Post Brexit Agriculture

I think we are all convinced he is a re-reg troll :)

Sorry , wasn't trying to call a fellow member out and what not , don't come here often as I'm more old school AV ( or New ) only . Coming from a country background and still close links to hard working peeps in that industry, well I just find these sort of posts dissapointing on what changes it means in real world terms to many folks future first hand. To discuss it in a throwaway manner such as this , Well to me is very disrepectual of the very hard work involved.

That's about all I have to say on it :).
 
How many times have we seen French farmers pouring milk all over the roads? Certainly no easy solution, even with subsidies and protectionism.

I'll admit I know little about this subject, but I would like to see more parity between what the farmer is paid and the supermarket selling price.
 
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Doesn't this debate entirely depend on what FTA Liam will conclude with countries outside the EU? We have no idea about the conditions for food trade at this stage.

Unless of course you are a free trade unilateralist. In which case we know agriculture is sc***ed.....
 
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So what do people want to see ? The UK Government taking on the CAP subsidies to ensure farmers stay afloat while we work out what to do. Personally I think we should be growing more food in the UK and have less reliance on imports. We also need to address the supermarkets not paying proper prices for farmers produce. Which means we'll have to pay a bit more in the shops, but it's something we will have to do to ensure our food security going forward. Given the climate is changing and we simply do not know if our current supply chain from overseas will be robust enough to cope with the changes. This is a complex issue and I'm sure some will be more informed than I.

It's estimated (see BBC Link) that without subsides 90% of Farms would go under and land prices would crash. All the Government has promised to do is pay subsides until 2020 and beyond that they've not said anything else.

DEFRA has done zero planning in the last 6 months by the sounds of things -
Defra: No Brexit farm policy research for six months - Farmers Weekly
Background reading -
Ewing calls for united front on post-Brexit agricultural policy | Press and Journal
After Brexit: What happens next for the UK's farmers? - BBC News
Subscribe to read
Interesting arguments both ways on this one but it is worth noting that if lots of farms do go out of business or have to downscale their operations, this will have a marked effect on the countryside that we know and love.

Personally I believe we should sustain subsidies and accept higher food prices.
 
I remember, long before the EU existed, the moans and groans that UK farmers were living well off their losses. According to the media at that time the government subsidies paid out were so good all farmers were living in clover.

Maybe that will be the post-Brexit scenario.
 
UK should produce more of its own food to protect prices, report says - UK should produce more of its own food to protect prices, report says - BBC News

"It makes sense to hedge our bets and build a more resilient system" which can then "provide more food, andmore diverse food, to the nation", said the report.

"The downside is that food might be more expensive in general, but more secure and diverse, said Prof Benton."
 
I remember, long before the EU existed, the moans and groans that UK farmers were living well off their losses. According to the media at that time the government subsidies paid out were so good all farmers were living in clover.

Maybe that will be the post-Brexit scenario.

Difference is, farmers back then were not at the mercy of Supermarkets purchasing power. We have to figure out a way to bring things into a balance that works for the farmers, supermarkets and consumers.


UK should produce more of its own food to protect prices, report says - UK should produce more of its own food to protect prices, report says - BBC News

"It makes sense to hedge our bets and build a more resilient system" which can then "provide more food, andmore diverse food, to the nation", said the report.

"The downside is that food might be more expensive in general, but more secure and diverse, said Prof Benton."

We need to have the resilience to cope with shocks to the global food market, that much has been obvious for years. We've been lucky so far, that nothing major has happened given the development of fertilisers and genetically modified crops will become a larger part of our diets as things move forward.

I like this article. I'm not (yet) proposing the abolition of all subsidies but I think it is something that should be studied.

https://iea.org.uk/blog/abolish-the-cap-let-food-prices-tumble

It's an interesting idea. But the fundamental issue is the price farmers are paid for the products they grow/make vs the expectation of cheap food. The current model is simply not going to work very well going forward. We rely far too much on food imports and we will be in trouble if there is a crisis in global farming due to the climate or volcanic activity etc
 
We've been lucky so far, that nothing major has happened given the development of fertilisers and genetically modified crops will become a larger part of our diets as things move forward.
Why lucky? :confused:
 
I don't see the connection between that and Genetically Modified crops?
 
I don't see the connection between that and Genetically Modified crops?

I think he's making the point that post-Brexit will lead to rationing and powdered egg - but the development of genetically modified crops will (luckily) prevent that happening.

...But I could be wrong :)
 
Thanks Alan, I'm not being deliberately dense, but I maybe being dense :facepalm:
 
Thanks Alan, I'm not being deliberately dense, but I maybe being dense :facepalm:

Maybe you have a very deep knowledge of genetically modified crops and couldn't sort out the wheat from the chaff.

...Er... You know what I mean :)
 
More likely my brain is still recovering from my Birthday yesterday :blush::rotfl:
 
Let's not worry about it then :thumbsup:
 
I think that farmers want to have their cake and eat it. The farming community in the main voted to leave the EU.

Now having done so they not only want the government to carry on dishing out huge subsidies to farmers, but only this morning there was a farming spokesman urging the government to increase immigration from the EU so they can continue getting cheap labour for picking crops.

It appears to me that all Brexit is going to achieve is change one lot of vested interests for another whilst the rest of us just continue to get poorer.
 
It appears to me that all Brexit is going to achieve is change one lot of vested interests for another whilst the rest of us just continue to get poorer.
Ah, but these vested interests will be home grown,


if that makes any difference :D
 
Ah, but these vested interests will be home grown,


if that makes any difference :D

Well let's face it the UK has never been short on vested interests has it. If ministers keep trotting out the same tired line saying the people voted for Brexit as though everyone did I'm sure I'll end up kicking the 'telly'.

It was won by a small margin, so hardly a ringing endorsement for full blown Brexit.
 
It was a referendum and the vote "even if it it is by one only one vote" went for out.

Get over it.
 
It was a referendum and the vote "even if it it is by one only one vote" went for out.

Get over it.

What like those who never agreed with the 74 referendum result? Many of those people have spent the rest of their careers trying to get us out, especially the Tories.

If they never accepted the result then why do you think the present day remainers are going to be any different?
 
It's not 1974 or June 2016, time to move on...
 
It's not 1974 or June 2016, time to move on...
You mean just like Redwood, IDS, Cash, Fox, Bone, et-al did?

If you think this is all going to go away then I'm afraid you are in for one hell of as surprise, especially if the economy isn't booming within a short period after leaving. I also suspect that as immigration continues to rise (which it surely will in or out) then those who voted to leave will become pretty discontented.
 
Brexit isn't going away, it's going to happen.

For better or worse.
 

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