South West Norfolk MP Terry Jermy is a founding member of the Labour Rural Research Group (LRRG), which is spearheading the Spring Push for Farming Profitability campaign.

It is urging the government to introduce "Honest Labelling" to improve the profitability of the nation's farms.

Mr Jermy says British consumers "overwhelmingly" want to buy more homegrown produce, but face "complicated labelling with overlapping and unclear symbols".

Two new mandatory labels are proposed to improve consumer choice and ensure British farmers are "properly rewarded for maintaining high animal welfare and environmental standards".

Based on the Made in Australia system, the new origin and manufacturing labelling would make it clear whether food is grown, produced or made in the UK, and what percentage of the ingredients are British.

And a tiered, colour-coded welfare label, numbered from one to five, would clearly communicate the conditions in which animals were reared and how they were treated, as well as "highlighting British farmers’ pre-existing high quality and welfare standards".

Mr Jermy said: “As is the case across the country, South West Norfolk is made up of a patchwork of small and medium farms, crucial to both our local economy and communities, and forms the bedrock for a more sustainable UK food supply. 

"However, for too long, our higher-welfare British farmers have been undercut. Our proposed policy changes would be a win for our farmers, a win for consumers, and a win for farmed animals too.

“These proposals would also help drive demand for products from higher-welfare farming practices and help consumers play their part in delivering the biggest boost to animal welfare in a generation.”

The LRRG is a collection of more than 40 Labour MPs representing rural and semi-rural constituencies.

The group is also calling on the government to ensure that our domestic food standards are also applied to imported goods, so British farmers are not undercut by cheaper foreign products produced to lower standards.

And it wants to see the Groceries Code Adjudicator – the body responsible for overseeing deals between retailers and farm producers – to be strengthened, to help tackle bad supermarket practices and make sure farmers get a fair deal.

© Eastern Daily Press