Steve Barclay

Outgoing NFU president Minette Batters, who was succeeded by Tom Bradshaw this week, expressed her frustration around Mr Sunak's use of language

Mrs Batters questions which party will set a target for food production with a statutory underpinning? She said there was currently an imbalance between environment and food production in government policy

Defra Secretary, Steve Barclay said he had listened to farmers, bringing what he said was a clearer focus on enabling food production in environmental land management schemes

Defra Secretary of State Steve Barclay pledges to make farmers' lives easier

Despite previous promises by Government that the land use strategy document would be published by the end of the year, the Farmers Guardian understands it has been delayed to some point next year

The Secretary of State said ‘tearing down the barriers' to getting ‘game changing innovation' from the lab onto farm would be at the heart of his approach for British agriculture

Defra said the bill would not have been possible had the UK remained a member of the European Union

Defra Secretary promises a raft of measures including a new National Park to help connect people to nature

When questioned at last weekend's English Winter Fair on whether he had wanted the role of Defra Secretary, Mr Spencer said it was not a question of ‘putting my hat in the ring'. "This was a decision for the Prime Minister," he said

The Secretary of State, Steve Barclay 'quickly' got the point that short-term tenancies are a problem when it comes to financing investment to drive productivity and participation in long-term environmental management