Rupert is right. DEFRA knows nothing about rural Britain, how we live or how we work

DEFRA say we in rural Britain are too white, our dogs are pubs are problems, but now we find staff need £650k of taxpayers money to be educated on the countryside because they are clueless

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has awarded a four-year contract valued at up to £650,000 to deliver its new Baseline Agricultural Training programme. The contract, awarded to the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton Project, provides classroom sessions and practical on-farm experience for civil servants across the DEFRA group.

The programme covers core topics including an introduction to agriculture, soil management, crops, water, livestock, commercial aspects, and hands-on practical elements. Sessions take place at the Allerton demonstration farm in Leicestershire and three additional farms. Approximately 600 participants per year are drawn from DEFRA itself, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), Natural England, and the Rural Payments Agency. The aim, according to the department and the Allerton Project, is to deepen understanding of how modern British farms operate, the challenges they face, and the links to food production, nature recovery, and climate adaptation.

Yep you got it, the department for rural affairs has sod all understanding on how the very part of society they are responsible for actually works.

Utterly clueless civil servants making rural affairs decisions

Shadow DEFRA Secretary Victoria Atkins described the programme as exposing the lack of agricultural knowledge in Whitehall. The tender notice listed the maximum contract value at £650,000. The delivering organisation has stated the actual spend is likely to be lower, but the figure has been widely cited in coverage.

The training follows recent DEFRA commissioned work on visitor diversity in protected landscapes. A 2019 Landscapes Review and the £108,000 follow up report ‘Improving the ethnic diversity of visitors to England’s protected landscapes’ concluded that national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are widely viewed as a white environment primarily enjoyed by the white middle class. The documents warned that these areas risk becoming irrelevant in a multicultural society and recommended long term programmes to increase ethnic minority participation.

In early February, several national landscape bodies announced targeted programmes in urban areas with high ethnic minority populations, and measures addressing perceived barriers such as dogs off leads or traditional pub culture. This is the very heart of British rural life and now they have DEI’d cities they are now moving to targeted rural Britain with this nonsense and obviously wanting to destroy our traditions and heritage for ideology. This is rural Britain, this is now we work.

Rupert Lowe MP, farmer and Restore Britain MP, further addressed DEFRA’s operational competence directly during the Public Accounts Committee session on 2nd February this year. Speaking from his own experience, Rupert told senior officials;

“My experience of DEFRA is a very poor one. Most farmers would agree with me that DEFRA is not fit for purpose. Your rulebook mutates like a virus. Half the time you shut your schemes within 24 hours because you’ve not thought it through… How can an industry that is based on long-term planning respond when you do not know your own rulebook?”

Ruperts remarks formed part of broader questioning on environmental regulation, scheme stability, and the practical impact of DEFRA policy on food production and rural businesses.

DEFRA is the government department explicitly responsible for farming, food, and rural affairs. The decision to allocate significant public funds to basic agricultural familiarisation for its own policy, regulatory, and staff occurs against a backdrop of ongoing farmer concerns over regulatory complexity, scheme changes, uneducated staff, administrative burdens and a perceived war with the countryside lifestyle.

You may think that this programme as a constructive step to improve policy quality but it’s an utter joke. It’s an admission that the core expertise on rural Britain is non existent at the heart of the very department charged with overseeing that sector of society.

As Rupert says, government is becoming the enemy of the people, not its servants. The sooner we get Rupert and Restore Britain team into power the better.

Why not read our other post;