The new Labour government has taken power at a critical time for British farming.

Farming is a major part of the Harrogate district economy, so the Stray Ferret caught up with Angela Kirkwood, a council representative for the York East region for the National Farmers Union, on the first day of the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate, to put some questions to her.

What are the main issues facing farmers in the Harrogate district?

The people in the Harrogate area are very much impacted by the weather, so we are asking the new government to prioritise things like spending on maintaining the waterways and looking at flooding and flood prevention. 

Climate change is getting worse and worse each year. Farmers are wanting to invest and be more resilient and that will be an ask of the new government – how to manage water.

How severe has the impact of climate change been? A lot of local land was under water for months until recently.

It means a lot of crops haven’t been planted up. I’ve been talking to a farmer this morning who didn’t get any of his crop planted up and has had to put it all into environmental stewardship. Same as myself: we are arable farmers and we only got 50% of our winter crop planted, so we have put in a spring crop which will yield a lot less and this brings a lot more volatility into the income of the farm. 

Coming to the Harrogate show is a good opportunity for farmers to talk about their experiences and to get it off their chests.

One of the big local issues is the polluted state of the River Nidd and River Ure. Some of the problems are caused by farming and run-off and pesticides – what can be done about that?

Farmers are working hard to make sure watercourses don’t get polluted. There’s a lot of regulation in place to make sure the water is safe to swim in and it’s the water companies that ought to be held to account and the investment is needed there. The new government should be looking into how water companies are discharging into the river.

Farmers have been asking for investment on their farms for many years and we really look forward to making that investment in improving watercourses and draining fields so we can grow more food. 

We don’t want to be holding water on farm land, we want water to be getting it away as quickly as possible. We don’t want to see communities flooded and we don’t want to see farmland flooded, we want to see the maintenance of the waterways so we can get rid of water as quickly as possible.

How significant is the change of government for local farmers?

It’s a good opportunity to reset the conversation. The NFU are looking forward to working with the new MPs to ask for really productive change that will benefit all the communities around the Harrogate area.