Fears over future of rural Britain after ‘sell-out’ trade deal with New Zealand
Stinging attack on ‘economic literacy’ of Government amid worries over inf lux of cheap lamb and beef
FARMERS’ leaders have accused the Government of ‘questionable economic literacy’ and endangering Britain’s ‘treasured countryside’ by signing a trade deal with New Zealand last week. Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the International Trade Secretary, described the deal as a ‘win-win for two like-minded democracies who believe in free and fair trade’ and ‘a vital part of our plan to level up the country’, after Britain agreed to phase out quotas on New Zealand lamb, beef and dairy imports.
In return, New Zealand will cut tariffs on a range of UK goods including clothing, footwear, buses, ships and bulldozers.
The deal – which follows last month’s agreement with Australia
– has infuriated UK farmers, who fear the market being flooded with New Zealand meat, which is cheaper to produce.
Writing in today’s Mail on Sunday, Minette Batters, the president of the National Farmers’ Union, says ‘our iconic countryside, an incredible patchwork of stone walls, hedges, flower meadows, rolling fields of wheat and barley, is at a crossroads.
‘The future of farming and food lies in political hands and the decisions made now will be far-reaching and have huge consequences for us all.’
Ms Batters adds: ‘Farmers underpin the very fabric of the country and the precious environment that they’ve committed so much to. Remove farmers from the land and environmental degradation will be all that follows.
‘The current actions of this Government indicate a level of questionable economic literacy towards the future of our treasured countryside.
‘I can only think they are blind to the damage they’ll be presiding over or, even worse, they’re actively pursuing a policy of coldblooded attrition of the land. I hope my biggest fear is unfounded.
‘Failure to maintain and grow our food self-sufficiency will drive our farmers from the land.’
This newspaper has highlighted the risks to the country’s £10billion agricultural industry in our Save Our Family Farms campaign, highlighting fears that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would ‘swap Brussels for Brisbane’ by opening up British markets to farmers Down Under.
Even before the deal was signed, the UK imported 32,368 tons of lamb from New Zealand in the year to August 2020, at a value of £120million. In stark contrast, according to data from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, the UK exported just 627 tons to New Zealand in the same period – all of it frozen – at a value of just £1.2 million to British farmers.
The gap between the ‘farm gate’ price – the cost of the product available at the farm, excluding any transport costs – between the UK and New Zealand means Kiwi lamb is about 50p cheaper per kilogram than British lamb.
However, this can rise to as much as £2 a kilogram as New Zealand is one of the world’s largest exporters of lamb so its prices remain relatively stable, while the cost of our home-grown lamb varies considerably by season. This means that for much of the year it could be more attractive for supermarkets and restaurants to import New Zealand lamb than it would be to buy more expensive British meat.
The difference can be explained by the sheer scale of the operations.
The average size of a farm in New Zealand is a massive
270 hectares, compared with 87 hectares in England.
The New Zealand lamb market needs to feed just five million people domestically, while the UK lamb market needs to feed more than 65million. There are 26million sheep in New Zealand, a sheep-to-people ratio of 5 to 1. In contrast there are 32 million sheep in the UK, a ratio of 1:2.
‘Our iconic countryside is at a crossroads’ ‘Remove farmers and degradation follows’