MP deplores Government denigration of farming

Geoffrey Cox has slammed a Government report that has ranked agriculture a lowly 26 out of 27 industry groups in a table charting economic significance across England.

Geoffrey Cox, MP for Torridge and West Devon, has slammed a Government report that has ranked agriculture a lowly 26 out of 27 industry groups in a table charting economic significance across England. The 'National Strategic Skills Audit 2010' ranked agriculture, which contributes £7 billion to the national economy, just above wood and paper manufacture.

The audit also found agriculture, which employs nearly half a million people, had one of the largest skills gaps of any industry in England. The skills audit found 13 per cent of agricultural establishments were lacking in skills - compared to an average of 3 per cent across all English industries. In total 18,400 people involved in agriculture were found to be 'not fully proficient' in their job - equivalent to 6 per cent all agricultural workers.

Geoffrey Cox said: "This is the perpetuation of an old way of thinking, an overhang from 13 long years of neglect by the Labour Government. The economic significance of domestic food production is now rapidly becoming clear as prices of imports rise and shortages are set to grow. Yet, until only recently, Labour Government policy declared that domestic production was not a necessity for our food security. Now we have a document which claims that farming is of low economic significance.

"The Government cannot escape its deep-rooted mindset that fails to grasp the importance of British agriculture to our economy, environment and national well-being. It is time we had a new government that did grasp its central importance to the future of this country, and the need vigilantly to safeguard both the skills and the conditions for it to prosper."