Former NFU President and farmer Baroness Minette Batters appointed by Defra to lead Farm Profitability Review
Crossbench peer, Baroness Batters appointed by the Secretary of State to provide recommendations on farm profitability.
Baroness Minette Batters and Secretary of State Steve Reed
Former NFU President and farmer, Baroness Minette Batters has been appointed to lead a review of farm profitability.
The new appointment by Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed will see Baroness Batters providing recommendations on farm profitability both to him and the Farming Minister.
Listening to farmers and growers will be at the heart of Baroness Batters’ work, covering all land areas and sectors of the industry, as well as engaging with other government departments whose work impacts farmers.
She will provide short, medium and long term recommendations and propose actions for government and industry that will support farming profitability as part of this government’s New Deal for Farmers.
This work will be supported by the newly formed Profitability Unit within Defra.
Baroness Batters’ review will also help the development of the food strategy, farming roadmap and the Land Use Framework, and build on other work such as the review of Defra’s regulatory landscape led by Dan Corry.
Her aim is to help ensure our farming sector is more viable, self-sustaining and competitive in the long-term.
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, said:
Backing British farmers is the backbone of all work to support rural economic growth and boost Britain’s food security.
We have taken strong action to protect the future of the sector with the New Deal for Farmers. But we must go further and faster as part of our Plan for Change to put money into the pockets of farmers and drive growth.
That is why I am delighted to appoint Baroness Batters, and her years of experience as a leader during a time of great change in British agriculture make her uniquely placed to provide recommendations on tackling the deep-rooted problems holding the sector back and support farmers’ long-term profits.
Baroness Minette Batters said:
I will leave no stone unturned in trying to find solutions to boost farm profitability. But we should be under no illusions how difficult this work will be. There will not be one ‘silver bullet’ to fire but I’m hopeful this review can make a difference to a sector that produces the nation’s food, underpins the rural economy and delivers so much for the environment.
I’m pleased to be appointed to lead this review and look forward to working with farmers and growers to provide recommendations to government, food retailers, processors and manufacturers.
The appointment is one of a number of actions that the government is taking to improve the profitability of farmers, including through fair competition in the supply chain, ensuring planning reforms make it quicker for farmers to build the buildings they need on their farms, and helping farmer diversify income streams and make additional money from selling surplus energy from solar panels and wind turbines by accelerating connections to the grid.
As set out in the Plan for Change, the government is focused on supporting our farmers, rural economic growth and boosting Britain’s food security and are going further to develop a 25-year farming roadmap to make the sector more profitable in the decades to come.
Notes to editors
- Baroness Batters will begin her role on 7 April 2025.
- The appointment will be for a period of six months with recommendations provided to the Secretary of State within that timeline.
- The full Terms of Reference for the review are available on gov.uk.
About Baroness Minette Batters
Baroness Batters joined the NFU when she started farming, and rose to be county chair and a member of several NFU committees. As the first woman president of NFU, Minette has been a positive force within the agricultural industry. She served as President of the National Farmers Union from 2018 to 2024, having previously served as Deputy President from 2014 to 2018.
In her role as deputy president and then president, Batters has represented the farming community at a time of great change, during the agricultural transition. Batters has supported orderly change and maintenance of high standards in UK agriculture.
She was appointed as a crossbench member of the House of Lords in 2024 and was made a Deputy Lieutenant to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 2021.
She was brought up on a tenanted farm in Wiltshire and now runs the tenanted family farm in Wiltshire, a mixed farming business including a 100-cow continental cross suckler herd, as well as sheep and arable. Diversification on the farm includes the conversion of a 17th Century barn into a wedding and events venue, and horse liveries.