National Farmers' Union of England and Wales

The late 19th centuary coincided with increased struggle between farmworkers, tennant-farmers, and farm owners.^[2][3] The rise of the labour movement saw farmworkers organise agricultural trade unions such as the Lincolnshire Labour League^{[note 1]} and the Warwickshire Agricultural Labourers Union.^{[note 2]} These unions intially achived modest victories and growth, but a series of unsuccessful attempts of collective action resulted in the decline and dissolution of early farmworkers' unions.^[3]

In response to the victory of the Liberal Party in the 1906 UK general election, many farm owners took revenge against farmers suspected of radical views or of Liberal-sympathies.^[3] On 20 July 1906 the Eastern Counties Agricultural Labourers & Small Holders Union^{[note 3]} was formed in an attempt to combat these retributions, and further renew unionisation efforts among farmworkers.^[3]

Further angered in their opposition to potential land reform by the Liberal government, the Central Land Association^{[note 4]} (CLA) was formed to represent landlords' interests against their farmers, and against the Liberal government.^[3][4]

In 1904, the Lincolnshire Farmers' Union (LFU) was founded to represent tennent-farmers, in part against both increasingly unionised farmworkers, and against landlords.^[3]

On 10 December 1908, a meeting was held in an ante-room at the Smithfield Show to discuss whether a national organisation should be formed from the LFU. The meeting resulted in the formation of the National Farmers' Union.^{[5][non-primary source needed]}

The NFU's first President, Colin Campbell, worked to get new branches off the ground, encourage membership and establish the NFU's credibility with Government, at a time when farming was going through the longest and deepest depression in its history, as imports of cheap grain and frozen meat flooded in from abroad.^{[5][non-primary source needed]}

At the 1918 general election, the association ran six candidates, none of whom were elected. In 1922, it sponsored three unsuccessful candidates under its own name, and four successful Conservative Party candidates. It again sponsored Conservative candidates in 1923 and 1935, but has not done so since.^[6]

In 1972, the NFU, alongside other farming employers' associations, set up the British Agriculture Bureau to represent their interests in the European Economic Community and later the European Union.^[7][8]

In 2000, with the National Farmers' Union of Scotland, the Ulster Farmers' Union, and other farming and food organisations, the NFU founded the Assured Food Standards company which administers the Red Tractor food quality mark.^[9][10]

In 2013, during the so-called "bonfire of the quangos" by the Cameron–Clegg government, the NFU lobbied in support of the abolishment of the Agricultural Wages Board,^[11][12] the governmental body which had been responsible for regulating farm workers' wages.^[13] In the same year, the NFU campaigned against the imposition of any cap on subsidies that farmers could receive.^[11][14]

In 2016, the Ethical Consumer Research Association published a report Understanding the NFU - an English Agribusiness Lobby Group, describing the NFU as promoting policies that benefit big agribusinesses at the expense of farm workers pay and conditions, the environment, and animal welfare.^[15]

During the Brexit Referendum, the NFU Council voted overwhelmingly to endorse the Remain campaign, but did not actively campaign on the issue.^[16][17] In the lead-up to the referendum, the NFU commissioned a report by Wageningen University which found that two of three Brexit scenarios could increase farm-gate prices.^[17]

The NFU elected its first female president, Minette Batters, in 2018.^[18]

The NFU is registered as an employer association with the Certification Office for Trade Unions and Employers' Associations.^[8]

The NFU is governed by its Constitution and Rules. Under the Constitution and Rules the NFU shall maintain a number of bodies, which are responsible for the Governance of the NFU. These include NFU Council, Governance Board, Policy Board, National Commodity Boards, Regional Commodity Boards, an Audit and Remuneration Committee and Legal Board and Regional Boards.^[19]

The NFU is closely associated with the insurance company NFU Mutual, which is also based in Warwickshire.

NFU Cymru is based at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells.

The British Agriculture Bureau (BAB) is the joint office of the NFU, the National Farmers' Union of Scotland and Ulster Farmers' Union in Brussels. The BAB lobbies for, and collects information on behalf of, the British farming industry in regards to European Union policy.^[7][8][20]

Barnard was also sponsored by the National Party.

Blundell, Bruford, Lamb and Shepperson stood for the Conservative Party.

All candidates stood for the Conservative Party.

Both candidates stood for the Conservative Party.

in the 1935 general election, two candidates were sponsored and elected for the Conservative Party.^{[who?][citation needed]}

The archives of the NFU are deposited with the Rural History Centre at Reading University.^[21]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Farmers' Union of England and Wales.

• National Farmers' Union of Scotland
• Agriculture in the United Kingdom
• Farmers' Union of Wales
• Ulster Farmers Union

• Official website