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MB: In the end, as Deputy President of the NFU, I did take a public position, which was that, on the information we had, we would be better off remaining in the EU. In a farming business, when youre looking at the long-term, youre putting rams with the sheep, youre putting bulls with cows, youre planting crops, all of which are focused on the following year, so youre having to plan a long time ahead. In competition with works by other best-selling authors, such as Ruth Rendell, Maeve Binchy and Joanna Trollope, Chickenfeed has won two awards as the best novella in the 'Quick Reads' genre. I think we all knew what problems were coming, but I think the challenge was, what was going to be done about them? But does the farming industry feel that its adapting okay, or are there surprising new challenges, unanticipated challenges, emerging? The Department for International Trade, of course, is focused on getting trade deals done. And what I learnt quite early on, and has subsequently become a key element of NFU work, was that if you have a problem, work up the solution. MB: We made continual calls, between Nick von Westenholz, myself and the other office-holders, with backbench MPs, talking about how dire a no deal would be. So, there was that seasonal focus. WebBrowse 72 minette batters photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more photos and images. What were your early engagements with the new May administration like? There is a lot to lose if we dont get it right, and there is a lot to gain if we do it well. bubble tea consumption statistics australia. Minette is published in almost 40 countries and has sold in excess of 25,000,000 copies of her books worldwide. The tenancy eventually came to her in 1998 (after a spell as a jockey and then a caterer), and she is very much in charge. Webdid they ever find laci head fale com a gente. And we established some principles of what we were looking for, going forward, whether it was Leave or Remain. UKICE: Had you anticipated the Leave vote, from where you live and from all the meetings youd been having during the referendum campaign? California probably has higher standards than many parts of Europe. I always remember Faisal Islam saying that agriculture had managed to beat the rest of manufacturing in getting its voice heard in this arena. In order to work through a process, people had to understand the technical detail that underpinned all of this. I thought, Gosh, were leaving the CAP and what is this? UKICE: Rather intriguingly, George Eustice, given his background, put down one of the indicative votes proposing UK accession to EFTA. MB: I think innovation and research and development, effectively, are at the heart of everything, and certainly at the heart of getting to net zero. Officials suddenly became very energised, because they had someone who was really digging in on every area of detail. Menu. She supplemented her salary by writing romantic novelettes, short stories, and serials in her spare time. +(91)-9821210096 | paula deen meatloaf with brown gravy. I think, on an official level on both sides, they could see the enormous challenge, but the decision that that had to be resolved was purely political. Im not so sure. We need to work collaboratively to incentivise a UK workforce. We had implemented laws that were based on food values, and yet we werent prepared to look at that in other parts of the world. We havent prioritised different skill sets of job opportunity in the UK. UKICE: But its also consulting, isnt it, on gene editing and other issues like that, which the Government sees as a big new possibility to appear more open to innovation than the EU. The Australian head negotiator heads up the Trans-Pacific negotiations as well. By India Bourke MB: No, we immediately got our thinking together. UKICE: In terms of getting ready, we had the negotiations going on, but there was a need to prepare for a rather uncertain change of regime at the end of 2020, when the transition ended. WebOn 19 April our Environmental Change & #FoodSecurity inquiry heard from @HenryDimbleby; @Minette_Batters, @NFUtweets; Peter Dawson, @dairyuk; @suepritch, @FFC_Commission; and Chris Brown, @asda. Its not perfect by any means. Would the EU have allowed things to carry on? Walters joined IPC Magazines as a sub-editor in 1972 and became an editor of Woman's Weekly Library the following year. That Wageningen piece of research was enormously helpful in how we continued to have the conversations with our members, across our democratic structure, because the NFU is totally democratic in the way that it operates and having independent economic analysis helped underpin the evidence base. And its still not resolved, which just shows how complex it is. And why did you decide on your ultimate tactic, as we headed towards the referendum? Views expressed in this piece are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of UK in a Changing Europe. MB: I think it was a phenomenal rebrand for the department, really. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. UKICE: Are officials more accessible, if you cant get in to talk to Lord Frost? airline pilot retirement age 70; what happened to mark reilly strong island; east carolina dean's list spring 2021; the frequency table shows the distribution of 1,200 students; lessons on stealing for students; fivem gun crafting location; pros and cons of lifesource water system; usta friend at court 2022 handbook BiographyThe events that shaped Minettes life and career, Photo galleryA peek inside Minettes personal photo album, Charitable workOrganizations and causes Minette supports, Interview with Anne CattrellMinette talks about her life, Minette Walters 2019. Because at the end of the day, the NFU is going to be pivotal in this major re-set moment. Will either one? Or did you think it was just so unthinkable and such a bad thing, that you werent even prepared to talk about it with government? It wasnt actually needed in the end, because the weather changed. You know, weve got a government that now is saying its banning live animal exports, and it wants to have higher standards across the board of food production. But there was also a level of thinking, Well, it could just end up being no-deal by default. Its really key, though, to say on the information available, to remain in the EU. Photograph: Adrian But I wondered what conversations you were having about the potential problems of what we now call east/west trade, and north/south trade, within the island of Ireland, if Brexit happened. That in itself was controversial with some of our members, but the expertise wasnt in the UK, economic analysis of trade deals was something the European Commission was responsible for. I mean, a big, big difference, and it continues to grow. UKICE: Just on that, the Government has also moved to be more flexible on using neonicotinoids than it was before-. At the moment, the Crown Commercial Service contract for the NHS, for prisons, schools, is set so low that you cant even get fresh produce into it, let alone free-range eggs. Verified account Protected Tweets @; Suggested users Then weve got political issues, like seed potatoes- there is no reason why seed potatoes should be blocked out of the EU market. Weve got significant issues with the absence of border control posts on the north European coast which means that we effectively cant move any farm animals from GB to mainland EU. We then used the NFU Council, to identify the key issues, we brought together an options paper, and we looked at bringing together a whole host of task and finish groups. Scoops about National Farmers Union . Minette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. MB: Well, Brexit wont be felt until its happened, but the impact hasnt happened yet. Weve worked on emergency measures and everything else, but thankfully they were never needed. Boris Johnson was operating from a seismic majority, and so they have the power base to do whatever they want. Agricultural Acts dont come along very often 1947, 1920 its over a 70-year gap. Were you at all engaged in the discussions there, or were you very surprised when the Government suddenly unveiled that as its preferred approach? The coalition showed that this was about consumers, this was about everybody believing in it. What is needed?. I know where that negotiating team are, so, either one side or the other side has to capitulate between now and June. What we must avoid is a two-tier food system. I think it poses big questions for international trade. I have very good engagement with the Department for International Trade at all levels, and with Defra at all levels. I think it is always challenging when you work with a majority government. Actually, Lord Plumb joined the discussion and Sir David Naish joined that discussion, as well as other previous Presidents. And of course, a lot of European workers were working within the food and farming sector, so that very quickly became, like trade, one of the things that we had taken for granted, that we were now very aware we couldnt take for granted anymore. We must make sure that even the poorest in our society have access to high quality British food, which they currently do. That was a manifesto commitment, dont forget, in the 2019 election not to undermine our farmers in future FTAs. UKICE: The perception, for those of us that dont know, is that a lot of farmers did vote Leave, partly because they just hated the bureaucracy of the Common Agricultural Policy, and thought it got in their way. Her husband, Malcolm, is not involved Because of the size of our population, because of the size of the sector, food and farming employs one in eight people. Possibly. I asked what he thought as the Votes were just starting to come in then, and I think a lot of people were in the same position as me. They have two sons: Roland, who is married to Charlotte, and Philip, who is married to Her first full-length novel, The Ice House, was published in 1992. Australia can move livestock not only across the country but across seas, thousands and thousands of kilometres, and we have just banned it here. Was the move to George Eustice an easy transition? So, Liam Fox was obviously very engaged at that time as Secretary of State at DIT on the opportunities of global trade. RT @RainNewtonSmith: Great podcast with the brilliant @Minette_Batters of @NFUtweets passionate about the role of farmers in nature restoration, energy and food security. Thats what I remember most, nobody saying anything. Theyve been long-term involved in the impact assessment for these trade deals, so they know what is needed. MB: No, it wasnt. I sat back down next to him and I said, What do you think? And he looked at me, slightly surprised, and he said, I think youre very brave. Climate change is a global issue, weve got to be able to do it collaboratively, with others coming with us. That isnt going to happen overnight, because weve actively pushed people away from doing those jobs. Yes, we did have very high-quality affordable food, the most affordable in Europe, the third most affordable in the world. To our minds, this had been a democratic decision of the nation. Walters's second novel, The Sculptress, which was inspired in part by an encounter Walters had as a volunteer prison visitor,[2] won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award. Worst of all, you didnt know whether you had a market. WebMinette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. UKICE: One way of making that operation much easier would have been to sign up to alignment, or greater alignment, on SPS in the TCA, but none of that really seemed to come to fruition. [6], In 2019 Walters was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset. We have commissioned some independent research to look at the viability of the new schemes, of how much will be lost, effectively, from BPS, and how much can be made up through either the agri-environment schemes or through the sustainable farming incentive. And the decision was taken, by NFU Council, the sovereign body of the NFU, that on the information available it was in British agricultures best economic interest to remain. But we had to get this right. This is what Michael kicked off, effectively, with David Rutley, in the very beginning. Walters's third novel, The Scold's Bridle, then won the CWA Gold Dagger, giving her a unique treble. abril 26, 2023 0 Visualizaes jason elliott, newsom. Matthew Parris asks Minette about the challenges of balancing her work with the day-to-day demands of farming and what impact Lord Plumb made on British life. MB: I think there were some. Walters was the first crime/thriller writer to win three major prizes with her first three books. So, I think we engaged on every level. And yet the NFU ultimately came out to support Remain, but would not campaign for it. Its also so complex, this area. As a net importer from the EU, and it being our most important export market, it was in the economic interest for farmers on both sides that we added as little cost and friction as possible. Initially she was an amateur jockey and assistant trainer to David Elsworth and James Toller. MB: No, its a massively significant issue. UKICE: Weve got Defra about to implement the new farm payment scheme. To get to wholesale ways of trading, whereby you have one truck full of one thing, is going to be easier to resolve. We brought a massive coalition together of all farming organisations, nearly every NGO that is out there animal welfare experts, consumer groups, Jamie Oliver, Raymond Blanc, Prue Leith. Its been very much about get a degree, go to university, work in services. UKICE: When you saw the Northern Ireland Protocol that the Prime Minister had agreed to, did you anticipate that it was going to cause what appeared to be quite a lot of problems for east-west trade in agrifood products? Apr 13 2023. WebA round-up of all the video updates from NFU President Minette Batters on how we're representing British f More More Play all Shuffle 1 5:25 Putting the lamb market on Joanna Partridge NFU president Minette Batters on her farm in south Wiltshire with her Simmental cross cattle and dog, Basil. After a pause of 10 years in which she wrote two novellas, Walters has decided to write historical novels. Australia is the sort of precedent FTA because that will be the first one, potentially, that is concluded. In this conversation. [2] Walters turned freelance in 1977 but continued to write for magazines to cover her bills. Weve got to make sure that we build what I would call bridges to more mechanisation, more automation. I guess its knowing that you are going into a period of enormous change, but that change hasnt actually happened yet. She graduated from Trevelyan College, Durham in 1971 with a BA in French. UKICE: If you look at the whole period together, farming is obviously one of those areas where the big decisions used to be taken in Brussels, but theyre now being taken in a mix of London, Cardiff, Edinburgh. And everybody was adamant that we could not have a border on the island of Ireland. She graduated from Trevelyan College, Durham in 1971 with a BA in French. And at the moment, what we are finding is that there are so many moving parts to the level of engagement with different trading partners. Minette Batters, who is the president of the National Farmers Union (NFU) of England and Wales and has been called the most powerful farmer in the UK, was MB: I dont think we should underestimate the challenge you refer to of, not only piloting policy, but piloting delivery. That takes me back to the point where I said that trade policy is so complex, its dull as ditch water, and so many people, politically, had not got to grips with the massive challenge, particularly the issues we would see on the island of Ireland. Minette Batters on Henry Plumb President of the NFU Minette Batters champions the life of Henry Plumb, Lord Plumb, who was the only British president of the Minette Batters (MB): In the run-up, I think we were beginning to think, This is pretty difficult for a membership organisation. [5] The first of these novels is The Last Hours, set during the Black Death, followed by a sequel, The Turn of Midnight. Minette Batters, better known by her family name Minette Bridget Batters, is a popular British farmer and trade unionist. We went to Wageningen University, a world leading Dutch University with experience in running agricultural trade models. I think Im right in saying that we were one of the first trade bodies, across any sector, to commission economic analysis and absolutely the first in the agri-food space. Id be lying if I said I didnt think that. But he was reshuffled when Boris Johnson came in. Suddenly, the environment was rising up the agenda and everybody wanted a slice of it, and he was running the show. UKICE: Were you at all worried that he seemed to be establishing a rather surprisingly good relationship with the green lobby, who I think probably had a similar, oh my God, moment when he was appointed. So, Australia is really just the start of what this is going to look like. And I remember her saying to me, I had no idea how complicated Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) rules were. So, there were, along this journey, some slightly heart-stopping moments, as to the road that we were on. We asked the Wageningen team to carry out an economic impact assessment of what our departure would mean, and to show the effects on markets if new trade barriers were constructed between the EU and the UK. WebCall Us Today! It was one of the most affected departments by Brexit: did you get the sense that they could get the staff and resources they needed, or were they struggling through this? It doesnt mean to say that it wont come back, but its going to take a lot of working together. During a gap year between school and Durham University, 1968, Walters volunteered in Israel with The Bridge in Britain, working on a kibbutz and in a delinquent boys' home in Jerusalem. Chequers, I think brought a level of understanding. I think the EU member states were always going to be deeply suspicious of us lowering food standards. I would pose the question what does that mean for government buying standards? We knew that we could have a global scheme, that it didnt all have to be about Europe, but with a reliance in the seasonal workforce, of 80,000 seasonal workers, to pick and pack and plant our fruit, veg and flowers. We knew it would be a lose-lose to try and lobby, effectively, for a race to the bottom. under option with Company Pictures. When that government came in in December 2019, there was, I felt, quite a bit of rebuilding to do with backbench MPs because of Brexit. UKICE: But they still prioritised doing deals with the US, though maybe receded slightly. Minette joined IPC Magazines as a sub-editor in 1972 and became an editor of Womans Weekly Library the following year. We need a really transparent approach to how agriculture fits in all of this. But ultimately, there were two sides to all of this, and the UK wasnt the only party in the negotiations. MB: I can remember being on the Today programme, in Broadcasting House, with Michael Gove being interviewed, when he published the Agricultural Bill. In her role as With Theresa May, it was about trying to say, Were here, dont forget agriculture, because its going to be the complex area. Go to them, saying, This is the solution to that problem. Youve got all the challenges with Stranraer and other places about access points. Although weve left the EU, weve left transition, we havent achieved trade at scale with the rest of the world, in any shape or form, nor have the aid schemes changed or been reduced yet. MB: I did. I think we were quite at arms length, I would say, from influencing the European thinking. Webshreveport obituaries minette batters family. Her novels are often set against real backgrounds and real events to draw her readers into the reality of what she is writing about. Ive met with the Australian negotiating team, and they are absolutely determined that they should have free access on beef and sheep. Well, that will be really, really damaging. Weve legislated to achieve net zero, but there is so much that can be achieved through new policy thinking as to what that looks like, and ultimately, our opportunity to influence European thinking. MB: I think there was an element of thinking, They can never do this, because it will be so bad. Minette has written another entry in the Quick Reads series entitled A Dreadful Murder for World Book Day 2013. So, when I went and had my second meeting with Theresa May, it was to discuss her Chequers proposal. So, we had a very good discussion at NFU Council in April 2016. Minette Batters (MB): Well, George has been in Defra a long time. Despite its majority force to put the Trade and Agricultural Commission on a statutory basis and other things like that, does the Government recognise it doesnt necessarily have a parliamentary majority for its vision of future trade in agricultural products? How concerned were you about that part, as well as the trade side? Our focus was always based on what agriculture needed. Michael didnt know that we were going to say that, nobody in Defra knew that we were going to say it. UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE): You have a Conservative leadership battle that ends up with Theresa May becoming Prime Minister. Five generations of her family have run the farm but, like the new NFU president, she is the first woman to take the reins. That was pretty daunting, I think, for a lot of farmers. Straight away she ruled out being part of the Single Market, and we had those big speeches at Lancaster House, Mansion House, that were hard-line Brexit positions. What was your expectation about how the Government would involve farming representatives in the development of their position on Brexit, going forward? dune fremen language translator. She supplemented her salary by writing romantic novelettes, short stories, and serials in her We can, as a source of emissions and a sink, go carbon-neutral, we can get to net zero. It launched some plans for new tariffs, which were quite interesting, and it also made clear that it was prioritising regulatory autonomy, sovereignty, over removing friction. Bring everybody into the room, have a massive discussion, and then he would leave the room and you were never quite sure as to who had been listened to. Ultimately, when we look at the delinking process, you are going to see 50% of direct support that will be capped in four years. And how is the state going to be able to pay for them to effectively just plant trees? It was quite a new way of working, I think, in the department. Minette Batters became the first woman to hold the top job at the organisation, which represents more than 50,000 farmers in England and Wales. Minette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. Home; Service. Which, of course, it should never have been, because that was about food safety and what we were wanting to talk about was food values, and the laws of our land. 30 Apr 2023 11:52:44 It was a formidable coalition. I suppose you can say that, in the end, the voice was heard, even if it took three botched attempts to avoid it. Those three things together, for a long-term business- I would say, if you werent worried then, you werent actively engaged. Yet, we were seeing no sign of deregulating. I can remember challenging him at our February 2019 annual conference. Do you get the sense that this is a long-term policy, that the Government doesnt want to invest in the border? I guess we always felt, in those early days, that a good Brexit effectively made agriculture the poster child of post-Brexit Britain. It took two and a half years to write and was rejected by numerous publishing houses until Maria Rejt, Macmillan Publishers, bought it for 1250. UKICE: Whether or not it was a majority of farmers, some farmers at least were keen to leave the EU. Well, we still dont actually know, publicly, what trade policy is. The contestants were Brendan Cole, Sherrie Hewson, Kelvin MacKenzie, Matt Allwright, Angela Griffin and Diarmuid Gavin. So, there is a lot of water, I would say, to go under the bridge before that question can be answered. We focused all our lobbying on, I guess, the outcomes that we wanted to see achieved, not our means of getting there by some of the existing avenues; the Single Market, customs union, EFTA. Born on 1967 in Unknown, Minette Batters The Best Foreign Honkaku Mystery of the Decade, Vice-Lieutenant and Deputy Lieutenants of Dorset, "Minette Walters announces first book in decade and retirement from crime fiction", "The Siege of Lyme Regis Dorset History Centre blog", "1349 by Minette Walters - Gregory & Company Authors' Agents", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Minette_Walters&oldid=1148375305, Short description is different from Wikidata, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Vague or ambiguous time from October 2012, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2012, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0.