Two years after the publication of the Curry Commission Report on the Future of Farming and Food, a survey by food and grocery think tank IGD finds consumers very patriotic about Britain as a farming nation, but farmers themselves mostly unaware of any effect the report has had.
The Policy Commission Report on the Future of Farming and Food, otherwise known as The Curry Report was published in January 2002 and set out a clear vision for the farming and food industry with recommendations for farmers, food producers, government and other agencies.
In IGD's consumer survey, 9 out of 10 people consider it important that Britain remains a farming nation. Older people are much more likely to think it 'very' important - 69% of 65+ year olds vs only 23% of 18-24 year olds. 96% also think that it is important that home produced food remains widely available, and 98% that farming is conducted in a way that encourages a wide diversity of wildlife.
Looking forward over the next ten years, 54% of people are confident that Britain will remain a major farming nation. The older and younger generations are the most optimistic - 58% of 18-24 year olds and 60% of 65+ are confident - whereas one in five 35-44 year olds have very little confidence.
A parallel survey asked farmers what they know about the Curry Report and what impact they feel it has had on their business. Whilst 43% feel more optimistic about their farm business than two years ago, 70% of them are still unclear about the strategy or direction for English farming.
Only 58% were aware of The Curry Report, and when asked to characterise their knowledge of the report, 46% of these had minimal knowledge. Of those farmers who were aware of the it, 32% felt positive about it, but the majority (77%) said that they saw no overall impact from the report on their business. The remaining 23% were split evenly between those seeing a positive impact and those seeing a negative impact. However, over the longer term nearly a third of farmers thought there would be a positive impact from Curry.
Question/Type of farmer* | Arable | Dairy | Beef | Pig | Horticulture | Sheep |
Feel more optimistic about your farm business | 49% Yes 38% | 28% Yes 67% | 37% Yes 53% | 44% Yes 53% | 57% Yes 38% | 63% 25% |
Clearer strategy or direction for English farming than 2 years ago | 19% Yes 65% | 18% Yes 75% | 19% Yes 71% | 6% Yes 88% | 23% Yes 69% | 16% Yes 71% |
Aware of the Curry Report | 64% | 57% | 59% | 35% | 44% | 59% |
Read part or all of the report | 19% | 2% | 11% | 42% | 15% | 21% |
Know about & feel positive about the report | 33% Positive 15% | 20% Positive 23% | 42% Positive 23% | 11% Positive 56% | 33% Positive 25% | 24% Positive 35% |
Long term impact of Curry | 35% Positive 14% | 27% Positive 20% | 28% Positive 9% | 33% Positive 11% | 11% Positive 8% | 25% Positive 13% |
How do you expect the de-coupling of CAP direct payments to affect your farm business | 28% Negative 12% 60% | 18% Negative 19% 64% | 28% Negative 8% 65% | 38% Negative 12% 50% | 2% Negative 98% 1% | 25% Negative 12% 63% |
Farmers are also non-committal about CAP reform. When asked if they expect de-coupling of CAP direct payments to affect their farm business 66% estimated that on balance it would have no impact.
All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.
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