The House | “Capturing the essence of a deeply proud and dedicated industry”: Terry Jermy reviews Minette Batters’ ‘Harvest’

2023: Minette Batters attends a No 10 summit | Image: © Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire / Alamy

3 min read5 hr

This is the story of the emotional journey of a tenant farmer’s daughter who goes from frowned-upon female farm worker to the glass-ceiling-breaking first female president of the nation’s biggest farming organisation.

Offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the life of one of the UK’s most prominent farming advocates, Harvest reveals the everyday life struggles that intertwined with consequential moments in our nation’s history. It provides a fly-on-the-wall account of the conversations that shaped our food and farming industry for a generation.

A passionate firsthand account of her battles with self-confidence and gender stereotyping, Minette Batters provides a window into the soul of an industry that is often difficult to understand from the outside.

As the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) first female president, Batters broke down barriers, lifting up other women in the agricultural industry in the process. 

I particularly enjoyed learning about how she somewhat accidentally began her career with the NFU. She attended by chance a local NFU meeting and then with great trepidation progressed through various officer ranks until she ended up as its president.

This unplanned ascent came alongside one of the most consequential periods for British farming. Some may say it was fate: she was ideally qualified to head the organisation post-Brexit – when the farming community needed that strong and authentic leadership the most. 

It provides a fly on the wall account of the conversations that shaped our food and farming industry for a generation

Harvest details how decades-long structural challenges collided with the unexpected withdrawal from the European Union and the removal of the Common Agricultural Policy safety net that masked many of the challenges facing British farming.

At the centre of this national debate on the future of farming sat Batters, navigating through the post-Brexit political turmoil, her deep commitment to farming and her practical approach enabling her to help chart a way forward for the industry.

It was not lost on me reading Harvest how there were similarities between Batter’s journey and my own. Having started as a local community activist and becoming a town councillor purely to serve the area where I was born and raised, I went on to stand in a general election and defeat a former British prime minister. It was therefore particularly amusing to read about the various interactions between Batters and my South West Norfolk constituency predecessor, Liz Truss.

Batters shares how her upbringing and difficult relationship with her father shaped her values and commitment to rural life and the farming industry that she came to protect. Capturing the essence of a deeply proud and dedicated industry, Harvest is punctuated by fascinating profiles of the people that feed our nation every single day – revealing a constantly evolving industry, embracing innovation in the face of a changing world.

Scrap the expensive training courses – reading this book should be mandatory for every civil servant in Defra and any politician tasked with making decisions on behalf of the farming industry. For everyone else, this memoir will make you appreciate where our food comes from and the people that produce the harvest that sustains us.

Terry Jermy is Labour MP for South West Norfolk and chair of the Farming APPG

Harvest: A farmer’s story of heritage, home and hope

By: Minette Batters

Publisher: Ebury Press