Commenting the DUP’s Westminster Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs spokesperson, Carla Lockhart MP said: ”This is a hugely concerning revelation and another blow to the generations of farmers who work tirelessly on a daily basis, 365-days a year, to produce nutritious, wholesome food to feed the nation.

“Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government has no perception of reality and is totally out of tune with the ‘grass roots’ of UK agriculture. Despite his pre-election farmer-friendly façade the Prime Minister and his team just keep on stripping away at the agri-food sector and the wider economy. Their actions are set to ruin rural communities and jeopardise national food security.

“The farm tax grab, the erection of solar panels on productive farmland, and suggestions that the government could force farmers to sell land for less than its value for housing development, are all a step too far. Trust between farmers and the government is broken, and many are already at breaking point.”

The Upper Bann MP added: ”During the pandemic farmers were classed as key-workers, but those in the Labour government have a short memory. With climate change challenges and global unrest, the UK government should be focusing on its responsibilities and ensuring the agriculture industry is at the forefront of its policy making decisions. The UK has over 68 million people to feed.

“The government is ‘blinkered’ and its current trajectory is counter-productive. Prime and fertile farmland should not be used for housing or solar panel schemes. It’s time for engagement with farmers and practical thinking within government.

“Farmers have been custodians of the land for thousands of years, and agriculture has evolved immensely. The government should be nurturing and encouraging farmers to work in harmony with nature. They should be boosting food security, rather than becoming more reliant on imported and inferior produce. Consumers don’t want hormone treated beef and chlorine chicken.

Ms Lockhart continued: “Paving the way for lab-grown, cultivated or synthetic meat, sugar and dairy products is an ill-informed utopia. The Food Standards Agency has received a £1.6m grant to progress an assessment process for the novel foods. By its own admission the FSA exists so that people can trust the food they buy and eat is safe, healthier and more sustainable.

“Hailing from a farming background I have grown up eating farm-fresh, seasonal produce. I find it very hard to believe that meats such as beef and chicken can been replicated in a laboratory. Surely this practice poses a number of questions on ethics, economics, transparency, sustainability and public health.

“I am an advocate for innovation, but in my opinion, meat generated in a lab cannot compete with that produced from naturally reared, grass-fed and fully traceable farm livestock. Farmers adhere to strict animal health and welfare regulations and their farming practices are monitored and approved by bodies such as Red Tractor and the Farm Quality Assurance Scheme.

The MP added: “Lab-grown meat is deemed more ethical and climate friendly. The first lab-grown burger was unveiled in London in 2013, and in 2021 Singapore was the first country to approve cultured meat for human consumption. Singapore imports 90% of its food and drink, and lab-grown meat experiments gained momentum as the country sought to increase self-sufficiency and food security.

“However, almost four years on and lab-grown meat isn’t a commercial reality in Singapore. The production, sale and import of cultivated meat is banned in Italy. It is approved in the USA, but the anti-lab-grown meat rhetoric is growing louder, with several states such as Alabama, Florida and Mississippi having already introduced a ban, even though the product isn’t available on shop shelves.”

Lab-grown or cultured meat is a form of cellular agriculture. The process involves a small biopsy of animal origin, which is then placed in a specially formulated growth medium and kept at body temperature. It uses less land and water, but side-steps the ethical concerns associated with animal welfare.

Concluding, Carla Lockhart MP said: Climate activists are fixated on blaming agriculture and farm livestock as a significant contributor to rising global emissions. Even though the finger of blame should be pointed elsewhere, the agricultural industry is striving to do its bit to reduce greenhouse gases. Farmers have been farming sustainably for generations, and are willing to adapt to new measures. The government’s £536m would be better spent on home soil, as opposed to being gifted to foreign farmers.

“UK farmers are constantly bombarded with environmental targets and regulations, yet a four-lane highway is being developed through a protected area of Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest, in preparation for the United Nations COP30 climate summit in the city of Belem.

“The Amazon plays a vital role in absorbing carbon for the world, yet diggers and machines have been permitted to chop down trees and carve a 13km stretch of road to ease traffic for more than 50,000 world leaders and delegates attending the conference in November.



“The Labour government needs to concentrate its efforts closer to home. Safeguarding food security will protect family farms, provide employment, drive the economy and the production of healthy food will contribute to the long-term health of the nation.”