Farming union underlines importance of EU market access to Eustice
The need to secure a comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU was top of the agenda when NFU Cymru recently met with farming minister George Eustice.
The farming union stressed to the Defra Minister the importance of the UK government securing continued free and unfettered access to EU markets upon the UK’s departure from the EU in March 2019.
Trade with the EU is seen as critical to the Welsh food and farming sector, with around three quarters of its food and drink exports and nearly 40% of lamb being exported to the EU.
NFU Cymru President Stephen James said: “A ‘no deal’ scenario and moving to World Trade Organisation ‘most-favoured nation’ status - with Tariffs of 40% and more on many cuts of red meat - would be a major issue for Welsh agriculture and the wider rural economy.
“Mr Eustice told us that a comprehensive free trade agreement was in the interests of both the UK and also the EU given the level of trade between the UK and EU, and we discussed the need to plan for all eventualities.”
Discussions also took place surrounding a future domestic agricultural policy. Mr James said agriculture is fully devolved to the National Assembly for Wales, and that NFU Cymru wants to see the UK and devolved governments working together to mutually agree common policy and budgetary frameworks that provide "sufficient flexibility" for each administration to recognise the specific needs of farming within their country, whilst ensuring that internal markets are not created within the UK.
'Vision for Farming'
NFU Cymru representatives presented the Mr Eustice with copies of the union’s ‘Vision for the Future of Farming’ papers and talked through ideas for supporting measures to help improve the productivity of Welsh and UK agriculture.
NFU Cymru Deputy President, John Davies added: “Productivity measures, such as investment support alongside advanced knowledge transfer and investment in farmer led research and development, have the potential to not only improve productivity on farm, but also help improve our environmental performance whilst meeting our climate change obligations, too.
“It was good to talk through our ideas with Mr Eustice and Mr Bebb. Wales has a rich history in agricultural research, particularly with regards to plant breeding, and we need to ensure that adequate funding continues to be provided to drive forward applied research and development to help us get the best from our predominately pasture-based systems in Wales.”
NFU Cymru also used the meeting to discuss a number of other issues, including the opportunities to improve the amount of domestic produce used in public procurement contracts and the need for clear and transparent food labelling in both the retail and food service sectors.
