Agri-supply trade groups form Brexit coalition

ABC aims to work together to influence Government

A group of eight organisations which represent British plant breeders, farm traders, machinery dealers, and crop and animal health suppliers have formed a coalition to lobby Government ahead of crunch Brexit negotiations.

Members of the newly-formed Agri-Brexit Coalition (ABC) believe they are not strong enough individually to influence the highest echelons of government.

Speaking in Edinburgh, David Caffall, the chief executive of the Agricultural Industries Confederation, said eight organisations working together were likely to get a better hearing.

“The common factor is that we represent all the farm supply industry, which is worth £10 billion of input into British agriculture,” he said.

However, he said the coalition would operate separately from the farmers’ unions because they would be primarily concerned with issues such as direct farm payments.

He added: “We will lead on separate issues, but the objective is to fly in formation together.”

One of the key targets of the coalition will be to secure a fair trading position for UK agriculture in Europe, with particular focus on customs clearance.

“We calculated there is a lorry movement in and out of the UK every 17 seconds,” Mr Caffall said.

“These are real world issues that are going to bite us much more quickly than some people realise.”

However, Mr Caffall said there were powerful allies in Europe who had similar interests to the UK.

“We’re trying to mobilise people like the Spanish salad producers who don’t want customs clearance to be awkward at ports like Dover any more than we do,” he said.

Coalition members are the Agricultural Engineers Association, the Agricultural Industries Confederation, the British Society of Plant Breeders, the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, the Crop Protection Association, the Grain and Feed Trade Association, the National Association of Agricultural Contractors and the National Office of Animal Health.