Funding

2020 has been a challenging year for farmers, but with the end of the transition period, changes to direct payments and new trade deals on the horizon, 2021 may bring further hardship, says Conservative peer Anne McIntosh.

Brexit will create winners and losers in farming, but the direction of travel makes me fear there will be more losers than winners, says Oliver Dowding, an apple grower in South East Somerset.

While for the most part agriculture has avoided the worst effects of Covid-19, minds are certainly starting to focus on the breadth of change heading the industry’s way in 2021, namely Brexit and the shifting sands of farm support.

Industry leaders have warned farmers will face ‘major financial hardship’ during the transition away from direct payments, with Defra planning to maintain the income foregone payment model for the foreseeable future.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s spending review included a rise in the National Living Wage to £8.91 per hour

Ministers from the devolved nations have called for assurances that all EU funding for the countryside will be fully replaced, after it emerged Treasury proposals would see rural budgets slashed by more than £455m.

The UK’s internal market will not be distorted if Scottish farmers keep their direct payments after Brexit, Defra Secretary George Eustice has said.

If the past few months have taught us anything, it’s that the safe, reliable supply of sustainable food is important to the public. Welsh Government would be wise to recognise food production as a public good, says NFU Cymru president John Davies.

Food defence ought to be number one on the Government’s priority list during this pandemic, but the new Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution does not even include agri-food, says Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City, University of London.

There is no comparison to the UK’s food system in 2020 and the 1800s Corn Laws, and free traders are doing us all a disservice by denying this fact, says arable farmer and NFU Sugar Board member Tom Clarke.