FOOD SECURITY UNDER THREAT

THIS week, farmer Liz Webster, founder of Save British Farming, came to talk to local members of the European Movement about post Brexit farming challenges, including the safety of our food and our

food security. Farmers’ attitudes to Brexit are complex.

The promise of greater autonomy and greater investment in British farming was persuasive.

But the government has since failed to support British farmers in the ways they promised.

Incentives have been offered for using their land in environmental schemes which reduce production.

And the replacement subsidy programme is being unfairly implemented between UK nations to the detriment of English

farmers. As members of the EU, our farmers led in quality and welfare standards.

Now, they are being put out of business, being undercut by farmers in Latin America, Australia and New Zealand who do not conform to the same welfare standards.

UK food producers have also suffered from the increased cost and bureaucracy of checks on their exports to the EU since Brexit.

However, those checks have not been applied in the other direction, until now.

Imposing checks will

mean more red tape and higher costs for EU producers.

These higher costs will be passed on to us.

Some EU businesses will stop exporting to the UK altogether and we will have less choice on our shelves.

Many fresh food items now have far shorter shelf lives because they’ve been stored for longer due to the slower supply chains.

In the absence of checks, an additional concern is the rise in illegal and low standard produce coming into the UK.

We need to be much more aware of the provenance of our food.

Our food security is under real threat and the post Brexit model of food production and import is proving to be bad for British business and health.

If you would like to join our meetings and become a member of the European Movement, please email macc@ europeanmovement. co.uk.