British farmers have been sold down the river by this Government - Yorkshire Post Letters

Environment Minister Steven Barclay hopes to regain the trust of UK farmers and consumers, hence his recent presentation at the Oxford Farming Conference.

Barclay praised UK farmers for producing 60 per cent of food to high standards, and yet, placed UK farming at risk by supporting Brexit and the resulting Government trade deal with Australia, described as “not a very good deal for the UK” by colleague George Eustace.

The Australian deal, along with others recently negotiated, allow cheap food, produced to low animal welfare standards to be imported into the UK making it difficult for farmers to compete with, unless standards are lowered which Barclay admits, consumers don’t want.

The hypocrisy of Barclay in admiring the UK’s high standards, while agreeing to food produced to lower standards being imported at the expense of UK farmers.

Barclay mentioned the benefits of ELMS (Environmental Land Management Scheme), the Government flagship setting the way forward for British farming post-Brexit whereby farmers receive Government funding to farm sustainably; however, there are no payments available for food production.

Equally concerning is that financial support from ELMS may not sustain smaller to medium farms because they have less land for diversification compared to large landowners.

ELMS should reward farmers for producing sustainable nutritious food, available for everyone thereby safeguarding food security - important in a world of increasing instability due to global warming and political conflict. According to the ‘Grocer’, UK food security reduced following Brexit because food chains between the UK and EU diminished, plus Government trade deals with remote countries further risk food shortages and increased prices for consumers.

Maybe joining the EU single market would reduce uncertainties in food supply thereby increasing our food security.