British Apples & Pears has published its first-ever manifesto ahead of a 2024 general election.
The manifesto is designed to provide all political parties with clear guidance on how best to secure the future of the British apple and pear industry.
It sets out 10 actions which concern a range of issues from fair contracts with supermarkets to labour, environmental protection and innovation.
“Any new British government has a great opportunity to turn around the current crisis facing UK apple and pear growers,” said Ali Capper, executive chair of BAP. “We have set out clear steps that we believe are both necessary and practical to achieve that.”
The organisation has called for the imposing of the fair dealing clause from the Agricultural Act 2020, and an extension of the seasonal workers scheme to become a five-year scheme and to have no cap.
BAP has also made the case for energy price protection, a British food policy, a carbon border adjustment mechanism developed to include food, and ensuring environmental land management (ELM) schemes work with food production.
Additionally, BAP has asked for a green finance strategy to incentivise supermarkets to choose British over imported produce, health strategies which actively support the inclusion of fresh and minimally processed food, funding for orchard innovations, and a regulatory framework for crop protection.
“We understand there will be many competing priorities for any new government, but the actions in our manifesto have extremely far-reaching and positive impacts,” said Capper. “Implementing these actions will help ensure domestic food security, support the rural economy, our environment and the health of the nation. Those ambitions should be firmly on the agenda of any government.”
BAP will be sending the manifesto directly to the leaders of all the main political parties as well as their key representatives for agriculture, farming, health, finance and labour.
“In addition to sending them our new manifesto, we will be offering face-to-face briefings with the political parties,” added Capper. “We are very keen to work with anyone who is open to our ideas for a stronger and sustainable British apple and pear industry.”
No comments yet