Brexit sows seeds of doubt for British farmers
72% of UK’s agricultural produce is exported to EU
Britain imports twice as many farm products from the EU as it exports. And of agricultural produce made in the UK, 72 percent is sent to the EU.
For Britain’s farmers, Brexit would also mean an end to vital and decades-long European subsidies paid for by the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.
In 2015, CAP provided farmers with just over €3 billion ($3.17 billion), or about 55 percent of their total revenue.
Without such aid, British farmers may either have to sell their produce at a loss or consumers will be forced to pay more for local goods that make up for nearly two-thirds of the nation’s food basket.
According to consultancy Agra Europe, nine British farms out of 10 could close without CAP subsidies, while Brexit risks also causing a collapse in the price of the country’s agricultural land.
May’s government has reassured the industry that it will continue to pay the subsidies until 2020 but what happens beyond is far from certain.
Despite such challenges, some see Brexit as an opportunity to reform British agriculture.
“Brexit provides a unique opportunity to reset farming policy,” said Dieter Helm, an economist at the University of Oxford.
“Under the CAP, policy has been expensive and often perverse in its impacts. Few can be impressed by the net result: High costs to consumers, inefficient land use, subsidies for land ownership and serious environmental damage,” he wrote.