Whether you wake on Friday 05 July with a new Member of Parliament (MP) or someone who has represented you previously, it would be good to contact them early to highlight the important issues you want them to take forward in representing your interests in Parliament. To help you get across major issues for the tenanted sector of agriculture, the TFA has put together the following welcome note that can either be downloaded or forwarded to your MP in hard copy or electronically.
To access the welcome note as a digital version, click here. We would be delighted to hear of any feedback you receive from your Member of Parliament in response to what you sent to them. If you have any queries regarding this welcome note or would like assistance contacting your local MP, call the TFA Head Office on 0118 930 6130. Alternatively, to find out who your MP is and see their contact details, search your postcode using this link. Note: This UK Parliament web page may take a while to fully update.
Welcome to Your Seat!
A Welcome Note to Elected Members of Parliament from the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA)
Congratulations
Whether elected as an MP for the first time or as a returning MP, the TFA congratulates you on winning your seat in the House of Commons. To help you in your work, this note sets out some key issues that you might like to keep in mind when tackling issues relating to the tenanted sector of agriculture.
About the TFA
The (TFA) is the only organisation dedicated to representing the interests of farmers and farm businesses across England and Wales who do not own the land they use for agriculture. Members of the TFA receive advice, information and support from our dedicated staff team.
About the Tenanted Sector of Agriculture
The tenanted sector of agriculture is responsible for farming at least one third of the agricultural area of England and Wales. That is split roughly 50/50 between tenancies that provide lifetime or generational security and those which offer very short-term security where the average length of agreement is just over three years and 85% of all new tenancies let for five years or less.
The Importance of Agricultural Tenancies
The tenanted sector of agriculture is of major significance to the agricultural industry and wider society for three reasons:
- It combines those with land but without the flair or desire to take entrepreneurial risk with those without land who are able and willing to establish viable farming businesses.
- Agricultural tenancies provide fluidity to land availability. Farm businesses looking to become established or grow will find it easier to do so through letting land than buying land.
- New business entrants to agriculture, without access to family-owned land, need agricultural tenancies to get a foothold on the farming ladder.
Key Priorities for Government Policy
The TFA has identified four key areas that the Government should take forward:
- Drive forward the recommendations from the Rock Review into agricultural tenancies
The Rock Review into agricultural tenancies was carried out by Baroness Kate Rock in October 2022. It’s a ready-made agenda for Government which already has cross-Party support. The new Government should endorse the continuance of the Farm Tenancy Forum, press ahead with the appointment of the proposed Commissioner for the Tenant Farming Sector promised by the last Government, and supercharge the implementation of the legislative and taxation recommendations of the review.
- Deliver fairness within retail and other food supply chains
Farmers and growers have been treated ruthlessly by retail supply chains delivering low returns in comparison to their risk and labour. The TFA would like to see an expanded role for the Groceries Code Adjudicator to deliver a greater degree of fairness from farm to fork and better returns to primary producers
- Utilise our post Brexit freedoms in international trade
Alongside ensuring that we do not allow the importation of food and other agricultural products that do not meet our domestic standards, we should be doing more to grow our exports of food and agricultural products to parts of the globe previously inaccessible due to our previous membership of the European Union.
- Delivering a better balance between food, environmental and energy security.
Currently we are losing too much of our precious farmland to vanity projects like rewilding. Too many tenanted farm acres are being used for solar energy production. Food security needs to be higher up the public policy agenda but within a balance which delivers environmental and energy security alongside.
Please feel free to contact the TFA for further information or briefing on individual topics.
