Brexit

The Defra family responsible for ELMs development is becoming too inward-focused, instead of looking out to farmers who will deliver their ambitions, says Julia Aglionby, executive director for the Foundation for Common Land.

Defra’s Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme is facing fresh criticism, after newly-shared documents suggested it will bear ‘more than a passing resemblance’ to old agri-environment arrangements.

The UK Government either does not appreciate, or care, about what Brexit is about to bring for farmers, says Deidre Brock, SNP Westminster spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

This Government’s sugar plans, whether changing the tariff regime or refusing to reconsider the neonics ban for beet, prove no Minister is backing British farming, says Leicestershire arable and beef farmer Joe Stanley.

A no-deal Brexit at the end of this year could lead to the premature slaughter of ‘millions of lambs’, a peer has warned, as pressure on the Government to protect agriculture ramped up.

Highly successful British poultry breeding companies are considering relocating if there is significant disruption at the UK-EU border when the Brexit transition period comes to an end in December.

Greenpeace said cane sugar refiners Tate and Lyle would be the beneficiary of the changes

Both the UK and Welsh Governments are taking steps to cut red tape for farmers after the Brexit transition period ends, proving that leaving the EU can reduce our bureaucratic burden, says Janet Finch-Saunders, Welsh Conservative Shadow Rural Affairs Minister.

The Welsh Government has proposed a number of simplifications to the way the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) operates ahead of its planned phase out.

The Government must fund more farmer-led research to ensure the industry becomes more resilient after leaving the EU, says Liz Bowles, associate director for farming and land use at the Soil Association.