Farm groups are very focused on trade policy, but their time would be better spent pushing for farmers to get a fairer price for their food, says Cornish lamb and beef farmer Rona Amiss.
The Conservatives have been clear – they will not allow our food standards to be undermined in trade deals, says Andrew RT Davies, Welsh Tory Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The Agriculture Bill contains much good, but I hope we in the Lords can improve it in the areas of transition, productivity, support for tenants, food security and health, says Lord Donald Curry.
The UK is the world’s third largest exporter of sheep meat and provides a range of environmental benefits, but in order to retain this stellar record, we need a trade deal with the EU, says NSA chief executive Phil Stocker.
Farming Minister Victoria Prentis has rejected the NFU’s call for a Trade Commission to explore ways to protect food production standards in UK trade policy.
An agricultural think tank has warned commercial farming is being ‘written out’ of emerging post-Brexit policy, despite the fact that fewer than 10 per cent of farm businesses produce over half the UK’s agricultural output.
EU farm and food chain groups have called for temporary arrangements to be put in place to protect trade with the UK in the event that a free trade deal cannot be agreed by the end of the year.
A Parliamentary group has called on the Government to develop a ‘UK Strategy for Abattoirs’ in order to stem the tide of small slaughterhouse closures.
The Prime Minister has backed a plan from Defra Secretary George Eustice to slap high tariffs on imports of sub-standard food.
A farmer has set out three ways he believes the UK Government can protect food production standards without banning low standard imports.