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UK farmers will continue to have access to CAP support schemes and the EU market for agricultural products during withdrawal negotiations between the UK government and the EU, Commissioner Hogan has said.
In response to a letter from NFU president Meurig Raymond, Commissioner Hogan said that EU support to UK farmers would continue until either withdrawal negotiations are concluded, or two years after Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union is triggered, or until any later date which is decided by the European Council in agreement with the UK government.
Outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron has said that the triggering of Article 50, which initiates the withdrawal process from the EU, will be a matter for his replacement after the Conservative party leadership election.
“UK farmers welcome the fact it is ‘business as usual’ for the time being. Existing rules and the penalties that come with failing to comply with them will continue to apply for the foreseeable future,” Raymond said in response to Commissioner Hogan’s letter.
Consultation
Meanwhile, the NFU is to consult with its members in England and Wales on what is needed in the UK government agricultural policy post Brexit. “We need a policy that ensures a profitable, productive and sustainable future for British farming,” Raymond said.
Principles agreed at a meeting of the NFU council last week include continued trade with EU, export and import trading relationships with other countries, access to migrant labour and a new domestic agricultural policy as well as a rural development policy.
In Northern Ireland, Ulster Farmers’ Union president Barclay Bell said that chairperson’s of the union’s commodity committees are to meet this week to discuss what is needed from UK agricultural policy post-Brexit.
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