皇家华人

Your Essex county NFU update

Hamish Debnam-Sharp

Hamish Debnam-Sharp

Essex County Adviser

A busy month in Essex included showcasing the hard work of the farming community to over 3000 schoolchildren. Find out what else has been happening.

Following the NFU鈥檚 move to more streamlined communication, this is the first county adviser update on our new Essex county NFU update page. It will be a more local overview of the NFU activities in the county.

It鈥檚 been a busy month with various MPs engaging with members, including James Cleverly (Braintree, Conservative) and Pam Cox (Colchester, Labour). It would be great to get MPs out on farm over the harvest period; if you would like to host your constituency MP, please reach out to myself or your group secretary and we would be happy to help organise this.

皇家华人was once again represented at the Essex Schools Food and Farming Day organised by Essex Agricultural Society. With over 3000 schoolchildren from 72 schools attending, it鈥檚 a fantastic event that really showcases to the next generation the hard work of the farming community to produce their food.

Essex member Peter Philpot kindly hosted the regional membership development programme at Barleylands where we had the next generation of NFU members learn about the work at Barleylands, HR Philpot & Son and their extensive diversifications. 

We also held our annual pre-harvest health and safety workshop on 8 July. Thanks to everyone who came, to Camsix Farm for this vital event, and to Ed Hutley for hosting.

Finally, I wish everyone a successful, safe and bountiful harvest.
 

Local news

Key topics discussed with Colchester MP

The family farm tax, food security and water resources were among topics discussed when the NFU met Pam Cox, Labour MP for Colchester, at Colchester Livestock Market.

NFU President Tom Bradshaw joined us for the meeting, along with Branch Chair Robert Blyth, Vice Branch Chair David Lord, Gerald Ketley, Graham Ellis of Stanfords and County Adviser Hamish Debnam-Sharp.

Many businesses and incomes in Essex are underpinned by agriculture and the wider rural community, so this was a good opportunity for discussions between our members and the Colchester MP.

Find out about the Stop the Family Farm Tax campaign