Tariffs axed immediately on Australian beef and lamb, triggering fears that farmers will be sent ‘to the wall’
15/06/2021
Small print – revealed by Canberra, but suppressed in London – reveals pledge to protect farmers for 15 years has been dropped.
"I don’t think they kept their promises before Brexit, they promised things to all men. It’s a huge betrayal," one farmer told TLE.
A new parliamentary report warned the “blind optimism” shown by Tory ministers could force many small and tenant farmers in England out of business - but environment secretary George Eustice insists UK farmers are better off since Brexit.
The 2016 referendum, which resulted in a narrow win for those campaigning to leave the European Union, has posed perhaps the most complex set of questions ever faced by a peacetime government.
Heinz's announcement that it was to start making ketchup in the UK again was widely hailed, but the UK's post-Brexit food and drink manufacturing sector still faces stern challenges.
Lord Debden says agreement ‘completely at odds with everything the government has promised’.
Senior Tory MP warns Brexit ‘destroying’ British agriculture and condemns government failure to act
14/12/2021
Minister under fire for rejecting moves to bring in EU farm workers – as vegetable planting plunges 25%.
UK has handed Australia whip hand in trade deal talks by being ‘desperate’, Boris Johnson warned
20/05/2021
‘It gives the Australians the ability to say, ‘we’ll dig in – here are our terms, but we’re not going to budge’.
British farming will struggle to compete if zero-tariff trade on lamb and beef goes ahead with a post-Brexit trade deal with Australia, the president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has said.
The UK's largest environmental charities have slammed the government for not doing enough to encourage an uptake in nature-friendly farming methods to tackle climate change.
‘Haphazard’ shift to post-Brexit payments scheme could put farmers out of business, MPs say
28/10/2021
Government must engage more coherently with farmers, or new plans will ‘fall at first hurdle’, committee warns.
This is how New Zealand TV is reporting the Brexit trade deal with the UK / They visibly can't believe their luck that British farming has been made the "sacrificial lamb" for a deal hugely beneficial to NZ with "negligeable benefits for UK farmers who get nothing in return"
Skills shortages and rising costs leave pig industry facing 'worst crisis in decades' [5 mins]
26/04/2022
Pig farmers are warning of a crisis that threatens a mass exodus from an industry facing a skills shortage as well as huge increases in costs of feed and energy.
The number of seasonal workers applying to work at one Kent-based company is down 90% in the last two years and there are fears for the future.
Alarm raised over business ‘barriers’ which ‘cost jobs and money in the UK’ – as public unhappiness confirmed. / “no appetite for widespread deregulation or divergence from EU rules” – UK Trade and Business Commission
‘Don’t let Brexit obliterate us’: Pig farmers protest at Tory conference amid cull warning
04/10/2021
Farmers dressed in pig costumes have protested outside the Conservative Party conference amid warnings that more than 100,000 pigs could be culled.
The potential threats of Brexit to Scottish farmers continue to 'vastly outweigh' the potential opportunities, NFU Scotland has warned one year on from UK withdrawal.
As changes wrought by Brexit slash and burn £1.8bn of direct payments to English farmers by 2027, experts warn that government optimism over agriculture in England is dangerously misplaced.
Australia deal will cause £94m blow to UK farming, fishing and forestry, government admits
21/12/2021
Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit trade deal with Australia will damage the UK’s agriculture and food sectors by hundreds of millions of pounds, according to the government’s own impact assessment.
An island nation must trade with its nearest mainland, whatever our new Brexit opportunities minister claims.
'Sir Roger Gale (Tory MP) says one farming business in his constituency has had to trash £320,000 worth of produce due to no pickers and no drivers.'
15/09/2021
Sir Roger Gale (Tory MP) says one farming business in his constituency has had to trash £320,000 worth of produce due to no pickers and no drivers. / There are cries of “Brexit, Brexit” around the house… and the Govt front bench looks nervous.
“I just cannot accept it, we are seeing our industry slowly being destroyed” - @neil_parish quizzing Home Office minister Kevin Foster at @CommonsEFRA committee on labour shortages in food and farming.
Farmgate prices for lamb and beef have hit a new high over the first months of 2021.
Scottish farmers say a post-Brexit ban on exporting seed potatoes to the EU is facing them with a ‘huge financial hit’. / The UK Government’s being urged to strike a deal with Brussels to resume trade – which has also restricted business with Northern Ireland.