Urgent action needed to build a post-Brexit food framework
Terry Marsden looks at the problems of building a new food and rural policy for Wales after Brexit
Last week myself and colleagues Professors Tim Lang (City University) and Erik Milstone (Sussex University) published the first major independent review of the overall impact of Brexit on the UK food system – A Food Brexit: Time to Get Real – A Brexit Briefing. The report, drawing on more than 200 sources, examines industry and government data, policies and literature on issues including production, farming, employment, quality, safety standards and the environment. It highlights 16 key issues which need urgently addressing by UK governments in negotiations with the EU.
These include the development of a clear, integrated UK food plan and statutory framework for food policy; new legislation to replace the 4,000 pieces of EU law relating to food; investment in scientific and regulatory infrastructure replacing at least 30 EU-based bodies; and new farm viablility and support packages to replace the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Our conclusion is that the so-far lack (or avoidance) of domestic policy direction and debate in UK government on these matters is seriously increasing the [existing] insecurities surrounding food production, processing and consumption in the UK.
Urgent action is needed in Whitehall and the devolved authorities to develop:
A strong and clear commitment to a low-impact, health–oriented UK food system.
A new statutory framework which includes and integrates devolved authorities for UK food.
A commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate agreement.
A new National Commission on Food and Agriculture to provide oversight and review, and to be a source of advice trusted by British consumers and producers.
“Taking back control” of food policy in the UK, then, is going to be complex, challenging and will take time, resources and intense collaboration between UK and devolved government bodies. The Welsh Government will have to be proactive in forging positive and power-sharing arrangements, creating continuous lines of mediation with Whitehall in the forging of these new national frameworks.
Wales will have to interact as a full and proactive federal partner in the development of these new frameworks and policies, and will also have to urgently address and protect the degree of national authority it holds to develop bespoke policies.
This will be especially true when the formerly “ring-fenced” EU funding schemes on which much of rural and post-industrial Wales have relied eventually end.
In light of these somewhat ominous conditions, we need to seriously and urgently change our (sectoral) mindsets about the types of public support for food, farming and rural policies in Wales, post-Brexit.
We are fortunate, I believe, in having developed both the statutory Future Generations and Environment Acts in Wales before the Brexit process. These lay out an innovative statutory framework for Wales which could be aligned to the wider UK developments we propose in our report.
For instance, the adoption of the duty to ensure sustainable management of natural resources and enhancement of biodiversity in the Environment Act give a basis on which to build new policy programmes for food, farming and rural development.
However, given the ending of existing funding, we need an informed and proactive debate about new, bespoke policies in Wales.
We have been slow in getting this going. I think this is partly because we are still in “hangover” mode about the former longstanding policy structures, optimistically assuming that the sheer volume of financial support from these mechanisms will somehow continue. We have all known for a long time that many of these policy schemes were far from fit for purpose; and now we have the real opportunity to redraw Welsh food, farming, environmental and rural policy.
So what should be some of the main tenets of a post-Brexit food and rural policy in Wales?
Policies and incentives must encourage rural Wales to deliver a wider and deeper range of social, health and amenity benefits, as well as high-quality food and other bioeconomy products (renewable energy, clean water, timber, etc).
We must conserve and enhance the diversity of Wales’ distinct natural resources and landscape, not only “for their own sake” but also as the durable basis for the green, more circular and ecological economy to be strengthened in rural areas.
We must create stronger and more targeted green procurement policies at local and national government levels given the regulatory flexibility Brexit, could bring.
We must vastly increase partnership development between farmers, landholders and stakeholders, and make funding conditional upon these consortia arrangements.
We must create stronger ties and interactions between urban and rural communities by the development of community food hubs and the joint development of, especially, horticultural production and supply.
And we must create ambitious food and nutritional standards and targets as part of the new UK food and farming framework, and make this a central part of health and education policy in Wales
Brexit provides big challenges but also opportunities for redrawing food, environmental and rural policies. Are we in Wales up for the challenge?
Terry Marsden is Professor of Environmental Policy and Planning and director of the Sustainable Places Research Institute, Cardiff University.