FARMERS FEAR BREXIT PLAN ‘CATASTROPHE’
ANEW Agriculture Bill proposed by the UK Government represents “a very dangerous leap into the unknown with potentially catastrophic consequences” for food production and rural communities, according to the Farmers’ Union of Wales.
The Bill sets out a legal framework to phase out direct support for farming over a seven-year period to 2027, while introducing a system of paying landowners for “public goods”, such as better air and water quality, improved soil health, higher animal welfare standards, public access to the countryside and measures to reduce flooding.
Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said: “I am pleased that the UK Government has worked closely with the farming industry and Welsh Government to ensure powers in the Agriculture Bill have been extended to Wales. The bill will provide new powers for Ministers in Cardiff Bay to ensure our farmers are provided with stability and certainty as we leave the EU.
“It is vital that we are bold and ambitious to maximise the opportunities presented by Brexit, working alongside businesses and communities to ensure our rural economy continues to grow.
“The Royal Welsh Show earlier this year provided an excellent opportunity to do this, and to reaffirm our commitment to get a good deal for the sector in our EU exit negotiations.”
Lesley Griffiths, the Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, said: “This is the first piece of post-Brexit legislation which allows us to continue to support farmers and develop new ways of working.
“We have worked closely with the UK Government to make sure this legislation works for Wales and it provides us with significant new powers. The Bill gives us the freedom and flexibility to take forward our own proposals for a made in Wales support system for farmers.
“Whilst we are generally supportive of the Bill as drafted, there are two outstanding issues – the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture and the Red Meat Levy – which we have not resolved.”
But FUW president Glyn Roberts said: “This has never been tried before anywhere in the world so we have no idea about the economic impact of such a scheme, and there are also big questions about its legality under the WTO rules. For more than two years we have highlighted our view that sweeping decisions such as these should not be made until we have a full understanding of what the economic landscape is likely to look like after Brexit and certainly not before detailed economic analyses have been undertaken.”
Mr Roberts said given this, and the uncertainty around the legality of public goods payments under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, the bill represented a very dangerous leap into the unknown with potentially catastrophic consequences for food production, farming families and rural communities.
The bill also provides a legal basis for the Welsh Government to take forward its own legislation on Welsh agricultural policy, and the Welsh Government says it hopes to use these powers to present a Wales Agriculture Bill to the National Assembly before the end of this Assembly term.
“The main thrust of the Welsh Government’s proposals, which are currently being consulted on, is very similar to what England is proposing, in that they want to phase out direct payments and move to a payment for public goods scheme,” said Mr Roberts.
“We have made our objections clear to this on the grounds of issues such as legality, timing, deliverability and the lack of economic impact assessments, and it is notable that the Scottish Government has effectively adopted the same view as the FUW on the need to avoid radical changes given all the uncertainty around Brexit and to focus on improving what we already have.
“Wales must not use these new powers to simply follow England into the unknown on this issue. Welsh people voted for devolution so we could do things differently and in ways which are appropriate for our country and support Welsh families and jobs.
“That’s what we have done before with our agricultural and rural policies with very positive results, and we will continue to urge the Welsh Government to do what’s right for our industry, to act cautiously given everything that’s going on with Brexit, and to make evidence based decisions rather than leaps into the unknown.”
NFU Cymru president John Davies said: “The launch of the Agriculture Bill underlines the UK Government’s thinking around the future of farming within England and I have no doubt that our colleagues across the border will be hugely disappointed at the lack of focus and recognition within this important document of farmers as, first and foremost, food producers.
“Agricultural policy is a devolved subject in Wales and the release of the Agriculture Bill provides powers for Welsh Government Ministers to follow their own reforms, which of course are the subject of the current
Brexit and Our Land consultation. As part of this consultation period the union is currently undergoing an extensive membership engagement programme to seek feedback from Welsh farmers. The common theme is that food production must be at the heart of any future agricultural policy in Wales if these businesses are to prosper in the future and continue to provide jobs, growth and investment for all of Wales.
“We must also realise that Wales has an excellent environmental story to tell, but be under no illusion that it is farmers that maintain and enhance our environment alongside providing safe, quality, affordable food.
“NFU Cymru maintains that any future Welsh agricultural policy should contain volatility or stability measures, to sit alongside environmental and productivity measures, in order to support farmers’ core role as food producers. Given that agriculture underpins the Welsh food and drink sector worth almost £7bn a year to the Welsh economy and employing over 240,000 people, we need future policy that supports this important sector and allows it to prosper post-Brexit.”