"Leaving the EU can be an opportunity for businesses across the countryside"

Agriculture looks worryingly neglected in North Somerset MP Liam Fox’s department created to win crucial trade deals following Brexit.

His new Department for International Trade has now announced all his ministers but none of their portfolios include a direct reference to agriculture.

The Country Land and Business Association has raised the alarm, pointing out that failure to secure strong trade opportunities for agricultural products will put UK food security and the environment at risk.

The worry is that agriculture will be treated as a low priority or may even be excluded from international trade negotiations.

In response the CLA has published a briefing which explores the opportunities for agriculture and forestry trade outside the EU and sets out the risks if trade declines substantially following Brexit.

CLA director general Helen Woolley said: "Leaving the EU can be an opportunity for businesses across the countryside. We have great entrepreneurs and great products. If the conditions are right we will thrive. But those conditions will not come about without careful planning and tough negotiations.

"Nowhere is that more the case than in agriculture. It is notoriously difficult to establish open trade deals for farming products. It is seriously alarming that no government minister has been given specific responsibility to deliver it.

“We now seek urgent reassurance that the government will deliver for our farmers and rural producers. We expect the Department for International Trade to start working together with us straight away and this is a terrible start.

“There are serious consequences if we don’t get this right. We could see food prices rising and the nation’s food security may be compromised. The environment could start to suffer and many farms and manufacturers could go out of business.

“Farmers and other food producers want to provide the country with a safe, secure supply of food. Land managers want to carry on their good work improving nature and wildlife, helping to tackle climate change and managing the UK’s distinctive landscapes.

“This is why it is so important that ministers assure us all that securing the best deal for food and farming will be a high priority and not an afterthought in their trade negotiations.”

The CLA briefing sets out the five objectives for a trade policy that will allow UK farmers and rural businesses to compete on an international platform.  These include:

•    Opening new markets
•    Growing existing markets at home and abroad
•    Delivering the best deals for UK consumers
•    Equipping businesses to compete
•    Improving farmer resilience

However, I doubt many of these goals will be achieved if there is no high level representation fighting for British agriculture in the international trade negotiations.

James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk

Farmers and landowners to engage in the most important period of change in a generation

We find ourselves in a state of post-traumatic political shock following the referendum but whatever happens in Westminster it is the impact on real people that matters.

If we get it right, this could be a golden opportunity to forge agricultural and environmental policies that suit the UK.

But the risks are high as that prosperity will not depend only on new domestic policies but also on the success or otherwise of our negotiations about future relations with the EU and the wider world.

Therefore, now is the time for farmers and landowners to engage in what is will be the most important period of change in a generation and I set out below my take on some of the important issues identified by the NFU on which your opinion will be required.

•    Access to the EU single market; whether we like it or not the EU will continue to be our single biggest trading partner for agricultural produce for the foreseeable future.  Can we afford to jeopardise this relationship?

•    Currently we benefit from more than 50 trade agreements with countries around the world. Failure to replicate these quickly will be a problem.

•    Allied to the above is what access we are prepared to give to imports from the rest of the world? Some Brexiteers are supporters of real “free trade”, going it alone outside the single market. Is that what we really want or should imports be controlled to keep them in line with our standards of production?

•    Migration was obviously a key issue in the referendum but again we need to think very carefully about this.  Many farms need access to full-time and seasonal migrant labour in order to survive.  A points-based immigration policy that only allows skilled workers to come to the UK will not provide the workers required to keep our farms going but equally it seems free access for unskilled workers will not satisfy many who voted to leave.  This is a very difficult “square to circle” and the interaction of immigration policy with the negotiations for access to the EU single market is likely to be the biggest headache for our new political leaders.

•    On a more positive note leaving the EU does give us the opportunity to develop a new domestic agricultural policy which is adapted to our needs. However, our farmers will need an assurance that as part of this package they will still receive support so they can compete on a level playing field with our EU neighbours who will remain our principal competitors.

•    We also need to develop a rural development policy which focuses on enhancing our competitiveness and re-invigorate the agri-environmental schemes, on which we lead the EU but which have been devalued by changes to the Common Agricultural Policy. This gives us an opportunity to work with environmental organisations to devise better schemes that are workable for farmers and provide real benefit for our wildlife.

•    Finally we need a root and branch reform of European regulation and a re-assessment of the UK’s approach to issues such as GM crops.  This will be controversial in some quarters but we need to re-assess the balance between scientific evidence and the precautionary principle which is currently deployed in the EU.

Clearly there will have to be compromise which is not going to keep everyone happy, but whatever happens the NFU, CLA and other industry leaders need your input now in to this vital debate so they can enter into meaningful dialogue with government over the coming months and years.

James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk