£6.7m pledged to bring farming and fishing back from "knife edge"

Wednesday 08 November 2023

Taxpayers’ spending on farming and fishing will rise to at least £6.7m next year after politicians overwhelmingly backed a former Environment Minister's proposal to increase funding.

Deputy Steve Luce, a former grower and oyster farmer, originally called for States’ revenue expenditure on agriculture and fisheries to increase to a total of 1% of all revenue expenditure, but he accepted a compromise from the Council of Ministers.

The compromise

This will see the sectors’ budget increase by about £3m although the money has yet to be found by Treasury Minister Ian Gorst, who said that savings across other departments would have to be found. 

The successful proposal also commits the Government to increase funding beyond 2024 in line with RPI(X), which is the index which excludes mortgage interest payments, and to bring forward ways to boost the Agricultural Loans Fund next year to at least £10m.

Pictured: Deputy Steve Luce won widespread support for his amended proposition.

If the money cannot be found from the Government’s current account, the proposal authorises the Treasury Minister to transfer money from the Strategic Reserve, or ‘rainy day fund’.

"It has to be us... that breaks that mould"

In making the case to support his proposition, Deputy Luce told the Assembly: “Successive States Assemblies over the last 25 years have presided over a reduction in the numbers working in the growing and fishing industries because of lack of support – and we can’t carry on like this – it has to be us, this Assembly, that breaks that mould and goes back to giving our countryside and environment the support it deserves.”

“It may have been said before but farming and fishing, Jersey’s oldest industries, are on a proverbial knife edge. In the past 20 years alone we have seen arable farm numbers decrease from over 200 to barely double figures," he added.

Pictured: Deputy Luce had described Jersey's traditional farming and fishing industries as being "on a proverbial knife edge".

"The herd numbers of our Jersey cows, of which there were around 1,000 in 1954, have fallen from 198 in 1982 to today’s level of only 12. The total number of boats in our fishing fleet has reduced from 328 in 1996 to just 114 in 2021, down more than two thirds. Fishers are continuing to leave the industry.

“If these trends continue then the export, and local, markets will very likely collapse due to lack of a viable supply, and those farmers and fishers that are left will have little future.”

Deputy Luce’s proposal was supported by 43 States Members, with none against and Deputy Philip Ozouf abstaining.

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