Farming community invited to take part in Saturday’s rally

The rally is being organised by the Landworkers’ Alliance in partnership with over 20 other organisations, including Sustain, Wart on Want, Pesticide Action Network UK and the Real Farming Trust.

Together, they will be demanding the systemic transformation of the UK’s food and farming system underpinned by a legally enshrined ‘Right to Food’.

A spokesperson for the organiser said: “The UK’s food and farming system is under a great deal of pressure at the moment.

“A UK-US trade deal is imminent; British food producers are concerned that they will be undercut by lower-standard imports, and the abrupt closure of the SFI scheme last month has placed many farmers (particularly small farms and market gardens) in financial jeopardy, rubbing salt in the wound of chronically under-funded government support for farming.”

‘Broken food and farming system’

The organisers added that while recent farmer protests spearheaded by the NFU have put farming in the media spotlight, they have focused narrowly on stopping the family farm tax, advocating primarily for the interests of larger farms and estates.

“The fundamental challenges of our broken food and farming system have been overshadowed by the inheritance tax debate, and the real issues faced by farmers across the country have been co-opted by far-right figures seeking to push their own anti-immigration agendas.

“To reflect the breadth and diversity of everyone who has a stake in the future of UK food, the rally will be bringing together people from all corners of our food and farming system to demand fundamental change.

“From working-class families who are struggling to put food on the table to small community-focused farms who are struggling to compete against supermarket prices; and from young people wanting to pursue careers in nature-friendly farming to seasonal migrant farmworkers who are suffering systematic exploitation and abuse on UK farms.”

With a Land Use Framework for England out for consultation that closed on Thursday 25th April and both a National Food Strategy and 25-Year Roadmap for Farming in the pipeline, the rally is being organised at a crucial time, Landworkers’ Alliance concluded.

In order to present their positive vision for the future, protestors will be demanding a legally enshrined ‘Right to Food’ which would underpin progressive policies that ensure that everyone has access to nutritious, ecologically produced and culturally appropriate food, regardless of their location, income, identity or legal status, and that those who produce food are properly supported and rewarded.

READ MORE: Next wheat strike could see supplies get ‘very tight very quickly’

Demands

The organisers of the demonstration are asking for:

• A bigger budget for nature-friendly farming across all four nations to meet the scale of need, deliver a reconfigured SFI in England (with a cap on payments) and an interim support scheme for small farms.

• The implementation of a National Food Strategy for England which includes ambitious public procurement targets, localised food production, and prioritises healthy nutritious food in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health.

• Measures to guarantee a fair and secure income for farmers and farmworkers, such as a pilot of a basic income for farm workers scheme, protection for British farmers in trade deals, eliminating the risk of labour abuses and exploitation including those seen through the Seasonal Worker Scheme, and a redistribution of corporate profits in the food system.

• Substantial measures to improve access to land for new entrants, including training and support, to support first-time farmers into farming and land work, particularly from marginalised groups.

Protestors will gather at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens (outside Vauxhall City Farm) on Saturday 26th April, from 12pm, ready to march at 1pm.

The participants will march to Defra offices via South Lambeth Bridge and the Home Office.

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