Trade deal talks continue to stall

The government has set a target of the end of July for an outline trade deal with the EU27, but there are no signs that face-to-face meetings between negotiators in Brussels improved that prospect.

Talks will now move to London but without compromise or political input they will remain stalled.

The Irish farming lobby has welcomed assurances that Irish food will be able to pass through the UK to the EU27 without customs checks.

The government has also confirmed port inspection facilities will be set up in Northern Ireland to inspect food imports from the rest of the UK.

This is because of the complex deal agreed by Boris Johnson that will see Northern Ireland remain in the single market.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which represents the world’s developed economies, says 54 countries and 12 emerging economies spent an average £430 billion a year on farm subsidies from 2017 to 2019.

It says this hurts consumers and widens the gap between large and small farms.

It says governments also supported research and subsidised some food prices, bringing the total in global farm support to over £560bn a year.

The OECD says that, on average, one pound in every nine of farm income comes from the public purse, while in some countries support was over half of farm income.

It describes this as “unhelpful and in some cases harmful” and has urged countries to use the post-Covid economic crisis as a justification to cut farm support.

The umbrella body for European farm unions, COPA, claims criticism of the sector, or “agri-bashing”, is demotivating farmers and making them question their future in the industry after a survey involving 2,500 farmers in Italy, Hungary, France and Germany.

Farmers say their response to coronavirus has helped them gain new respect but environmental groups say farmers use the term agri-bashing to fend off justified criticism.

“The OECD says that, on average, one pound in every nine of farm income comes from the public purse