Estate Matters Episode 13: Minette Batters | Food and Farming: the future of land management

Minette Batters led the National Farmers’ Union during the most tumultuous times in decades for British agriculture, as the nation faced Brexit, the Covid pandemic and the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But at times, during her decade as vice-president and then president of the NFU, Minette tells the latest episode of KOR Communications’ podcast, Estate Matters, she felt she was fighting the British government too.

She battled to ensure food production was considered by Government to be a ‘public good’ at a time, during the premiership of Boris Johnson, when all the emphasis was on environmental initiatives.

She fought against a Government-negotiated trade deal with the US that would have allowed hormone-treated beef and chlorine-washed chicken into the UK, undermining the higher welfare and health standards to which British livestock farmers must adhere.

And she challenged what she saw as inadequate numbers of overseas agricultural workers that the Government planned to allow into Britain to help with farm work, pushing up the figure from the 10,000 initially proposed to 55,000.

In a conversation with podcast host Anna Byles at the Bath and West Show, Minette, who completed her term as NFU president in February this year, says she was proud of the achievements for her and her team at the NFU. “Those were massive wins,” she says.

And while she admits there are major challenges for farmers, with the upcoming General Election - one of the most important for agriculture in recent years - she says she is optimistic for the future of farming.

Asked what her single most important piece of advice would be to farmers today, she says they have to be ready to embrace change.  “We have to keep our point of difference,” she says of UK farmers, “to grow our market share at home and abroad. I feel more optimistic than I have ever felt – but with the caveat that we have to be ready to change.”

Minette admits it has been a wrench leaving the high-pressure world of agricultural leadership, but she is “re-booting” through writing a book about her period in office, putting her interpretation of the events of her time as NFU president “in the public domain.”

She said she never intended to become an NFU office holder but her first post, as county chair of the Wiltshire Branch, came about as a result of issues she, and farming neighbours, were having with attempts by the Environment Agency and Natural England to impose changes on the land they farmed. 

She also founded the marketing and campaigning group, Ladies in Beef with Devon beef farmer and marketing specialist Jilly Greed, to promote sales of the meat.

Minette reveals she almost abandoned plans to take up the NFU county chair in Wiltshire because of a dread of public speaking. She says she eventually overcame the public speaking nerves, but always remained determined to represent the NFU and its members to the best of her ability.

At a time when farmers are under pressure to meet a huge range of demands, from mitigating climate change and helping to reduce the flood risk to providing habitat for wildlife and generating energy, Minette’s focus remains firmly on food production along with nature recovery.

She says: “You have got to start with food security, but you have got to talk about food security and nature security as one in the same thing. We must have targets for food production as part of that.”

In a frank and powerful summary of her time at the heart of Britain’s agricultural community, negotiating with a succession of environment secretaries and five different prime ministers, Minette tells Estate Matters she felt privileged to represent her members.

“It was a huge privilege to lead the farmers I led and work with such wonderful staff,” she says.  As the first woman president of the NFU she faced some initial scepticism but earned the respect and admiration of figures across the agricultural industry and beyond, pioneering communications techniques, including regular online vlogs during Covid, that helped to improve the public’s understanding and support for British farmers.

She says she is now relishing getting back to the day-to-day running of her Wiltshire farm, writing her book and taking on a number of new roles with groups representing the rural community. Above all, she stressed, she will not give up campaigning for farmers and farming.