Agriculture’s no-deal planning

With Boris Johnson and his pro-Brexit Cabinet in place, agriculture is being forced to step up preparations for a no-deal departure from the EU.

However, the problem for farming is the prospect of the loss of export markets and a surge of cheap imports to keep food prices down means it is difficult to prepare for an outcome the farming lobby across the UK has warned would be disastrous.

The new Defra minister, Theresa Villiers, claims an interest in farming and animal welfare. Her challenge is a post-Brexit support programme and her first decision will be whether to pursue the environment-driven model of her predecessor, Michael Gove.

The European Commission made a stand for farmers with plans to ban the use of “meat” terms in vegetarian products – seeing an end to terms such as veggie burgers and sausage – but it looks unlikely this protection will be part of post-Brexit legislation in the UK, which will no longer be bound by EU standards. A parliamentary committee at Westminster said it saw no justification for banning these terms and said the only justification would be to avoid confusing consumers, but MPs concluded the chances of meat-eaters buying vegetarian products by mistake was minimal and not a risk.

Full implementation of the Mercosur trade deal with South America is some years away, but it was the subject of the first stand-off between the new European Parliament agriculture committee and farm commissioner Phil Hogan.

He insisted what had been agreed was a balanced document, with a safety net for farmers in the shape of the billion euro market disturbances compensation fund. However, MEPs raised concerns about environmental and hygiene standards in Brazil in particular.

Mr Hogan insisted European standards would not be diluted, but MEPs were not convinced and will return to this issue in the autumn.

As the UK scrambles for a post-Brexit trade deal with the United States the EU has confirmed it is still making progress in discussions with Washington.

It has published a “state of the negotiations” report a year after Brussels and Washington agreed the need for a solid trading relationship.

While this is ambitious, given the scale of the trade, it mirrors the challenges the UK will face. One big success for the US is soya into the EU. It is now the biggest supplier and sales are twice the level of a year ago.

Meanwhile, the commission is also reporting positive progress in implementing its free trade agreement with Japan, which opens its lucrative food market to European suppliers.

The EU is planning to ban terms such as veggie ‘sausage’ rolls, but after Brexit the UK will not be bound by this legislation.

Eurofile Richard Wright