The National Farmers Union (NFU) for England and Wales held its AGM this week, where the keynote speaker was the Secretary of State from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Her speech to 1,500 delegates in Birmingham focused on the opportunities available to British farmers on leaving the bureaucracy of CAP behind, on the EU exit and the global trading opportunities that await.

Lack of detail

As has been typical with most government pronouncements to date, the speech was strong on vision for the future but weak on detail on how the vision would be achieved. Minister Leadsom correctly focused on the strength of Government welfare standards that often went ahead of the EU and pledged to continue this and ensure British farmers weren’t placed at a competitive disadvantage because of it. That infers the UK won’t allow imports produced to a lower standard, and it will be interesting to see how this reconciles with the ambition to conclude new trade deals with South America, Australia, New Zealand and the US post Brexit.

I am determined that we will do so much better for farmers when we leave the EU

It was CAP that received her most scathing comments. “It [CAP] offers poor value for money and fails to address the key issues you face. It’s a blunt tool that offers little reward or recognition for the services farmers provide this country. And it’s desperately complicated,” said Leadsom.

“I am determined that we will do so much better for farmers when we leave the EU, with a system based on simpler, more effective rules, we’ll be free to grow more, sell more and export more of our Great British food.”

Many farmers in Ireland and the rest of the EU will concur with these remarks, and the EU itself recognises the validity of many of these criticisms. The current consultation on CAP post 2020 seeks to address these. It would have been really interesting to hear the Secretary of State outline her views on what shape and type of support system she envisaged for farmers in a new British Agricultural Policy that will replace the CAP.

Labour

Moving on to the issue of labour, which is a major issue on many farms, particularly in England where farms tend to be larger and more commercial, Leadsom effectively dodged the issue. She reinforced the problem of migration as being a major reason to leave, while recognising that the horticulture sector in particular had a huge labour requirement – as of course has the British food processing and manufacturing industry. Her solution to this was linked to innovation, something that has been the cornerstone in reducing manual labour in farming and processing for the past century. Whether Brexit will create an opportunity for a further leap forward will only become apparent once the move is made.

Comment

In the referendum campaign, those campaigning to stay emphasised how important CAP with all its flaws was to UK farmers. This campaign didn’t carry the day, even among farmers and we are about to find out what life is like for UK farmers outside CAP.

It need not be bad. If the barrier to entry for agricultural produce is set at the same standards as present, then the market will be protected from hormone treated or lesser welfare standards. Norway and Switzerland both are prepared to invest money in protecting their farmers and supporting markets. The farming and food processing lobbies need to play the game of their lives in shaping the British alternative to CAP, to ensure standards take precedence over a cheap food policy.

It will be difficult, but not impossible. Current farm minister George Eustace said in advance of the referendum at the NFU AGM last year, that if the UK left the EU there would be an £18bn/year “Brexit dividend” in savings.

“Could we find the money to spend £2bn on farming and the environment? Of course we could. Would we? Without the shadow of a doubt.”

This sounds like greater clarity and certainty a year ago than is the case now after the vote. What is now needed is delivery of this Brexit promise and a maintenance of current UK production standards in any post-Brexit trade negotiations. If these are achieved, it will benefit British farmers and maintain some opportunity for standards of production.

Read more

Full coverage: Brexit