NFU vows industry will '˜grab' Brexit opportunities

Thousands of farmers have fed back their views to the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) via questionnaires and meetings held nationwide in what the union described as “the biggest farming consultation for a generation”.

Interest shown by members was “encouraging”, the union’s president Meurig Raymond said.

NFU Council, made up of regional branch leaders and board members, met in the week and reviewed the results before backing the next step, to develop a “comprehensive framework” which will form the basis of initial talks with government. A detailed policy paper is set to be published by the NFU early next year.

Mr Raymond said: “The overwhelming view from our membership is that we need a bold and ambitious vision for the industry shared by government that delivers improved health, wealth and environment for the British people.

“What’s at stake here clearly needs to remain at the front of this debate - protecting the environment alongside having access to safe, affordable, traceable home-grown food and for that we need to have competitive, profitable and progressive farming.”

He added: “It is now up to us to put forward credible policies in the very important months ahead. The NFU’s task is to achieve long-term confidence and, crucially, short-term certainty. It’s a challenge and an opportunity that the NFU is in a position to grab with both hands.”

Areas of concern include access to immigrant labour, financial support from government post-2020 and trade agreements to secure British food exports.

The implications of future trade policy scenarios are examined in a new report published by the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB).

It states that the main Brexit trade opportunities for the dairy sector is displacing imports or growing new export markets.

If the UK fails to negotiate a trade deal with the EU, allowing tariff-free access to the single market, any import tariffs imposed by the UK could lead to some imported dairy products being replaced by British products, the report states.

In the beef and sheep sector, lower value cuts and offal are big opportunities for exports, with China expected to significantly increase its beef imports.

AHDB warns of a potentially sizeable impact on the pork export market. Seventy per cent of all UK pork exports currently go to the EU and if the UK left the EU before a trade deal was agreed, UK pork would be vulnerable to tariffs for exports into other EU countries.

The report’s co-author Stephen Howarth said: “Increasing productivity and profitability across the supply chain will be critical in a post-Brexit world, especially in sectors where major global exporters are able to price more competitively. This will help UK businesses to remain resilient if access to the UK market is opened up to a wider range of suppliers.”