Brexit

Trade Ministers are trying to build bridges with farmers, but without legal guarantees to protect our standards, their efforts will not be enough, says Mark Bridgeman, president of the CLA.

Many fear nature restoration represents a threat to farming communities in the uplands, but nothing could be further from the truth. ‘Wilder farming’ is a better way to describe the changes needed than ‘rewilding’, says Defra non-executive director Ben Goldsmith.

In February, a key Government adviser was telling Ministers UK food production is not critically important. Let’s hope the pandemic has shown our trade negotiators the opposite is true, says Neil Farmer, an arable and sheep farmer from the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border.

The Government has announced the launch of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with two of the world’s largest sheepmeat exporters, sparking concern that the UK’s domestic sheep market could be severely undermined.

The ‘vast majority’ of farms in England will survive the withdrawal of direct payments, Defra’s director general for food and farming, David Kennedy, has said.

The UK meat sector will start losing EU customers from September unless Government clarifies key technical issues on trade arrangements, the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) has warned.

Farmers who do not receive proper support during the Brexit transition period may face serious identity crises, the chief executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission has said.

The food security reviews Government is legally obliged to carry out by the Agriculture Bill will inform future farming policy, Defra Minister Victoria Prentis has confirmed.

Meat processors body the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW) has made it clear the high standards it operates to are not to be used as bargaining chips in any post-Brexit trade deal.

Farmers are being urged to explore the opportunity of making money on private natural capital markets as Government spending on the coronavirus pandemic continues to spiral.