Did you know that East Surrey is home to over 14,000 chickens? That’s enough for 4.4 million eggs per year.

Our local farmers do a tremendous job keeping us fed and maintaining the beautiful landscapes that make our part of the world such a wonderful place to live. I was delighted that the Prime Minister held a Farm to Fork Summit at 10 Downing Street a few weeks ago, where he set out new support for farmers to produce more of our own food domestically and changes to regulations that will make it easier for farmers to diversify their income.

I recently held a meeting at John and Sally Nicholas’ farm in Tandridge, organised by the National Farmers Union and attended by farmers from across East Surrey. It was really useful to hear local perspectives on the Sustainable Farming Incentive which is a new way of supporting farmers with payments for things that contribute to the public good, like biodiversity improvements and landscaping. We also had a great discussion about how we can ensure fairness in the food supply chain to make sure we can keep food prices as sensible as possible for families at a time of high inflation.