NFU Cymru uses Christmas message to highlight dangers of a 'no deal' Brexit

Any future policy must have “food production at its core”, supporting the people that “take the financial and business risks associated with producing food”
Any future policy must have “food production at its core”, supporting the people that “take the financial and business risks associated with producing food”

Welsh farming is “staring into the abyss” of a 'no deal' Brexit scenario, which would see farmers locked out of their largest and closest export market, a farming leader has said in his Christmas message.

John Davies, President of NFU Cymru has used his annual speech to urge all parties and factions to come together in the best interests of the country.

He calls on the Government to secure the continued free and frictionless trade that Wales' £7 billion food and drink industry needs to “continue to grow”, both in terms of value and jobs to Wales.

Welsh farmers have frequently said that Brexit is the single biggest challenge facing sector within Wales.

For example, around a third of the Welsh lamb crop is exported and over 90% of this goes to the EU.

Mr Davies said: “Whilst we continue to hope that our Government and Parliament in Westminster will be able to navigate their way to a deal with the EU that delivers our key trade asks, if that is not achievable then all other options that avoid a catastrophic no deal scenario must be actively considered.

“It will be a dereliction of duty by our politicians if they simply allow the clock to run down to a ‘no deal’ Brexit.”

Farmers in their thousands have made their views known on the Welsh Government’s proposals for a post-Brexit agriculture policy for Wales.

It proposes a phased withdrawal of the EU's Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) to be replaced by two new schemes; an Economic Resilience Scheme and a Public Goods Scheme. The plan is to phase them in from 2020.

But Mr Davies said that a future policy must have “food production at its core”, supporting the people that “take the financial and business risks associated with producing food”.

Both NFU Cymru and the Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW) believe the proposals lack acknowledgement of the importance of food production.

“We need a policy that will underpin the development of ‘Brand Wales’, a brand to help market and promote Wales to the world on the basis of high quality food production underpinned by a strong natural asset base,” Mr Davies said.

He goes on to criticise the Welsh Government for forgetting the importance of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to farmers.

The CAP currently supports a Welsh agricultural industry that employs over 50,000 people on farms and has a gross output of nearly £1.6 billion.

“For nearly half a century the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has provided the stability that the industry has needed to ensure a secure supply of safe, high quality, traceable and affordable food valued by the consumer,” Mr Davies explained.

“It seems to me that Welsh Government, in its criticism of the CAP, forgets the importance of the CAP in underpinning the regular and affordable supply of food to the consumer.

“I believe Welsh Government has overlooked this important role of the CAP and how prone food supply chains are to political instability, protectionism, trade bans and weather extremes across the globe.

“The CAP has delivered, providing a level of stability to farming businesses to cope with shocks that are completely outside a farmer’s control and this in turn has ensured continuity of supply to our food processors and, ultimately, the consumer.”

He added: “No farmer would say the CAP is perfect; we all accept the need for further change and evolution of policy. But what we must do is ensure that we build on the stable base that we have and design a new policy for Wales that meets our ambition for the further sustainable growth of our farming businesses, the food supply chain and our rural communities.”