Farmers urged to fight threat of no deal
Sheep sector would be ‘decimated’ warns NFU
ENVIRONMENT SECRETARY Michael Gove has urged farmers to collectively plead with MPs to do everything in their power to avoid Britain leaving the European Union without a deal.
Mr Gove, speaking at the annual National Farmers’ Union (NFU) Conference, told farmers there was currently no absolute guarantee Britain could continue exporting food to the EU after March 29.
He said potential gains for farms post-Brexit would be “put at severe risk” in the event of a nodeal, a scenario described as “the stuff of nightmares” by NFU president Minette Batters.
The union leader issued a stark warning to as the organisation’s annual conference got underway, saying a no-deal would “decimate” the sheep sector.
Deriding the political turmoil over Prime Minister Theresa May’s attempts to find an EU deal that is palatable with MPs in the Commons, Ms Batters said it was “absolutely shocking” that businesses were still unclear about the trade rules they will be operating in with just over five weeks to go before Britain formally leaves the EU.
“I make no apologies for saying leaving the EU without a deal would be catastrophic for British farming,” Ms Batters said.
“In a few weeks’ time, if there isn’t a deal with the EU, high export tariffs could effectively mean we have no market for 4.5 million lambs, a no-deal Brexit could decimate those farms up and down Britain.”
The deadline for farmers to make decisions was imminent, she said, adding: “Next week, ships will set sail from Britain with cargo on board, including British food exports which will arrive in their destinations after the 29th March. Farmers and food producers need to make decisions now whether to load British produce onto (those) ships.”
Mr Gove warned of “significant” costs to the economy, particularly to farming and food production in the event of a no deal.
“I emphatically do not want to run the risks that leaving without a deal would involve,” he said.
“It is critically important that every decision-maker in London, every parliamentarian who will vote in coming weeks, understands what no deal would involve for British farmers and food producers. No one can be blithe or blasé about the consequences.”
The Minister added: “Which is why I hope you will make your voices heard... in asking our MPs not to undermine or put at risk the potential gains of Brexit by voting for us to leave without a deal.”
BRIDGING PAYMENTS worth up to £24m will be paid to farmers from the start of April to tackle an “totally unacceptable” backlog of settlements for on-farm environmental work, the Environment Secretary has announced.
Michael Gove admitted that Countryside Stewardship scheme payments, some still owed to farmers from 2017, were still “in a mess” but that the Government is committed to improving the payment system.
The Government has committed to making payments to 95 per cent of 2018 Countryside Stewardship scheme participants by the end of next month.
Speaking at the National Farmers’ Union’s (NFU) annual conference in Birmingham, Mr Gove said: “To meet this target I can announce today that we will introduce bridging payments of between £24m and £28m in early April. So no eligible recipient will wait beyond early April to receive the payment that they deserve.
“We also expect to pay 95 per cent of Countryside Stewardship final payments by the end of July 2019.
“And in order to bring down processing times, and speed up completion claims by a month, we will move to making full Countryside Stewardship payments straight away.”
The payments are made in lieu of on-farm environmental enhancement work already carried out and paid for upfront by farmers.
The importance of timely 2018 payments – and quicker work by government agencies to process historic payments delayed by IT system failures – became all the more apparent as farmers faced extra costs to deal with a shortage of fodder as a result of last year’s cold and wet spring and then harsh summer drought.
Addressing Mr Gove at the first day of the NFU’s conference yesterday, the union’s president Minette Batters said: “If ever there was a year to get agri-environment payments out on time, this was it.
“And yet we have a totally unacceptable number of entry level and higher level scheme holders still waiting for their full 2017 payment, with no sign from the RPA (Rural Payments Agency) as to when they will be paid; over 4,000 farmers and their families who have delivered their side of the contract but have had to resort to taking loans and overdrafts out because the Government has not fulfilled its side of the contract.
“It is indefensible to leave people waiting months, if not years, after they have paid out to deliver their side of the bargain.”
Ms Batters added: “Please give the RPA the resources and IT they clearly lack so you can fulfil your side of the bargain or give these farmers a full payment right now.”
Mr Gove said the processing of farm support payments was already improving now that the RPA had taken over full responsibility for the scheme’s administration. Previously it was shared with Natural England.
The Minister said: “We have to do better in the delivery of countryside and environmental stewardship payments. They are still in a mess, the consequence partly of historic IT procurement decisions and the split responsibility for scheme administration, which led to inefficiency and confusion.
“It is the case that the rigidities of EU rule-making made delivery more difficult. But we must take responsibility in Defra for our share of the errors and I do.”
The Government has not fulfilled its side of the bargain. Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union.