The UK Government’s decision to table legislation which undermines the Withdrawal Agreement shows Boris is not negotiating with the EU in good faith, says County Meath beef farmer Eamon Cassells.
MPs who voted down an Agriculture Bill amendment to ban low-standard imports in May could have been waiting for a Government concession. But if they choose to reject another similar Lords amendment in two weeks, they will not be forgiven, says Tom Lancaster, head of land use policy at the RSPB.
Food trade between the UK and EU will be slashed by almost a quarter in both directions even if a free trade agreement (FTA) is reached before the end of this year, new research has found.
Once ELMs has run its course, the next scheme to be dreamed up by our acronym-loving leaders will be the Complete Rewilding of Agricultural Property Scheme, says Neil Farmer, an arable and sheep farmer from the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border.
During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in April, food kept flowing through the UK’s borders and into our supermarkets. But a second wave coupled with a no-deal Brexit has the potential to threaten our supply, says Efra select committee chair Neil Parish.
The Government has left businesses in a state of Brexit uncertainty for too long, and it still remains unclear how we will trade with the EU in less than 100 days. That is astonishing, says Sue Pritchard, chief executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission.
As a farmer’s son, and someone who married into a farming family, I understand the importance of a properly functioning internal UK market to the agriculture sector, says Paul Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives.
Farmers have learned more than they ever wanted to know about trade and international treaties since Brexit, and it should not be too much to ask for those who govern us to do the same, says Dr Nick Fenwick, FUW’s head of policy.
Asking farmers to build on their progress and go even further to protect the countryside is the right thing to do, but they must be given as much support as possible from Government to get the job done, says High Peak MP Robert Largan.
Brexit has been out of the headlines since Covid hit, but now it’s well and truly back in view and heading straight for us. It’s time to buckle up, says Cumbria livestock farmer Will Case.