As part of the British project Quick Reads, to encourage literacy amongst adults with reading difficulties, she wrote a 20,000-word novella called Chickenfeed. UKICE: Weve heard about asparagus rotting in the fields, strawberries unpicked, daffodils unpicked. 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? UKICE: Weve got Defra about to implement the new farm payment scheme. WebMinette has also been a member of NFU Governance Board and served as NFU Deputy President for four years from 2014 to 2018, before being elected as president in February WebBrowse 72 minette batters photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more photos and images. NFU President Minette Batters UK egg production has fallen to its lowest level in nine years. But for us, all the way through, it was about fairness, and making sure that trade was fair. My predecessor, Lord Henry Plumb, had taken a position when we entered the Common Market in 1973. UKICE: Whether or not it was a majority of farmers, some farmers at least were keen to leave the EU. WebMinette Batters is known for Midlands Today (1964), Kay Burley @Breakfast (2019) and Sky News Today (2001). But his way of operating is what I would call big tent politics. Its a tense time right now. I definitely felt that was a moment in time. In fact, weve probably actively driven away people from some sectors. +(91)-9821210096 | paula deen meatloaf with brown gravy. If government is going to introduce legislation on higher welfare, it needs to effectively put its money where its mouth is, and make sure that our procurement is only sourcing at those standards. 21 February 2023 Minette Batters: Food cannot be the poor relation to the environment Minette Batters, head of the National Farmers Union (NFU), doubles down on food security in the face of green farm subsidy reforms. I cant speak for the Ulster Farmers Union. Walters was born in Bishop's Stortford in 1949 to Samuel Jebb and Colleen Jebb. 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. Walters joined IPC Magazines as a sub-editor in 1972 and became an editor of Woman's Weekly Library the following year. To our minds, this had been a democratic decision of the nation. WebMinette Batters NFU President Minette runs a tenanted family farm in Wiltshire. Minette Batters, NFU President NFUonline Minette Batters Have you been pressurising government-? Effectively, thats what weve got now, with the Trade Cooperation Agreement. Minette Batters - Biography - IMDb There is a lot to lose if we dont get it right, and there is a lot to gain if we do it well. 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. You could say he brought a massive breath of oxygen into the department. So, thats what we did in that very first instance. All rights reserved. WebMinette met her husband Alec Walters while she was at Durham and they married in 1978. So, it was incredibly important for me to get to speak to Theresa May, and we were trying to just get agriculture to register on the Richter Scale. 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. 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 would pose the question what does that mean for government buying standards? MB: I think, bearing in mind how vital our market is to them, they could see that it allowed a way through. 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. She supplemented her salary by writing romantic novelettes, short stories, and serials in her Set in the 17th century, it explores the division and devastation of the English Civil War. All of these issues need a pragmatic approach from both sides. Who's who at the NFU So, I continue to hold them to account on that. 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. UKICE: How did you think the Department was coping? And of course, we still had the Wageningen work, which proved to be pivotal in having those discussions, and the principles. We were well aware then that agriculture is incredibly complex, and always the last chapter in trade deals to be achieved. The EU, of course, are taking that to say, Products are coming into the UK so easily, not getting checked, this is going to be your policy for the rest of the world. I still believe that in the longer term, we will have to find ways with the EU to deliver less friction, because less friction equals less cost and thats to the benefit of both sides. He said at our conference that it would be disastrous for farmers to have a no deal. I have to say, at that time, that was so needed, because we had to work through a process. It just isnt going to work like that. Minette Batters could not have chosen a more difficult time to become the first female president of the National Farmers Union (NFU). 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. 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. Has farming and agriculture gone up the government agenda in prominence, now that its not just an obscure Agriculture Council that nobody really can understand, that comes back with a protected budget that gets implemented? Which means there were nearly a billion less eggs produced in 2022 compared to 2019. But does the farming industry feel that its adapting okay, or are there surprising new challenges, unanticipated challenges, emerging? 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. under option with Company Pictures. And what I wanted to say was, Agriculture is the solution in all of this. But its a classic case of, youve got to pitch people. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most So, when I went and had my second meeting with Theresa May, it was to discuss her Chequers proposal. What we wanted to do primarily was to open doors, doors that were shut due to some seeing agriculture as a problem. The fundamentals that we had taken for granted free and frictionless access to the largest trading block in the world, and free movement of people, which gave us access to a competent and reliable workforce were front and centre. I have very good engagement with the Department for International Trade at all levels, and with Defra at all levels. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) is demanding a written guarantee from the government that Brexit won't undermine British farming standards. The novella is based on the 1908 murder of Caroline Luard. She said: "Back in 2009, my friend Minette Batters and I saw that positive messages about Red Tractor-assured British beef were not getting through to the consumer. This doesnt talk about farming, this doesnt talk about food. Weve worked very closely with them throughout, so weve always known that it is a very, very difficult area. Trade is such dry policy, that a lot of people, particularly in the media, were not taking the time to understand it. Are they worried about this unfairness to British producers? Vegan celebrities like Joaquin Phoenix who speak out about animal agriculture have been accused of hurting livestock farmers mental health.. Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers Union (NFU), has accused Phoenix of hurting the mental wellbeing of farmers as a result of his vegan advocacy. We are really asking Defra to keep looking at the impact assessments. Minette Caroline Mary Walters DL[1] (born 26 September 1949) is an English crime writer. Walters was the first crime/thriller writer to win three major prizes with her first three books. There are a lot of things that need to be done. Five generations of her family have run the farm but, like the new NFU president, she is the first woman to take the reins. But then he left. Walters joined IPC Magazines as a sub-editor in Australia can move livestock not only across the country but across seas, thousands and thousands of kilometres, and we have just banned it here. But that didnt stop us from getting stuck in. UKICE: At the moment, we have this sort of asymmetric border, dont we? minette batters UKICE: Theresa May was absolutely clear that Brexit meant ending free movement, but farming and food processing had been very dependent on Eastern European migration for a long time. When you look at this country, 70% of it is rural. We knew that, during Theresa Mays time at the Home Office, she ended the global scheme, and that had been an exemplar scheme. And I think the likes of Daniel Kawczynski, too, supported it, on that very basis. You were looking at, I think it was David Dimbleby and at the arrows and thinking, No, that cant be right. Are those scare stories, or is there a significant issue with labour shortages? abril 26, 2023 0 Visualizaes jason elliott, newsom. Webshreveport obituaries minette batters family. Were they particularly worried about that? I wonder if you thought youd done enough to bring pressure to bear on individual MPs, as reputedly very effective lobbyists. I know where that negotiating team are, so, either one side or the other side has to capitulate between now and June. 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. I think its essential that we can meet with him, bearing in mind weve still got active engagement with member states trying to resolve these issues. buss type w 30 amp fuse replacement; Books. The romantic novelettes were written in approximately two weeks and published under a pseudonym that remains a secret. Its only when commodity prices are impacted, and the future support mechanism is changed- if that isnt right, that is when things will start to erupt, and that is what weve got to try and avoid. The Mail on Sunday agreed to help promote the NFUs standards petition. [5] The first of these novels is The Last Hours, set during the Black Death, followed by a sequel, The Turn of Midnight. MB: Really concerned. BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Minette Batters on Henry Plumb 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. I think the commitment was to get over 80% of the trade done in the term of this Parliament. These have been continuous weekly dialogue groups, with officials and ministers. That was the challenge. Real life consequences I think we were quite at arms length, I would say, from influencing the European thinking. Minette Batters MB: I think there was an element of thinking, They can never do this, because it will be so bad. [2] Walters turned freelance in 1977 but continued to write for magazines to cover her bills. So, Liam Fox was obviously very engaged at that time as Secretary of State at DIT on the opportunities of global trade. At this moment in time, its lacking in detail as to what the future scheme looks like. Minette Batters (MB): Well, George has been in Defra a long time. minette batters @Minette_Batters Wiltshire farmer: beef, sheep and arable. All sorts of different people, in different places, dealing with different things. So, that is all good. minette batters Of course, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) believed so strongly in Brexit. Minette Batters on her farm near Downton. Suddenly, the environment was rising up the agenda and everybody wanted a slice of it, and he was running the show. The coalition showed that this was about consumers, this was about everybody believing in it. 48-52% was always going to be challenging, divisive, but to have another referendum, we didnt believe would have made any difference at all. They have two sons: Roland, who is married to Charlotte, and Philip, who is married to NFU (National Farmers' Union) on LinkedIn: #gbbw2023 # MINETTE BATTERS Has this led to a fundamental change in the relationship between the NFU and the governments of the different parts of the UK? 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. MB: No, its a massively significant issue. It doesnt mean to say that it wont come back, but its going to take a lot of working together. I remember reading the Defra press release the night before that interview, and it was a heart-stopping moment for me. Weve got to make sure that we build what I would call bridges to more mechanisation, more automation. The NFU wanted MPs to have more say on trade of agrifood. It has also been translated into several languages. Within four months, it had won the Crime Writers Association John Creasey award for best first novel and had been snapped up by 11 foreign publishers. At the end of the day, you can have the best policy in the world, but if you cant deliver it, its a disaster for Treasury, its a disaster for farmers. Michael Gove was perhaps not in his most ideal Cabinet seat, but I think he did manage to rebrand himself with what had been deemed to be a graveyard department, to the benefit of the department. She runs the farm largely on her own, and her husband works in another industry. Webminette batters family. That, again, has been driven by Covid, because weve not been eating out in pubs or restaurants, everybody has bought everything out of retail. Because one thing is for certain, you cant be all things to all men. That was pretty daunting, I think, for a lot of farmers. Weve got to be able to look at, actually, how we enable these growers to have access to the workforce that they need. California probably has higher standards than many parts of Europe. Yet were hearing about a race to achieve a trade deal with Australia before the G7 Summit in Cornwall in June. It wasnt actually needed in the end, because the weather changed. 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. Lovely to listen while running through Oxfordshire farms. Or did they think it was just a completely unacceptable attempt to cherry-pick the single market? We need to work collaboratively to incentivise a UK workforce. I think the EU member states were always going to be deeply suspicious of us lowering food standards. She graduated from Trevelyan College, Durham in 1971 with a BA in French. 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; They have two sons: Roland, who is married to Charlotte, and Philip, who is married to Sarah: and three granddaughters: Madeleine, Martha and Hermione. UKICE: Did you have any qualms about becoming NFU President in the middle of this process? Was the move to George Eustice an easy transition? What was your expectation about how the Government would involve farming representatives in the development of their position on Brexit, going forward? UKICE: We talked a bit earlier about the establishment of the Department for International Trade. What are my members going to be doing in future? Farmers demand immediate action amid 'absolute crisis' So, I think we engaged on every level. Ms I tried everything. By India Bourke For me, the issue was, How do we pivot this back to the policies that are needed for sustainable food production?. You were planting crops and you were making business decisions, having no idea whether you had a market or not. The daffodil-growers in Cornwall will have faced enormous losses. Again, it was the engagement with Number 10 that got the global seasonal scheme of 30,000 over the line. Knowing where the Treasury had been, having made clear over the last 11 years that if there was the chance, they would remove direct support payments to farmers, we also wanted to know what that would look like. Minettes goal is to make history as exciting and readable as any of her psychological crime thrillers. We know that agriculture is always a big facet of trade deals, particularly with the people that the EU has failed to do trade deals with. Its worth pointing out that, at that time, there was not even one side of policy on A4 of what leaving the EU would look like. Still, the same Chequers discussions are being played out. Actually, Lord Plumb joined the discussion and Sir David Naish joined that discussion, as well as other previous Presidents. I guess we needed to be able to get our point of view across, recognising that it didnt necessarily fit that well with the mantra of Brexit is great, because its about cheaper food, cheaper clothes, which had been the mantra. Weve obviously got a lot of trucks coming over and a lot of trucks going back empty. We were hearing the mantra of its going to be great because its going to be cheaper. I have to say, at this moment in time, it is hard to see how we retain our levels of self-sufficiency, and keep our farmers with the same price structure, effectively, that they have at the moment. And now, within the Agricultural Act of 2020, the Secretary of State for Defra has access to a multi-annual plan. What we have to recognise is none of these things can be done in isolation. In September 2007, Walters released her fourteenth book, The Chameleon's Shadow, in the UK. So, from our point of view, it was important to have bilaterals with our opposite numbers and allow them to lobby their governments on what was needed. They have two sons, Roland and Philip. 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 The dexterity of the human hand was essential. There isnt a silver bullet, but ignoring the situation and saying it isnt important is not a way forwards. Set in the 14th century at the time of the bubonic plague, The Last Hours took several years to research and write. So, he was very prepared to roll up his sleeves. UKICE: Just on that, the Government has also moved to be more flexible on using neonicotinoids than it was before-. Are you convinced that theyve got the capacity to make this work? 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. If were going to have checks in the Irish Sea to avoid a border, where do you do the checks? UKICE: In March 2019, Daniel Kawczynski said hed vote for the Withdrawal Agreement, given the negative prospects of no deal exit to the farming industry. minette batters We need a really transparent approach to how agriculture fits in all of this. Where the UK/ GB exporters face the full battery of checks going into the EU, and EU exporters are waved through at the UK border. Walters describes herself as an exploratory writer who never uses a plot scheme, begins with simple premises, has no idea 'whodunit' until halfway through a story, but who remains excited about each novel because she, along with her reader, wants to know what happens next. MB: What wed been talking about, accepting that we were no longer going to be a part of the Single Market, was how free and frictionless trade was needed on both sides. I think it is always challenging when you work with a majority government. On 37 March 2008, BBC2 aired Murder Most Famous,[4] a five-part TV talent contest series, in which Walters tutors and judges six competing celebrity writers, with the winner having his or her crime fiction novel published by Pan Macmillan on World Book Day 2009. Michael was very bought into that. WebIt's St George's Day, and that marks the start of Ladies in Beef, Great British Beef Week! Its also so complex, this area. MB: Lord Frost has been the difficult one to date. What did the NFU want? She turned freelance in 1977 but continued to write for magazines to cover her bills. Minette Batters Some of which, like David Frost, its been impossible to meet. Production of salad ingredients like tomatoes and cucumbers are expected to fall to the lowest levels since records began in 1985. 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. What difference did it make to you in engaging with the Government when Michael Gove, on rehabilitation into the Cabinet, took over from Andrea Leadsom, and started to make a lot of noise about what post-Brexit policy might look like? It has got friction, where none existed before. To undermine our farmers, when you want them to have regulation that costs a lot of money, and undermine them with cheap products coming in that dont even meet the first rung of the ladder, was going to do one thing, and that was going to put our farmers out of business. Im not so sure. WebBrowse 72 minette batters photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more photos and images. So, we kicked off this campaign. Still the position remains today from our European partners that we must sign up to dynamic alignment of rules across the EU SPS area. The mixed farming business includes a 100-cow continental cross suckler herd, as well as sheep and arable. Get personalized recommendations, and learn where to watch across hundreds of There is a lot of detail that needs to be progressed, and rapidly, for farmers to feel confident to get onto the new platform for next year. So, that was the conversation, literally, with Theresa May she hadnt realised how complex SPS was. Or did you wait to see what on earth the Government did, to fill in this void? Minette is published in almost 40 countries and has sold in excess of 25,000,000 copies of her books worldwide. We also knew that campaigning on either side, for a membership organisation, would be really counter-productive. Her novels are often set against real backgrounds and real events to draw her readers into the reality of what she is writing about. Given he was one of the greatest proponents in the Brexit debate, of isnt it great, food is going to be cheaper. I think, again, we need to be looking at producing more here. Covid, and the out-of-home sector being offline, is masking the issue at the moment, of what things will look like going forward. And then, of course, just this wall of silence. MB: I think they were in a difficult position. But I think, as the farming unions, we were all in the same place of wanting an approach that kept the UK internal market functioning fairly, and that there werent winners and losers. I still look back on it as, fundamentally, my job is about speaking truth to power and getting what is needed for, not only the members, but consumers. Or did you, at that stage, think, This is so catastrophic, its just not going to happen? But what I did see very quickly with Michael was someone who was very prepared to dive down into every area of technical detail and grasp it. Walters's themes include isolation, family dysfunction, rejection, marginalisation, justice and revenge. 72 Minette Batters Premium High Res Photos - Getty Images Her third historical novel, The Swift and the Harrier, was published in 2021. So, for us to have stayed on the fence without a position would have, I think, looked quite extraordinary. We had a government that really believed you should take every decision up to the wire, and that was the way of getting a short-run better deal. I havent been able to get a meeting with Lord Frost yet. MB: No more than the rest of Europe did. UKICE: Did you get a sense that government actually appreciated the lengths of those lead times in farming? And how is the state going to be able to pay for them to effectively just plant trees? And this, I think, still remains a very complex political issue. Contact: Agent | Publisher | General inquiries. UKICE: You seemed to have managed to at least persuade Michael Gove, Secretary of State, of some of that, because he was on the other side of that argument with DIT that summer.