Brexit

As dairy farmers turn to other countries to source replacement stock, Richard Halleron looks at the potential impacts of disease and Brexit on some of these markets.

Many farmers voted to leave the EU despite the fact that leaving putting the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) at risk. As we all know, the top up from the BPS is the difference between profit and loss on many farms.

As the UK sees the biggest shake-up in agri-funding in decades, future Government policy must support farmers for the ‘public goods’ they provide in tackling climate change, says Martin Lines, Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN) chairman.

A Food Commission made up of industry professionals could make a valuable contribution to the UK’s post-Brexit trade talks, a leading expert has said.

FBT tenants face the prospect of being excluded from post-Brexit support because of a legal loophole in the Agriculture Bill.

The UK’s food security could be put at risk if all lower standard imports are banned from entering the country, new Farming Minister Victoria Prentis has said.

A few years ago, our plan was to mitigate the loss of direct payments through diversification, but poor weather and prices mean that additional cash is being used to keep the farm afloat today, says Cornish lamb and beef farmer Rona Amiss.

The Government’s post-Brexit agriculture reforms provide an opportunity for farms to become more prosperous, but those who resist the push to become ‘park keepers’ risk being the first to go out of business, says independent consultant Derrick Wilkinson.

The Agriculture Bill has potential to deliver for the environment, but the Government’s insistence on penny pinching during the transition period is likely to drive the farmers needed to implement the policy out of business, says Tim Farron MP, Lib Dem farming spokesman.

Labour has not always done the best job of speaking for the countryside, but farmers need us to raise their concerns now more than ever, because uber-loyal Tories afraid of Number 10 won’t, says Shadow Defra Secretary Luke Pollard.