Struggling farmers could swing rural vote in General Election
The Conservative aversion to quangos is also visible in their approach to the farming sector, which has seen 67 non-departmental bodies spun out of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
As in other areas, the party has committed to reducing this number.
Matt Ware, NFU senior parliamentary adviser, said there was huge potential for the cost savings made from pruning back the numerous quangos to be rechannelled into more effective support.
“We feel there is a gold seam of cost savings available and these are in the government quangos that have been set up, such as Natural England and the Environment Agency, which have basically been offshoots of Defra,” he said. “Instead of being executive agencies that supply information in their specialism, they have developed empires that have their own lobbying and press function, which they shouldn’t have.”
And along with the proliferation of agencies comes an increasing burden on farmers who have to undergo numerous inspections from the various different bodies.
Mr Ware said: “We want to see on-farm inspections being carried out in a single go where they do everything at once.
“At the moment we have the Environment Agency, the Rural Payments Agency, Natural England and others, with all the duplication of inspector costs that that entails, and the farmer has to have six or seven checks rather than just one. It’s simple – get rid of the duplication.”
The Conservatives have made pledges to simplify the inspection regime, saying that any farm which complies with schemes such as the independently-inspected Red Tractor initiative will see a lower frequency of state inspection.
Mr Ware said: “Right the way across the board it’s a very regulated sector.
“The Tories are saying rather than have farmers seen as criminals and rigorously checking them, they are going to presume you are innocent. But if you are found to be wrong or fraudulent, then they will come down on you like a ton of bricks.”
Mr Johnson pointed to what he described as the “wastefulness” of the various agencies set up to support initiatives like the Single Farm Payment – the EU’s agricultural subsidy scheme.
“Defra is spending huge sums of money. To process each claim cost £1,740 in England whereas to process them in Scotland it cost £285.
“We’ve got huge waste within the system. We’re being asked to farm more efficiently but we would like to see Government get its own house in order.”
He added the next government needed to make sure farming was sustainable long term through incentives to enable more young people to enter the industry and to support investment in farms.
“The main thing is tackling those things that are an immediate burden on the industry – that’s regulation, TB, difficulties with the Single Farm Payment – these are real issues that we are dealing with day to day,” he said.
“But then we need to look further forward. We need to have a vibrant industry that is attractive for young people, one that looks at renewable technology. We need a continuation of favourable tax breaks and incentives so we can invest in the business, and also the reintroduction of tax breaks that have been removed.”
