The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Bid to Open Doors abroad
Anew campaign to boost exports of food and drink has been launched to help farmers sell highquality produce abroad.
The Open Doors campaign by the UK Government, with the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and the AHDB, aims to target the growing middle classes in places such as Asia.
Speaking at the NFU conference, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said the high quality of UK produce made it highly competitive and appealing to middle class consumers abroad – but only a fifth of food manufacturers export their produce.
The scheme will include advertising to encourage businesses to increase their overseas sales, practical help from the government including exporting masterclasses and a new mentoring programme to help firms export.
The move comes in the wake of some UK producers struggling to export food products to Europe under the post-Brexit regime, and amid ongoing concerns that trade deals with other countries could undermine high British standards.
Ms Truss said: “Our farmers need access to new markets around the world, but we need to get rid of the barriers holding them back. We will help you get out into the global market.
“Exporting supports higher wages, productivity and high-quality jobs, but one in five of our food manufacturers export.
“We want to unleash the potential of many more businesses, which is why I am glad to announce a new export campaign for British food and drink. We are dubbing this our Open Doors campaign, reflecting the work we’re doing to open new doors for food producers and farmers to unprecedented opportunities across the world.”
Her words came after Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the conference via a video message he wanted people to buy more British food, and for more to be sold abroad.
“I’m delighted that already we’ve got back on the shelves around the world, we’ve got British beef back on American plates, pork trotters on Chinese tables and cheese on supermarket shelves across the Gulf,” he said.
“I can assure you we are pulling out all the stops, while making clear that in all our trade negotiations we won’t compromise on high environmental protection and animal welfare standards.”
The EU has launched a new programme to drive an expansion of organic farming. It has an ambitious target for this to represent 25% of farmland by 2030. This is one of the central features of its Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategies, and it will see additional resources pumped into organic farming and food promotion.
This latest plan covers 2021 to 2027 and is based around a big expansion of the EU’s organic logo, designed to counter criticism that some organic imports are of poor quality.
Brussels says its goal is to expand demand and confidence among consumers and to ensure farming is equipped to meet the demand. The 25% target is a big challenge, which would demand large-scale conversion of land to organic. The main organic producers are Spain, France and Italy – but Germany is the biggest consumer market for organic food.
Meanwhile, in a bold but potentially risky move, Boris Johnson has made the person who negotiated the Brexit trade deal responsible for relations with Brussels.
David Frost has been given a seat in the Cabinet, and is expected to adopt a tougher line with Brussels than Michael Gove, who has been steering political relations with the European Commission.
The test now is whether Frost’s harder edge will deliver the compromises needed for the trade deal to work. To date, most of the problems with the trade deal relate to UK exports to the EU, while trade is flowing more easily from the EU into the UK.
Overcoming those problems demands tact and Frost may be seen in Brussels as Johnson’s Brexit enforcer, with potentially negative consequences.
Ironically, given that Brexit was to be about escaping decisions by unelected officials the key players are now just that – Frost on the UK side and Michel Barnier on the EU side, as special adviser on Brexit to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
While global food prices are rising, the body that represents European farm lobby groups and cooperatives, Copa-Cogeca, has warned of difficult months ahead in Europe due to a mixture of Covid restrictions, animal health issues and the fallout from the trade deal with the UK.