The unexpected President

What do you think your biggest challenges will be in your new role?

Every CLA President must sit there and think, “the political situation that I’m getting myself into is the worst that anybody has ever had to deal with”, but the present situation we’re in is not rosy at all.

I think we’ve got some immediate issues to deal with. How do rural businesses adapt to the end of the Basic Payment Scheme, and how do we get the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Environmental Land Management as a whole, back on stream?

And then we’ve got the challenge of Inheritance Tax. I want to make sure that our members have the best advice to make sure that the effects of the changes to Agricultural and Business Property Relief do not wipe their businesses out completely.

In terms of the wider vision, it’s about selling the idea that private land ownership and the transfer of businesses between generations is a good thing for the wider economy. Every time you upset that, all you see is a reduction in investment and therefore, a reduction in growth.

No government has yet sold to me what the alternative to private land management and private land ownership is. Nobody seems to have really articulated what their vision is for the countryside. There is no end of consultations, but there’s not really a clear, defining vision.

If it’s nature, what is going on with the SFI? If it’s about food production, where are the incentives for the fruit and vegetable sector that we so desperately need?

Is it a lack of understanding of the countryside?

I think that’s a lazy trope. When Keir Starmer was talking about his missions, there was literally nothing about rural areas. And that’s not a lack of understanding; that’s just a lack of any interest.

Given all these issues, are you still optimistic about the future?

I love the phrase, ‘optimism is a discipline, and pessimism is a luxury’. We don’t have the luxury of pessimism; we must solve these things. There aren’t easy answers, but yes, I’m really optimistic that we can solve problems for ourselves, and we can solve problems for the greater good.

What do you want the legacy of your two-year tenure as CLA President to look like?

If we can demonstrate that private land ownership can deliver on growth and investment for the country, for me, that will be a win.

It’s trying to navigate through what is quite a complex part of history for the rural economy and making sure we don’t lose good people along the way.

All image credits: Tori Hancock Photography