Brexit concerns for country’s crops growers

While the effects of Brexit and the current levels of uncertainty on Scotland’s livestock industry have been widely discussed, far less has been heard of the likely consequences for the country’s cropping sectors.

But with the approach of the spring sowing season, reports of a dip in the availability of pre-planting grain contracts have raised concerns that producers will be left to shoulder the risks of the Brexit outcome – with no clear picture of what the trading situation is likely to be when crops are harvested in autumn.

Speaking this week, NFU Scotland combinable crops chairman Ian Sands, who farms at Balbeggie near Perth, said that although Scotland did not directly export large tonnages of cereals, grain prices were highly influenced not just by world markets but also by those prevailing in other parts of the UK:

“And we are already seeing uncertainty, with buyers not willing to commit early, pre-planting contracts to the degree they would normally. The trade have suggested that their books are largely empty from the end of March,” said Sands.

Sands said that if wheat which would normally be exported from England to EU destinations was unable to do so without facing high rates of tariff after Brexit, then there was no question that this disruption to trade would have a huge impact on the supply and demand situation in Scotland as well.

“In particular, the feed grain markets are closely linked – so anything that affects the feed wheat price is likely to impact the feed barley price which in turn underpins many malting barley contracts,” he warned.

And Sands pointed out that there were also considerable fears that there was a potential for tariffs on imports to be set at a lower level than that being charged on UK grain which was exported to the EU.

“All UK growers, regardless of what they produce, would be put at a severe disadvantage should the floodgates be opened for non-uk grown crops while ours were constrained by tariffs imposed by other trading partners.

“On top of all the other Brexit concerns, there is no way that the UK industry could adapt so quickly to a major change in market dynamics that such a tariff mismatch would cause.”

And while the considerable proportion of Scottish oilseed rape which was exported to the EU was likely to escape tariff charges, uncertainty around the exchange rate post 29 March and potential transport chaos could create considerable problems for this crop as well.

“On top of all that, we are worried about inputs – the availability of the fertiliser and the other essentials that farmers need to grow crops.

“Should those not be available, be delayed or become very expensive, that would impact on home production of crops,” Sands added.