The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Uk-australia deal is cause for concern
The UK Government claims its trade deal with Australia offers protection for farmers, but the direction of travel the deal highlights remains cause for concern.
Tariffs against cheap beef and lamb from Australia will be phased out gradually, but the deal confirms the approach that the UK Government wants to take in future negotiations.
It has effectively ignored the concerns of the farming industry and the limited safeguards could create fresh obstacles to a smooth trading relationship with the EU.
The UK Trade Minister, Anne-marie Trevelyan, says other countries will see the deal as evidence of how “expansive” the UK wants to be.
She claimed Australian farm exports would remain focused on Asia, but in reality the UK is a potentially more attractive, high-value market.
The UK Office for Budgetary Responsibility says the deal could add 0.08% a year to the UK economy but it estimates that loss of free access to the EU will reduce UK economic performance by 4%.
Other countries will see the Australia deal as the blueprint for the deals they want and as evidence the UK is ready to make major concessions.
Meanwhile, a radical new plan launched by the EU as part of its efforts to tackle climate change could see farmers rewarded for new methods to sequester carbon in agriculture.
While the detail of how this might work remains hazy and complex, the thinking has been welcomed by COPA, the body that represents EU farm unions.
As part of the carbon farm initiative, farmers could be paid for practices that would remove carbon from the atmosphere.
Conventional examples would be more use of forestry and permanent pasture, but the policy seeks to use science to take this into new areas and techniques.
COPA says the thinking is sound but that many uncertainties remain about implementation.
These include fundamental questions around who will pay farmers, how this will happen and whether they will be able to trade the carbon credits which they deliver on an Eu-wide market.