Farmer’s warning of ‘catastrophic’ no-deal
A NO-DEAL Brexit would be “catastrophic” for farmers, says a National Union of Farmers county official.
Ripponden farmer Rachel Hallos, who is West Riding NFU County Chairman, said leaving the European Union and the changes it would bring left her alternately “excited and petrified.”
As the EU and the United Kingdom (UK) have agreed to continue talks until the December 31 deadline after which the transition period following the UK exit from the EU last January comes to an end, Ms Hallos was speaking about Brexit impact at Calderdale Council’s
Place Scrutiny Board’s December meeting.
The farmer said about 50 per cent of the UK’s food was produced in the Uk, with 30 per cent coming direct from the EU and 20 per cent from other parts of the world with which the UK had trade agreements.
Ms Hallos said board members may have seen national NFU president Minette Batters give the union’s view on a nodeal Brexit on television that week.
“It will be catastrophic, for food products monumental.
“Delays to perishable items could be disastrous.
“It’s not rocket science,” she said.
Farmers were about to go through one of the biggest changes to the industry since joining what is now the EU almost 50 years ago.
“There are going to be some very, very big changes that will be happening very quickly.
“It is very complex and some people are finding it difficult to get their heads round about how different it is going to be,” she said.
Ms Hallos said with the Common Agricultural Policy ending, around 52 per cent of farmers in Yorkshire relied on direct payments from it, payments replacing it would be phased out by 2027 and there would be no regulatory “bonfire”.
“The future could be really so exciting – I spend 50 per cent of the time being excited and petrified by it,” she said.
Martin Hathaway, Managing Director at Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, said a list of questions had remained unanswered by the Government. About half of the region’s export trade was internal to Europe and this was where the potential problems would be and the chamber was helping businesses to be ready as far as it could.
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