Food & Farming talks to new Environment, Food and Agriculture Minister, Clare Barber, about why listening is so important; what she loves about the Young Farmers’ clubs, and why January is the wrong time to try going vegan.

We are hearing some very favourable reports from farmers about the new DEFA Minister. She has already visited a number of local farms where they have noted her interest and her willingness to listen.

I mention this to Mrs Barber when I go to meet her at the DEFA headquarters.

She says: ’I think the listening is really important for me and I think that goes across everything in government. I always say to people that I won’t necessarily commit to being able to fix everything but I’ll certainly commit to listening and understanding and then we can work together and do our best.

’I’m grateful to the Manx National Farmers’ Union members for being very open and talking to me and that goes across all the sectors. I’ve had a really healthy dialogue so far and I want to keep that going.’

One specific ’listening’ project that is currently being undertaken by DEFA is gathering feedback on the Agri Environment Scheme. This is coming to the end of its first full year in operation and, although farmers have engaged with the scheme, their one major criticism is the amount of paperwork that is involved. Each of the 32 elements of the scheme which can be claimed for has its own form, each running to several pages, to be filled in.

When I ask Mrs Barber whether this form filling can be cut down for the coming year, I receive a resounding: ’Yes, it can.’

I also ask her about the feeling among farmers that while they are more than keen to play their part in protecting our landscape and environment, they want to ensure that this doesn’t overshadow their primary purpose - food production.

Mrs Barber says: ’I think it is a balance and I think that’s really important to get across.

’Having our Agri Environment Scheme as a partnership, with the Manx Wildlife Trust as delivery partners, makes it very clear that there isn’t one piece that’s more important than the other, it’s about getting that balance right.

’I think it’s important that we really get the point across that sustainable farming, in and of itself, really contributes to our climate change agenda: when you look at soil health and you look at good management of the uplands, actually getting our land management right is fundamental.

’There will be some opportunities which the Agri Environment Scheme looks to reward where there is some land that can be given back to nature but it has to be done in a constructive way.’

And she insists that, on the island, food production is still very much front and centre when it comes to agricultural policy making. As she points out, the Manx Government’s Our Island Plan contains a food strategy which is all about food security. She says: ’I think food security has really come to the fore through Covid, and we have issues with the weather every year.

’It ties in with the climate change agenda in terms of reducing food miles and I think we have a responsibility to promote that in DEFA in terms local food, but also making sure that is understood in the context of food security.

’That will supplement and run alongside the Food Matters strategy [which promotes locally produced food]and I think they will really enhance each other.’

So I’m very glad that part of the Island Plan and it also features in our departmental plan is a strategy for agriculture and a strategy for food production and there has been some question about whether those should be one thing but actually, although they are very much inter-dependent they are very much separate and

And it’s certainly not a case of just rewilding everything because actually there’s from what I see, that says that wouldn’t be the best management of our land.

Mrs Barber goes on: ’I think for me it’s about really promoting locally grown, sustainable, and seasonal food and I think seasonal sometimes gets lost in that. Part of it is about understanding what items are in season at any one time.

’It’s an interesting thing that we’re just at the tail end of Veganuary, which is not without its controversy within the farming sector.

’And I would say that, actually, we’ve got a wealth of brilliant, locally-produced fruit and vegetables, we just don’t have any of them in January so it’s the month that’s wrong.

’We should be looking at how we can support people to increase their intake of local vegetables. And if they want to reduce slightly their intake of red meat, because they recognise there’s a health benefit, we should then be encouraging the red meat they do eat to be locally produced Manx meat.

’There’s a really strong narrative that we need to build on as DEFA and support people to make those choices.’

When it comes to her own associations with agriculture, Mrs Barber tells me that she is a long time members of Eastern Young Farmers and she adds: ’I was the first serving MHK to be in the Young Farmers’ show, their annual extravaganza.

And will be in it again next month.’

She goes on: ’Overall, what I love about Young Farmers is that it gives everyone an opportunity, in terms of meat grading, hay baling, public speaking or dancing in the show, and you don’t have to be top of your game, you can just do it because you enjoy it You are under very little pressure, you make good friends and you learn something at the same time. I think it’s a brilliant organisation, I really do.’

Before she became an MHK Mrs Barber had a long career in nursing and I suggest that this is a similar profession to farming in the sense that you do it because you love it and necessarily for the money.

She says: ’It’s a vocation and you go into it and it is something where you’re very passionate about it: you don’t meet someone who’s nursing who’s a bit: "well, I could take it or leave it", and you don’t meet farmers either who are that way - they’re absolutely committed to it.

’If you come at farming from that understanding, it’s really important, because everyone I speak to, they want to make it better. And they want to do it, not necessarily because it benefits them, they’re just so keen to make sure it’s sustainable for the future.’