To be heard amid Brexit babel

People

The free movement of people is one of the four freedoms of the European Union. There are 130,000 non-British people employed in agriculture in the UK, but there are many more in other industries. This is a huge concern from many businesses in the UK. Who is going to do the work the locals will not do?

Trade

The UK is a net importer of food, being only 60pc self-sufficient. Trade and importation of food has always been part of the British economy.

The agricultural industry imports a lot of raw materials from Europe, which is a worry for farmers, but the big worry is tariff wars. The farmers are worried about zero-tariff imports of food, as a trade-off for British exports. This is a genuine worry with the lack of political inf luence in the industry.

Policy

equivalent, heavily linked to environmental measures. The big worry is that if Britain spins into an economic recession, will Westminster honour its promise or scrap agricultural subsidies altogether?

The British agricultural industry is calculating and speculating on the likely impact of Brexit, but as a show of hands after a discussion at the Nuffield Triennial demonstrated, they are split 50:50 as to whether it will be good or bad for their industry.

Indecision is the mother of all evils.