“It’s clear… that farming is important to everyone in this country,” Joe Twyman, NFU Conference keynote speaker and co-founder of the public opinion consultancy Deltapoll, said - and he had the data to back it up.
Joe shared new research insights into what the general public think about the food and farming policies that will influence the political parties’ prospects in the general election.
“It’s clear… that farming is important to everyone in this country.”
Joe Twyman, co-founder of Deltapoll
The results
81% of more than 4,000 people surveyed said being able to buy British food was ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ important.
Even against a cost-of-living crisis, 76% said government spending on farming should be matched, ‘increased a little’ or ‘increased a lot’, while 94% said that support for farmers was ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ important.
“Getting 94% of the British public to agree on anything is very difficult and unusual,” Mr Twyman said, adding that “only 90% of British public believe men and women should be paid equally”.
Food security and the countryside
Elsewhere, schemes that help farmers to protect the environment while ensuring sustainable food production were backed by 80% of the general public and 76% endorsed sourcing at least half of the food for schools, prisons and hospitals from British farms.
70% supported managed access to the countryside that balanced recreation and food production needs.
A new food security target was a vote winner for 69% of the public, and there was similar backing for increases to rural policing budgets (68%) and banning imports produced to lower standards than required here (63%).
On the other hand, the idea of a meat tax was supported by just 14%
Food connects people
Joe added: “Food as an issue connects with voters in their hearts and in their heads, in a way that so many policies don’t manage. British food, food produced in this country rather than imported from overseas.
“Other industries don’t have that kind of emotional connection,” he added.
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