Food and Farming – essential reading ahead of a crucial vote for our rural communities

“Devon Farm sunset” by Ben30 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

As we approach a crunch point for farmers, growers and food producers with the return of the Agri Bill, we offer you our bumper crop of articles on the subject. Our communities and local economy depend to varying degrees on food and farming. If small farms go to the wall, the collateral damage will be felt by almost all of us.

Please write to your MP (you can use Best for Britain’s HeyMP website to do this really easily) and urge them to back amendments from the Lords which will mean we keep our high food and animal welfare standards. These protections for agri business and for us as consumers were hard-won; we must not surrender them in order to do trade deals which will damage our domestic food and farming businesses for decades to come and may well have long teerm health implications for us and our children.

Tom Scott’s coruscating piece on George Eustice, MP for Camborne and Redruth:

Vet Danny Chamber’s article on the threat to animal welfare from a no deal Brexit:

Alex Pilkington on Central Devon MP Mel Stride’s inadvertent revelation on checking standards of imports:

Anthea Simmons interviews Devon farmer, Margaret Boyde and finds her very anxious about the prospects for farming:

Sadie Parker on the Lords inflicting defeat on the government over food standards:

Sadie Parker digs into the damage to farming from bad trade deals:

Rory O’Connor on soil depletion and why it should concern us all:

Oliver Patrick on the challenges facing Somerset’s apple growers:

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