Farming APPG

23rd June 2026

The Farming APPG welcomed Baroness Minette Batters to speak on the Farming Roadmap and the government's response to her Farming Profitability Review. She offered introductory remarks on her hopes for the uptake of the recommendations, including the role of the Farming and Food Partnership Board, combining private and public funding to deliver food and environmental goods, and the promotion of British-grown food at home and abroad.

Topics raised by group members in the discussion included: WTO rules and the incentivisation of pulse production as a food crop; join up of policy across government around farming and food; the prominence of food and farming within Defra; the SPS agreement negotiations with the EU; country of origin labelling in the out of home sector and the possibility of a voluntary code of practice similar to the grocery sector; and how the UK could draw lessons from countries like New Zealand in supporting exports. 

10th March 2026

The Farming APPG and the Local Nature Recovery APPG held a joint meeting ahead of the publication of the Land Use Framework for England. The aim was to better understand how better land use decisions can manage competing priorities including food production, nature recovery, housing and energy infrastructure.

The group was able to ask questions of a series of expert speakers: Sue Pritchard, Chief Executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission; Carolyn McKenzie, Director of Environment and Planning at Surrey County Council; Phil Stocker, Chair of the Dartmoor Land Use Management Group; and Roger Mortlock, Chief Executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

The conversation ranged widely, covering the value of inclusive decision-making and multifunctionality, as well as the practical aspects of how the framework will be implemented and intersect with existing and forthcoming spatial plans. 

2nd December 2025

At the Farming APPG Annual General Meeting, Terry Jermy MP (Labour, South West Norfolk) and Rachel Gilmour MP (Lib Dem, Tiverton & Minehead) were elected as co-chairs. Dr Ellie Chowns MP (North Herefordshire) and Simon Hoare MP (North Dorset) were also elected as officers. The group approved the annual report, financial statement and due diligence statement. 

Following the AGM business, members discussed the programme of work for the coming year. The group proposed to use this cross-party forum to constructively encourage the government to show a high level of ambition for farming and the countryside. Invited speakers, discussions and visits will explore how farming issues should matter to concerns across government, including education, business, communities and local government as well as environment and rural affairs. 

2nd July 2025

Members of the Farming APPG made a group visit to Groundswell regenerative farming festival on Wednesday 2 July. 

Now in its ninth year, the family-run event near Stevenage attracts thousands of farmers and people with an interest in growing healthy food in way that regenerates the soil and wider natural environment.

The group took in a wide range of talks, panels and demonstrations, on topics ranging from fairer supply chains to the land use framework. They also had conversations with organisations and businesses including Pasture for Life, Soil Association, Nature Friendly Farming Network, Affinity Water, and Yeo Valley, and policy experts such as Henry Dimbleby. This helped the members learn about some of the progressive solutions to the challenges farmers and rural communities in their constituencies are facing. 

12th May 2025

On 12 May, the Farming APPG heard from a panel of young farmers from a wide range of backgrounds. 

The speakers were: Abbie Allen, a beef and arable farmer from Leicestershire and farm advisor; Joe Bramall, from a Cheshire farm dairy and working at a farm machinery manufacturer; Alexandra Godfrey, current president of the students' union at the Royal Agricultural University; James Lunt, farm environment advisor based in Gloucestershire; and Melissa Walker, working on regenerative practices at a large mixed farming business on the Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire border. 

Abbie, James and Melissa are part of the Emergent Generation network. Joe was supported by the NFU in attending.