried about like the ban on live animal exports the opportunities of post-Brexit Britain, on regulating differently, more smartly, being more pro-innovation? They still are. Some of which, like David Frost, its been impossible to meet. Minette Batters, who is the president of the National Farmers Union (NFU) of England and Wales and has been called the most powerful farmer in the UK, was HARDtalk. During a gap year between school and Durham University, 1968, Walters volunteered in Israel with The Bridge in Britain, working on a kibbutz and in a delinquent boys' home in Jerusalem. So, the need for the NFU to get this right, to not drop a ball, to be focused on what is needed, to be the lobbyist extraordinaire ultimately, the weight of that falling on my shoulders has felt like a massive responsibility. WebMinette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. [7], In addition to full-length novels, Walters has written feature articles for magazines and the broadsheets, some short stories including "English Autumn, American Fall", and two novellas, The Tinder Box (1999), and Chickenfeed (2006). We know that farmers took different views on the referendum, what were people really thinking about in that run-up to the 2016 referendum? But it was always going to need a bespoke model. The EU are now really having these positive conversations, and the Commission has come out positively, saying, Actually, on plant breeding, weve got to look at the opportunities around that resistant crop. Its been very much about get a degree, go to university, work in services.