James Rebanks addressing the Yorkshire Farming Conference
Farmers and rural professionals overwhelmingly rejected the proposition that agriculture has gained greater control since Brexit, voting unanimously against the motion at a major industry conference in Harrogate.
More than 700 delegates at the inaugural Yorkshire Farming Conference heard speakers condemn years of ‘political instability' and ‘flip-flopping' over environmental schemes, which they said had left the sector feeling stifled rather than empowered.
Prof David Rose, of Harper Adams University, told the gathering at the Great Yorkshire Showground on Wednesday that Brexit had ‘clearly not been the silver bullet for stability and control' that farmers had been promised.
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"UK farmers were told by the Farming Minister that they could vote leave and take back control of decisions and their future," he said.
"I wonder how 'in control' UK agriculture could ever expect to feel in a political climate where economic growth is king."
Not New Zealand
Prof Rose said Britain was ‘not New Zealand', where agricultural exports account for more than two-thirds of total exports and 6% of GDP.
He questioned whether the Treasury, which ‘rules the roost over Defra', cared about farming's contribution to economic growth.
Guy Poskitt, an East Yorkshire vegetable grower whose business employs 200 staff, mostly from eastern Europe, said the operating environment was ‘stifling and anti-growth'.
Speakers highlighted years of disruption to labour and trade, and the sector's inability to influence EU decision-making that still affects British agriculture.
Sam Dilcock, a Future Farmers of Yorkshire member who grows and wholesales field vegetables in Selby, argued in favour of the motion.
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He said farming businesses ‘now have their hand on the tiller' and Brexit had given producers ‘a kick up the behind to get out into the world and find new markets'.
Mr Dilcock, who represented the National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs at European level, said Brexit had challenged ‘unfairness' in agricultural support that was seldom offered under the Common Agricultural Policy.
He blamed geopolitical events rather than Brexit for workforce challenges, which he said had driven innovation as farms compete with warehouses and hospitality for workers.
But he said 10 years on since the Brexit referendum in 2016, there was still much work to be done.
Opportunity
Mr Dilcock added: "We must not let the opportunity given to us by Brexit slip out of our grasp, we must continue to engage with Government, the supply chain and consumers to forge the best framework possible for a prosperous farming sector, which we are in a much stronger position to do now than we were over a decade ago in the EU."
Despite his arguments, the audience voted unanimously against the motion after the debate.
The conference also heard stark warnings about farm safety and mental health. David Exwood, deputy president of the National Farmers' Union, paid tribute to 28 people who died in agriculture last year, three of them children.
"Farmers are under tremendous pressure," he said, calling for society to recognise the social value of people producing food.
Andy Venables, chief executive of Hillsgreen, who spoke about his battle with testicular cancer, urged farmers to prioritise health.
Stewart Houston, a Red Tractor board member, revealed his prostate cancer diagnosis from the floor and urged farmers' wives to ‘nag your husbands' to get tested.
"I would have been dead now if I had not had my test," he said.
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The keynote speaker, Cumbrian farmer and author James Rebanks, encouraged farmers not to feel bound by previous generations' methods.
"Nobody has ever farmed your farm in 2026, when they have faced these prices, when input costs are like this, when the Basic Payment Scheme has disappeared," he said.
The conference, a collaboration between the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and its farming networks, will return on January 27, 2027.
