Farmers in the dark over what Brexit will mean
BETTER out than in? It’ll take some time for that question to be answered – but for most of the country’s farmers little has filtered out since the referendum as to what life outside the EU will actually mean for their businesses.
After 43 years of unrestricted trade with the rest of Europe, the majority of exported farm products now head to the continent, so maintaining access to that market is crucial.
And although we’ve been led to believe nothing will change overnight, farmers need to plan several years in advance when it comes to growing crops and breeding livestock – and when investing the often huge amounts of money in new equipment, buildings or land.
So the news that we’re still going to be working under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the next couple of years is good and well, but doesn’t give the long-term assurance required to make the sort of decisions which will shape the face of British agriculture in the future.
And while being able to trade freely with the rest of Europe is probably the most crucial factor, the CAP provided a good deal of the support which kept many farms afloat. Whether such schemes will continue after Brexit is another great unknown.
But while the majority of farmers would be happy to see an end to relying on subsidies, the only way they could continue in business would be to make more money from what they sell.
That’s because the fact is, for many years now, it’s been costing farmers more to produce their crops and animals than we get when we sell them – and the farm support has helped balance the books.
If these payments stopped the only way to break even would be to get paid more by the supermarkets, the butchers, the bakers and all the shops that sell food – and they would have to pass the extra cost on to the shoppers so food prices would rise.
But if we dropped farm support in this country and the rest of Europe didn’t, the supermarkets would likely import stuff more cheaply from the continent where they still got subsidies. This would spell the end of UK farming. Of course the Government might stop them doing this by putting a tax on imported stuff, but it’s not likely to do that as dearer food tends to lose them votes.
So, without some clear and urgent signs from the policy-makers about their plans for farming after Brexit, a very dark cloud indeed hangs over the countryside.