The trade deal with Australia is the first post-Brexit deal done by the UK that is not a rollover of an agreement it had when a member of the EU, so was bound to attract national media attention.

But much more important for farmers is that this is a deal with a major global exporter of food, with ambitions to dramatically increase its share in the UK market.

While it is not a complete removal of import taxes (tariffs) on all Australian imports from day one, the volumes of beef, lamb and cheese are significant. By year 10, Australia will have a duty-free beef quota of 110,000t. To put that in context, it is more than one-third of all UK beef imports in 2020.

The positive marketing messages already coming out of Australia is that agriculture there operates to high animal welfare, food safety and environmental standards

However, the fine print of the deal will also really matter, and is likely to indicate to what extent the UK is willing to undermine farmers by accepting meat and dairy products produced to standards that would be illegal in the UK and EU.

The positive marketing messages already coming out of Australia is that agriculture there operates to high animal welfare, food safety and environmental standards. Yet growth-promoting hormones and antibiotic feed additives are routinely used in beef production, while animal welfare campaigners in the UK point to long journey times in animal transport, and lower standards in Australian abattoirs.

the trade deal with Australia would be good for British farmers

Contrast that with the strict requirements put on NI farmers around animal feed records, medicine use, bans on slurry spreading, hedge cutting, use of sprays to control weeds, animal welfare, etc. Do UK negotiators understand anything about what actually happens on local farms?

But while we might question the claims made by Australia that it has equivalent standards to the UK, it is nothing to the claim made by Boris Johnson that the trade deal with Australia would be good for British farmers.

Even the analysis from his own government shows that claim isn’t true.

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