Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers has sought to allay farmers' fears that British food standards could be undermined in a post-Brexit rush to secure new trade deals.
British farmers have raised serious concerns that the farming industry could be sacrificed to seal trade deals with countries like the United States.
Industry groups have been strenuously lobbying to ensure that the UK market is not thrown open to lower standard food imports.
At today's (8 January) Oxford Farming Conference, Villiers insisted that high standards of animal welfare and farming would be maintained after Brexit, telling delegates that backing better standards was a core part of the government's approach.
“We can maintain and, indeed, enhance UK standards as we negotiate new trading relationships with friends and neighbours in the EU and other leading global economies,” she said.
“I will continue to work with you and others across the food and farming sector as these negotiations progress to understand your concerns to make sure your voice is heard loud and clear at the negotiating table in international forums,” she said.
“Please be reassured. We hear this. We will not imperil our domestic and international reputation built on quality and grounded in our shared national values.
“We will not dilute our strong environmental protections. We will not dilute our high standards of food safety and animal welfare.”
She insisted that the government would defend the UK's national interests strongly and it would be prepared to walk away from trade negotiations if that was in the national interest.
However, the Secretary of State's reassurance fell short of NFU demands for promises to be enshrined in law.
Speaking at the same conference, NFU president Minette Batters called on the government to commit to introducing a food standards commission to scrutinise future trade deals.
She said the NFU would never accept British farmers being put out of business because of a trade deal that allowed imports of food that would be illegal for farmers to produce in the UK.
A new food standards commission must be a fundamental part of how the government approached trade deals and should be backed by legislation in the Agriculture Bill, she said.
It needed the ability to scrutinise proposals in trade deals and make recommendations on the UK’s future food trade policy to ensure that UK farming’s high production standards would not be undermined, with a requirement for the government to act on these recommendations, said the NFU president.
“This year will be the greatest reset for our food and farming system since the 1940s and the decisions made by this government will be felt for decades to come.
“We must once again recognise that there is nothing more important to our economy, our health and our environment than the very food we eat.”
She said: “This all comes back to how we value our food and farming standards. British farmers are world leading in our standards of animal welfare, environmental protection and food safety.
“Farmers and the public want it to stay that way, which is why it is crucial that the government introduces a food standards commission that can scrutinise future trade deals and ensure we do not allow imports of food that would be illegal for our farmers to produce here.
“This needs to be backed in legislation by the Agriculture Bill – which will be so significant for our industry.”
Minette Batters said the government must ensure that the UK did not end up with a two-tier food system and import food that would be illegal for farmers to produce here. That was something that the NFU will never accept.
The Secretary of State was pressed by conference delegates to commit to creating the commission demanded by the NFU president, but Theresa Villiers refused to do so.
“I can see that this is potentially an effective means to ensure that we have appropriate scrutiny and working relationships between government and farmers and experts on trade discussions, but we continue to have this debate within government about whether that is the mechanism we are going to adopt or not.
“There are a number of groups already established to engage between government and business, including farmers, on trade negotiations but I will take your message back to my colleagues in Government as we decide whether a trade council needs to be set up.”
At one stage during the debate, conference delegates were invited to raise their hands if they believed that the government would protect farmers in trade negotiations. Not a single hand was raised in response to the invitation.
Another speaker at the conference, Craig Bennett, CEO of Friends of the Earth, also aired concerns about British farmers being let down during trade talks.
“Trade trumps everything. And I use the word Trump advisedly,” he said, “If we do trade deals with other countries that allow imports of food produced to lower standards that will undercut our farmers and be devastating to this industry.
“We have heard some warm words from the government on trade but they haven't yet said that they would turn down a trade deal with Donald Trump if that would result in importing lower standard food into this country.
“At the moment the conversation is about maintaining high standards in this country. That's very welcome. We have to also say that food will not be imported into this country unless it is made to similar standards.”
Brexit and eggs
The British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) has recently highlighted research that shows only EU tariffs currently protect British egg products from lower standard equivalents from countries like the US and India.
Mark Williams, chief executive of the group, says that 16 per cent of the cost of producing a dozen or a kilo of eggs in the European Union comes from EU legislation on food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection.
He has warned that pursuing a free trade policy with such countries would result in British farmers being significantly undercut.
But the government has already ignored pleas from the industry in confirming that egg imports will be zero tariff rated post-Brexit.
Under its temporary tariff regime, 88 per cent of total imports to the UK by value will be eligible for tariff free access. Grains, eggs, fruit and vegetables and a number of dairy products will all be tariff free.
Minette Batters has accused the government of betrayal over the decision and Robert Gooch, chief executive of the British Free Range Egg Producers' Association (BFREPA) has said that zero tariffs were a threat to UK egg production.
“Removing the current import tariffs on eggs presents an enormous risk to British free range egg farmers who lead the world in animal welfare and food safety standards,” he said.
“Removing this essential safeguard effectively opens the floodgates for eggs produced to standards that are illegal in this country to come pouring in if a no-deal Brexit materialises.
“With lower standards comes a cheaper product, which threatens to displace British eggs,” he said.
A recent report from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, produced by egg industry expert Peter van Horne, highlighted the importance of tariffs.
The report concluded that, without import levies, the European Union's egg sector would be under serious threat. In the EU, producers have to comply with regulations concerning environment, animal welfare and food safety.
The report said this raised total production costs by an estimated 16 per cent at farm level.
Peter van Horne said in his report that the production costs of shell eggs produced in enriched cages in the European Union in 2017 were, on average, 88 eurocents per kilogramme of eggs.
Between the main egg producing countries, the production costs of shell eggs in 2017 ranged from 96.3 eurocents per kilogramme of eggs in the Denmark to 82.3 eurocents per kilogramme of eggs in Spain.
The costs in the Netherlands, France and Italy were about the EU average, he said. Compared to the average level within the EU, the production cost of shell eggs in 2017 were 24 per cent lower in the USA, 22 per cent lower in Ukraine, 14 per cent lower in Argentina and 11 per cent lower in India, he said.
