Farm of the Week: On the farm with the new vice president of the National Farmers Union

Stoneleigh, the Warwickshire headquarters of the National Farmers Union, London and all points north, south, east and west now occupy much of Rachel’s week that sees her leave home 5.30am every Monday morning and a return on a Thursday evening, which is not always the case.

“There was no clear career path when I first became involved with the NFU,” says Rachel. “You just find yourself doing things. One of my first roles was as a representative on the North East livestock board. I moved on to become West Riding County chair and then North East Regional Board chair.

“You end up in a meeting and talking with people and before you know it one or two people are asking whether you are standing as a national office holder.

“We have quite a good thing going on at home and I’m no fool. I know the commitment needed for this role. I had two counties that said they wanted to back me, so I thought I’d give it a go and if they don’t want me, they don’t want me.

“This is a really exciting time for the industry. The big question for this country is not what do we want, but what do we need? We need food of course, and we need to deliver for the environment. When you look at the infrastructure work that this country needs there’s a lot of work coming down the track and I think that’s unbelievably exciting for me to be in a position where I can hopefully help people find a way through this.

“The NFU has had to develop enormously. We are no longer interpreting policy that’s coming from the EU. We’re now part of the creation of policy and we’ve been dealing with a government that hasn’t been very stable for a number of years and there have been quite a lot of kneejerk policies coming out.

“As an organisation we have operated in a solutions-based manner. You can’t just go through life saying we don’t like something, we have to say to those who are coming up with policy that there are the consequences of that, so how about this?

Rachel says the support given through such as the new SFI schemes is a case in point for how the NFU can help those involved in developing new and effective policies.

“The SFI schemes are still not fully developed, it’s an ongoing process. If you remember, there wasn’t going to be anything available at lower level at all, just higher and upper tier of environmental schemes and there was going to be no shallow base of scheme for people to enter at all. It has evolved, but is it perfect? No. There are umpteen consequences and it’s about working through those. This has been like drawing teeth at times and it’s not over.

“What is important to understand is that the money that goes into farmer’s bank accounts doesn’t stay there, it goes into the wider economy.

“And let’s not kid anybody, the Basic Payment Scheme has always kept a lid on food prices to a degree and whichever party comes in at the next General Election, the SFI schemes and others like capital grant schemes and any others have got to be a continual work in progress while maintaining the policy we’ve got when it comes to food.

“From an NFU point of view it’s about being in those discussions and saying, hang on a minute what about this?

While Rachel is presently away from Beeston Hall for much of the week she feels that this has also presented an opportunity for Sam and Anna, and has brought about a re-evaluation of the home farm.

“On a personal note it’s also really exciting back on the farm because this is an opportunity for our two to step up and create something for their future by bringing their ideas to the table, which they are doing.

“Sam is developing the contracting business and growing that within the farm. Anna is very much into animal husbandry and Stephen is mentoring both while I’m doing my thing as well.

“We have a holiday cottage and we are currently looking at the SFI schemes, as well as working with farm consultants who are looking at our farm business as a whole to get some fresh eyes on it.

“The world is changing and you can become embedded in what you do and sometimes fresh ideas are good. At the end of the day everybody is running their own business and know what they want to do, they know where they are in their life and have decisions to make whether that’s on a family farm like us or working as part of the NFU in helping with creation of policy that is appropriate.

Rachel has empathy with her fellow farmers that comes from both her own common sense and personal experience.

Beeston Hall Farm was rocked in late 2021 when, as a result of a feeding cow they’d sold, which five weeks later had been slaughtered and had been found to have lesions, their herd was placed under a TB situation which is now thankfully clear of all restrictions after over two years of testing.

“I completely understand what it does on farm, what it does financially, emotionally and understand the frustration and anger that comes with it. You go through a whole range of emotions. You have to manage the financial hit that you get, having to keep animals on farm that you wouldn’t normally have there, manage the health situation of stock, but you are also a family farm and you are managing family emotion. There are a whole load of things that go on, but you’ve got to come together and find a way through it as we have. We’ve gone through a hell of a process, but we’ve learned as we have gone through it.

Rachel smiles when she talks of her balance between her NFU work, family and the family farm.

“If it’s in the diary it gets done, just. I’m all over the country every week. The other week when I left home on the Monday I was in Lincolnshire, then Stoneleigh, then London, back to Stoneleigh, then Cumbria and down to Lancashire. The following week I started in Devon, then moved on to Dorchester.

“I really do see this as an exciting time to be involved in helping shape farming’s future.