I've got your back,' PM tells farmers who fear flooded market and submerged fields

Rishi Sunak has told farmers "I have your back", at the National Farmers' Union conference, as he promised to "change the culture" in government around farming.

- Helena Horton Jack Simpson

Sunak was the first prime minister to address the conference since Gordon Brown in 2008, and had brought three Defra ministers with him to put the Conservative case to the agriculture industry.

Farmers are concerned the UK's recent flooding could cause significant problems for food production.

Sunak committed to improving food security in the UK and expressed concerns about low self-sufficiency in "things like tomatoes, pears, plums, lettuces and apples". Sunak also said he had "once milked a cow".

He took two questions from the audience. Replying to Hannah, a farmer from Hertfordshire, about allowing farmers to trade with the EU, he said: "We are working very hard with individual countries to ease all those areas in which there are differences. I'll be totally honest: it's a work in progress." Farmers have been critical of trade deals undercutting their business, including the free trade deal with Australia and the prospect of importing Canadian pork and Mexican beef.

Sunak said: "We are absolutely committed to supporting you and making sure that you are not undercut." He expressed sympathy for those who had been affected by recent floods that had wiped out thousands of acres of crops. "It's always devastating when that happens," he said.