The impact of this crisis has prompted all of us to shift our perspective on our daily life, adapt our routines and appreciate the safety and fragility of the communities in which we live.
COVID-19 Impact on farming and rural enterprises
A national spirit has emerged to get through this together. To support, collaborate and help at a time of great need and vulnerability.
For the first time since the Second World War, scarcity of food was a reality – the anxiety this caused manifested in the ugly behaviour of stock piling and profiteering by a greedy few.
Inevitably there has been a focus on food security and supply, production and supply chain, distribution and resale.
Food production starts with the grower and farmers and farm workers were classified as key workers.
The crisis has reconnected the public with the countryside – as a safe haven for exercise and maintaining wellbeing for those who can access it but even for those who do not live in rural communities the connection between the food they need and where it comes from has never been clearer. The crisis has therefore put into focus the two key issues which are the thread of the policy and progress update on “Farming for the Future” published in February 2020 which at the time of writing seems more than a few months ago, given all that has happened since. The Agricultural Bill seeks to incentivise farmers to improve productivity at the same time as protecting the natural environment. This shift of focus to protect the natural environment to make food production more sustainable has never more relevant. The crisis has required all businesses to adapt. The impact of lockdown has prevented some from trading and others to adapt how they operate with a national migration of the work force from offices to their homes. Farm enterprises for a number of years have diversified to make their business more resilient and create income and profit streams to complement the core activity of farming. In this crisis some of those activities, such as holiday lettings, outdoor activity centres and retail operations, have stopped. Government support such as the Job Retention Scheme and business grant funds have helped businesses to mothball such operations during the lockdown but it highlights that if the return on the largest asset employed in the business could be enhanced then the business fundamentally will be better positioned to withstand future crises. Now is a time therefore to pause and reflect on how a farm business strategy can make the most of the proposed reforms. Of course, lobbyists will challenge DEFRA that the current proposals may still not be fit for purpose and the current crisis may bolster the argument, but those two threads of enhancing productivity and protecting natural environment will remain.
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