trade

A set of goals shared between the farming and food industries and government has led to trade wins for New Zealand over the years, according to government and industry representatives from the country.

A leading agrisupply group has told Farmers Guardian it is ‘difficult to predict’ if new controls on EU imports will have an impact on input prices for farmers.

Former NFU president and AHDB chairman Sir Peter Kendall admitted he was ‘not confident’ that the Government would reject imported food produced to lower standards but fearful they may go instead for ‘bucketshop’ deals.

Farming remains hugely important to the French economy and its success is very much tied to the operation of the EU Single market.

We in the EU are sad to see our friends in Britain leave, but we will always welcome you back if you change your mind, says Eamon Cassells, a young beef farmer from County Meath in Ireland.

Now we’ve left the EU, it can no longer be blamed for difficult or unpopular decisions, particularly on trade. In future, UK and devolved Ministers must take full responsibility for their actions, says John Davies, NFU Cymru president.

Almost four years on from the referendum, we still don’t know whether farmers will be able to sell into the EU market or if they’ll be undercut by substandard imports, says Deirdre Brock, SNP spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The issue of food standards for imported food is not going away as Secretary of State for Scotland Douglas Ross MP discovered when he addressed the NFUS conference in Glasgow.

The reserve senior champion led the Limousin trade at 13,500gns, which finished with an average up 130 on the year at 4,730.34 for 59 animals sold, and a clearance rate of 81 per cent.

The Labour Party has voted to block the Agriculture Bill’s passage through Parliament because it does not include measures to protect farmers from being undercut by low-standard imports.