Minette Batters became the first woman to hold the top job at the organisation, which represents more than 50,000 farmers in England and Wales. MB: I think there were some. I have to say, at that time, that was so needed, because we had to work through a process. How worried were you that the Government was very keen on a deal with the US? I think it poses big questions for international trade. Webminette batters family. WebCall Us Today! WebMinette Batters is known for Midlands Today (1964), Kay Burley @Breakfast (2019) and Sky News Today (2001). And its still not resolved, which just shows how complex it is. It has got friction, where none existed before. Tom Bradshaw NFU Deputy President Tom farms in partnership with his wife, Emily, and his parents in North Essex. minette batters That is still ongoing, and we still dont know what the future of checks is going to look like. HARDtalk - Minette Batters - President, National Farmers Union Baroness McIntosh of Pickering with NFU Vice President That, again, has been driven by Covid, because weve not been eating out in pubs or restaurants, everybody has bought everything out of retail. MB: Covid, in many ways, with food supply, helped, actually, because the engagement was there with agriculture and food and government. It would help if we could speak to those who are leading these discussions. Again, it was the engagement with Number 10 that got the global seasonal scheme of 30,000 over the line. Minette Batters (MB): Its a really odd bubble that were living in at the moment. UKICE: Weve got Defra about to implement the new farm payment scheme. I thought, Gosh, were leaving the CAP and what is this? Still, the same Chequers discussions are being played out. We need to work collaboratively to incentivise a UK workforce. She supplemented her salary by writing romantic novelettes, short stories, and serials in her spare time. The catastrophic part came from the fact that, with more than 70% of our exports going into the EU, we would face their very high tariff wall which, for agricultural products like beef and lamb and dairy, was an impossible economic ladder to climb and at the same time, as a nation we import more than 30% of the food we consume from the EU. I asked what he thought as the Votes were just starting to come in then, and I think a lot of people were in the same position as me. So, lets talk about food, lets talk about the environment, animal welfare. Still, what keeps me awake at night is this desire to raise standards here. MB: No more than the rest of Europe did. We brought a massive coalition together of all farming organisations, nearly every NGO that is out there animal welfare experts, consumer groups, Jamie Oliver, Raymond Blanc, Prue Leith. We knew it would be a lose-lose to try and lobby, effectively, for a race to the bottom. MB: Really concerned. Its been very much about get a degree, go to university, work in services. I would pose the question what does that mean for government buying standards? Minette Batters I think, again, we need to be looking at producing more here. He said at our conference that it would be disastrous for farmers to have a no deal. Trade is such dry policy, that a lot of people, particularly in the media, were not taking the time to understand it. HARDtalk. bubble tea consumption statistics australia. The tenancy eventually came to her in 1998 (after a spell as a jockey and then a caterer), and she is very much in charge. So, I think everybody no matter what they say now was in total shock at what had happened. Were they particularly worried about that? WebIt's St George's Day, and that marks the start of Ladies in Beef, Great British Beef Week! WebMinette runs a tenanted family farm in Wiltshire. Wedding and Corporate events venue. 1995 The CWA Gold Dagger Award (shortlist): 1995 The Best Translated Crime Fiction of the Year in Japan. What was not to like? We then used the NFU Council, to identify the key issues, we brought together an options paper, and we looked at bringing together a whole host of task and finish groups. And we established some principles of what we were looking for, going forward, whether it was Leave or Remain. 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. UKICE: At the moment, we have this sort of asymmetric border, dont we? That isnt going to happen overnight, because weve actively pushed people away from doing those jobs. And now, within the Agricultural Act of 2020, the Secretary of State for Defra has access to a multi-annual plan. Do you think it signalled a significant change of direction? UKICE: And were there any sensible preparations that you could do, or that you were talking about Defra doing, in that eventuality? So, there is a lot of water, I would say, to go under the bridge before that question can be answered. So, Liam Fox was obviously very engaged at that time as Secretary of State at DIT on the opportunities of global trade. And what I learnt quite early on, and has subsequently become a key element of NFU work, was that if you have a problem, work up the solution. How did you find dealing with the new team, compared to the May team? UKICE: When you saw the Northern Ireland Protocol that the Prime Minister had agreed to, did you anticipate that it was going to cause what appeared to be quite a lot of problems for east-west trade in agrifood products? Her third novel, The Scolds Bridle, then won the CWA Gold Dagger, giving her a unique treble. Scotland is talking about maintaining the same levels of direct support, so an area-based payment linked to sustainable farming. National Farmers Union is reportedly in talks to read more company news. I havent been able to get a meeting with Lord Frost yet. So, its now going to be brought into the funding cycle of Parliament. So, influencing is going to be important. Did it make a difference having Andrea Leadsom there? minette batters And, as someone quite well known to you, were you relieved that it was someone who had a track record on farming? During a gap year between school and Durham University, 1968, Minette volunteered in Israel with The Bridge in Britain, working on a kibbutz and in a delinquent boys home in Jerusalem. I think we all knew what problems were coming, but I think the challenge was, what was going to be done about them? There are a lot of high standards in America. 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. 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. Covid, and the out-of-home sector being offline, is masking the issue at the moment, of what things will look like going forward. Stephen Sackur talks to Minette Batters, She graduated from Trevelyan College, Durham in 1971 with a BA in French. Minette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. How are you going to do that? 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. In September 2007, Walters released her fourteenth book, The Chameleon's Shadow, in the UK. UKICE: Just on that, the Government has also moved to be more flexible on using neonicotinoids than it was before-. The romantic novelettes were written in approximately two weeks and published under a pseudonym that remains a secret. At the end of the day, you can have the best policy in the world, but if you cant deliver it, its a disaster for Treasury, its a disaster for farmers. Rain will drench Britain today as Met Office warns thunderstorms The Mail on Sunday agreed to help promote the NFUs standards petition. Minette Batters (MB): Well, George has been in Defra a long time. UKICE: Had you anticipated the Leave vote, from where you live and from all the meetings youd been having during the referendum campaign? Minette Batters on her farm near Downton. So, it was never about an unfair approach and it was never about a protectionist approach. So, that was really compelling. WebMinette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. MB: I think, bearing in mind how vital our market is to them, they could see that it allowed a way through. In order to work through a process, people had to understand the technical detail that underpinned all of this. Weve now got the two licences in place for that. Minette Batters, better known by her family name Minette Bridget Batters, is a popular British farmer and trade unionist. You also hear talk of having higher standards here, so being above the EU. On that basis, it was catastrophic. Above all else, I want to see honesty to farmers about the road that they are on from our political leaders. Biography | Official website for Minette Walters There is a lot to lose if we dont get it right, and there is a lot to gain if we do it well. Possibly. But do bear in mind that a precedent had already been set. They have very different standards to us; they have big feedlot systems, they farm at serious scale. But given the issues at hand went well beyond the economics argument, into issues such as immigration and sovereignty, it was also decided that the NFU would not campaign for Remain, nor would we advise our members how to vote. What we want is four countries that are doing, effectively, the same thing, otherwise we will distort our own internal market. Did you target any of the backbenchers who were holding out? It was then, that we established our new EU Exit and International Trade Directorate. Effectively, thats what weve got now, with the Trade Cooperation Agreement. The daffodil-growers in Cornwall will have faced enormous losses. Minette Batters is the first woman to become President of the National Farmers' Union, representing 47,000 members. We do have to be all things to all men, whether its arable, livestock, dairy, horticulture plus all those cross-cutting issues of environment, land use, tenancy issues. I still believe that in the longer term, we will have to find ways with the EU to deliver less friction, because less friction equals less cost and thats to the benefit of both sides. So, that was the conversation, literally, with Theresa May she hadnt realised how complex SPS was. So, when I went and had my second meeting with Theresa May, it was to discuss her Chequers proposal. UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE): Were now about five months into the end of the transition, five months into the new global migration scheme. But there was also a level of thinking, Well, it could just end up being no-deal by default. Helped by her husband Edwin and son George, Jilly manages 600 acres on the River Exe floodplain, raising native breeds like South Devons and Red Polls. Initially she was an amateur jockey and assistant trainer to David Elsworth and James Toller. Having worked through the technical detail and this is where I think Michael came into play this became quite an obvious solution. MB: There was an element of, Goodness, what is this going to look like? It was never going to be, for them, the same as remaining part of the single market. 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. And then, of course, just this wall of silence. Minette Batters - President, National Farmers Union of England and Wales. Are you worried by that? But that F4 group is still trying to work through these thorny areas. We ended up facing three no deals, essentially, in the end, all of which were avoided. Minette Batters Wiki, Biography, Age, Career, Walters joined IPC Magazines as a sub-editor in 1972 and became an editor of Woman's Weekly Library the following year. Well, that will be really, really damaging. 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. This has been a political decision by the EU and, to a certain extent, their line is, Well, we didnt want you to leave, were entitled to make it difficult. [13], Walters' first five books were adapted for television by the BBC and her eighth book, Acid Row, is currently[when?] On 37 March 2008, BBC2 aired Murder Most Famous,[4] a five-part TV talent contest series, in which Walters tutors and judges six competing celebrity writers, with the winner having his or her crime fiction novel published by Pan Macmillan on World Book Day 2009. It launched some plans for new tariffs, which were quite interesting, and it also made clear that it was prioritising regulatory autonomy, sovereignty, over removing friction. Youve got to have agriculture as a key part of trade policy. 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. Retail is now very loyal to British sourcing, so were seeing good prices across a range of agricultural products. And I think the likes of Daniel Kawczynski, too, supported it, on that very basis. We just focused on, What we need is free and frictionless trade, which I think, for some, got quite annoying. Did you go back and say to the NFU, This is what we now need to do? She supplemented her salary by writing romantic novelettes, short stories, and serials in her spare time. 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. Minette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. UKICE: Do you think the Department for International Trade and Defra now have a unified view, or is this battle still being played out within government, as opposed to outside government? MB: Well, Brexit wont be felt until its happened, but the impact hasnt happened yet. How does it feel for the industry? Michael was very bought into that. 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? In all these challenges, we knew that any border would have to be in the Irish Sea. I think a lot of people were quite relieved to see George staying in the Department, with a level of continuity and knowledge of farming. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) is demanding a written guarantee from the government that Brexit won't undermine British farming standards. Walters's third novel, The Scold's Bridle, then won the CWA Gold Dagger, giving her a unique treble. 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? We also knew that campaigning on either side, for a membership organisation, would be really counter-productive. So, we put our energies into that, rather than trying to stop anything or have another referendum.
What Happened To Conway Twitty's Wife,
Team Blaze Aau Basketball,
Charlotte Motor Speedway Camping Rules,
Bryan Mullins Wife,
Kensington Tours Vs Tauck,
Articles W
