She criticised Reed, who was speaking inside the conference to a paying audience, saying: “It’s about time he came and stood up for what he is saying.
“He should be on farms listening to genuine farming people.”
Inside the conference, as tractors blared their horns outside, Reed repeated Labour’s claim of a £22bn deficit left by the last government. He told delegates: “We were shocked by the size of the financial black hole we were left to fill.
“I’m sorry that some of the action we had to take shocked you in turn, but stable finances are the foundation of the economic growth needed.”
Pressed by reporters, Reed said he was apologising for having “to take decisions that are very difficult for the sector because of what we inherited”.
In his speech, Reed said the government would offer a “new deal for farmers” that would help them become more profitable.
Measures under the deal include delivering Labour’s manifesto pledge to ensure that 50% of food in schools, hospitals, army bases and prisons paid for with public sector money would come from local farms or would be produced to high environmental standards.
Reed told the that could be worth £2.5bn to domestic food producers, adding: “What I am announcing today are hard measures that will put money directly into farmers’ pockets for the hard work they put in to put food on all of our tables.”
