Cheap food imports ‘ pose risk to family farms’
A post- Brexit trade deal with the US could have a major impact on Yorkshire farmers. Sophie McCandlish and Rob Parsons report.
THE GOVERNMENT has been warned that smaller family farms in Yorkshire could go out of business unless measures are taken to protect the region from cheap imports flooding the market when a post- Brexit trade deal is signed with the US.
Conservative MPs in Yorkshire are being urged to vote for the Government’s new Trade and Agriculture Commission to be given extra powers when legislation setting out the future of British farming returns to the Commons on October 12.
The House of Lords last month voted for an amendment to the Agriculture Bill requiring the commission to provide Parliament with independent advice about the impact every trade deal will have on our food and farming standards.
Campaigners say such a move is vital to prevent the interest of British farmers being damaged if a free trade deal with the US leads to cheaper and lower quality American produce flooding the market. Former Yorkshire MP and now Tory peer Baroness McIntosh said: “It is quite possible that particularly some of the smaller farms, some of the uplands and hill farms, will go to the wall, will go out of business.”
A Department for International Trade spokesman said the Government will “never sign a trade deal that undercuts farmers and is bad for consumers”.
OLIVER WRIGHT, who grew up on the family farm in Hemingfield, near Wombwell, and now runs his own farm shop, makes sure he sells produce only from within a ten- mile radius.
His father Newton runs the farm which is arable and grassland, while Mr Wright himself has diversified into Billy’s Hill Farm Shop which he opened in 2007, stocking local produce which ensures a short supply chain.
And with the issue of where products which end up on supermarket shelves come from in the minds of decision- makers as the UK tries to make its way in the post- Brexit world, he believes customers need to understand what they are buying.
“Everyone is price- conscious and if food is not labelled properly it is easy for consumers to assume it is British rather than being able to make an informed choice,” he tells The Yorkshire Post.
“It is also helping people understand the supply chain. We sell produce from farms within a ten- mile radius which means we are generally a one- step supply chain.
“At a farm shop, farmers’ market or allotment society, it is also generally much shorter. Consumers should be questioning where the food comes from and we, as farmers and retailers, should be open to answering those questions.”
If the worst fears of campaigners come true, the question of where food comes from could have a very different answer in the coming years.
Released from the obligation to be bound by Brussels rules following the decision to leave the European Union, the UK is now in talks with other nations over a series of free trade deals.
An agreement in principle
has already been reached with Japan on such a deal, which represents a pact between two or more nations to reduce barriers to imports and exports among them.
But it is the prospect of a deal with the US which has become heavily politicised amid fears that with free access the UK market will become flooded with cheaper, lower- quality produce.
Farming groups have warned that without guidelines on food quality, Britain would be inundated with cheap produce from countries where meats are allowed to be pumped full of drugs and animal welfare is much lower than EU standards.
British farmers would not be able to compete on price and if they lowered standards too
far below EU standards they would lose their main market in Europe, an equally disastrous outcome.
UK logo ‘ carries weight’
Beef farmer Mike Powley, who runs the 360- acre Oak House Farm, at Green Hammerton in North Yorkshire, with his father, Tom, says British farmers work to “world- leading standards”.
He was involved in the process of getting the US ban on British beef lifted in the US, something which had been in place since the BSE outbreak in 1996.
He said it was important to safeguard welfare standards, not just for UK consumers, but also for the export market.
“We have a very high quality product in this country and
the American market is getting a real taste for our grass- fed beef. We are ideally placed to export to the US and that is due to our high standards of welfare and production. But we are also likely to be importing beef from outside the country, from markets including the US. It is important that our food standards are maintained so we can challenge what is coming in.
“British farmers work to world- leading standards and UK consumers are used to that high- quality end product. It is important that they are able to make an informed decision about any imported food.”
Mr Powley said he did think it was important for British farmers to be able to export to larger markets outside of Europe
and had the high quality produce to be successful. “The British logo carries a lot of weight as a high quality product and we need to think about the size of the markets in countries like China and Russia for export.”
The Government insists that it would “never sign a trade deal that undercuts farmers and is bad for consumers”.
A spokesman for the Department for International Trade, where Leeds- educated Liz Truss is Secretary of State, said it is already against the law to import chlorine- washed chicken and hormone- fed beef, and any changes would need new legislation to be brought before Parliament.
He added: “Ultimately if Parliament doesn’t like a deal, it
can block it.” But campaigners fear the current arrangements do not allow Parliament sufficient powers to stop a potentially damaging trade deal from being enacted.
Ball in MPs’ court
Earlier attempts to amend the Government’s Agriculture Bill to require a level playing field between British farmers and those overseas in future trade agreements were defeated in the Commons this summer.
But the House of Lords did pass an amendment to the legislation, which sets out new policy as the UK quits the EU- wide Common Agricultural Policy, meaning the recently- established Trade and Agriculture Commission offers independent advice on the impact of all trade deals. All eyes will now be on the Commons on October 12 to see whether the amendment sticks or is added to in a bid to give Parliament more of a say. York Outer MP Julian Sturdy will support the amendment and said it was vital Parliament could properly scrutinise future trade deals.
He said: “We have had some goodwill coming forward from Liz Truss saying she will make sure that it is debated in Parliament before the final decision is made, but it’s not binding, there’s no legislation or binding provision that will force the Secretary of State to come to the House of Commons and actually allow these to be debated and voted on.
“We’re passing legislation that will be in place for future governments so I think it’s very important we look beyond just what the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister says and we look beyond that to what we want our future policy to be.”
Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake said the restrictions on certain products currently in place as a result of the UK’s EU membership would be transferred into UK law when the Brexit transition period ends.
He added: “As a result of the concerns raised by myself and many other MPs and the food and farming sector, the Government has established a Trade and Agriculture Commission which is to advise ministers on how to seize new export opportunities whilst ensuring animal welfare and environmental standards in food production are not undermined.”
He praised the fact that British beef is now back on US menus for the first time in more than 20 years. It was banned after the BSE outbreak in 1996 when cattle were infected by what became commonly known as Mad Cow Disease. The Tory MP said: “I know that this government will stand firm in other trade negotiations to ensure any deals provide new opportunities for North Yorkshire farmers and consumers.”
Adam Bedford, Yorkshire director of the National Farmers’ Union, highlighted recent interventions by celebrity chefs including Jamie Oliver, saying: “It’s an issue no- one should be in the dark about.
“Here in Yorkshire we represent more than 4,400 farming businesses – all farming families who are working hard to feed people and manage the region’s spectacular farmed landscape. Their future is at stake and that’s why we’re calling on MPs to support the House of Lords amendment.”