Is it useless Eustice?

Despite his farming background new Defra secretary George Eustice got a rough ride at the NFU conference last week when he was booed by angry farmers. Farmers Weekly commented that 'Reassuringly, Mr Eustice already owns a pair of wellies, and knows his way around a farm.' In fact his practical farming involvement was some time ago and I own some wellies and make farm visits quite often, but that doesn't qualify me to be a Defra minister.

As Farmers Weekly admitted, the Defra secretary has tasks other than being a MAFF style spokesperson for farming. (Anyone interested in the history of MAFF and Defra's relations with farmers can have a copy of an unpublished paper I wrote on the topic). FW noted, 'Questions have also been raised over whether he is the big hitter farming needs … Whether Mr Eustice can hold his own against Cabinet heavyweights remains to be seen.' More generally they said, 'Too often in the past the Department has been a dumping ground for ministers of mediocre ability.'

Farmers were particularly annoyed that Mr Eustice was not prepared to relax the notorious 'three crop rule' other than through individual applications claiming force majeure.NFU president Minette Batters said farmers were hugely frustrated. 'We have left the EU, half the country is under water and [yet] we are still going to abide by the three-crop rule and process thousands of force majeure applications. It just seems absolutely extraordinary.'

However, we are still in the transition period and Mr Eustice has no powers to set aside what he rightly described as a 'barking' rule despite shouts of 'rubbish' at the conference. To me it is a classic example of the CAP's ability to come up with poorly designed policy instruments: the relationship with the intended outcome (improving biodiversity) was poor and the transaction costs high. The rule requires farmers with more than 30 hectares of arable land to grow at least three different crops.

Perhaps more importantly, he declined to commit the Government to upholding existing UK food standards in future trade deals with countries, such as the US, that have weaker regulations. 'I can't provide any such assurances,' he said.

A House of Lords amendment to the agriculture bill would bar the Government from signing trade deals that do not require imported foods to meet UK standards on food safety, animal welfare and the environment.