BREXIT Agriculture
FARMAG
No deal is nothing short of cataclysmic for millions working in UK’s food and farming industries
Boris Johnson was greeted with an unequivocal warning during his first prime ministerial visit to Wales in July: a “catastrophic” hard Brexit will result in “civil unrest” among those that depend on the country’s rural economy.
Sheep farmers, who face tariffs of 40 per cent that will devastate their livelihoods, made their stance particularly clear, with the National Sheep Association warning that its members will block roads if there is a no deal Brexit.
“The talk of Welsh farmers rioting is because their whole way of life will be gone under a no deal Brexit,” explained Unite national rural and agricultural committee member and farm worker Steve Leniec.
“But it’s not just lamb, it’s beef and various other things we export to Europe. Market access for these products will go if there’s no deal.”
Industry specialists warn that half of farms could go fail if the UK crashes out of the EU – where most of UK food produce is sold – with overall profits for the sector
sliding by 18 per cent, or £850m, a year. Under a no deal Brexit, the UK will revert to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, meaning beef carcasses facing tariffs of 92 per cent, pigs 53 per cent, cheddar 43 per cent and skimmed milk 74 per cent.
The food industry, which accounts for 17 per cent of all UK manufacturing, employs 450,000 people in the UK, with more than 4m jobs supported in the supply chain.
A no deal Brexit will be calamitous for UK farming and risks jobs losses and rising food prices, the Parliamentary Committee for Exiting the EU has warned.
Brexit uncertainty is already impacting food, drink and agriculture (FDA) firms that rely on EU labour or have close links with the continent.
Moy Park, Northern Ireland’s biggest employer with 8,000 staff, has tried to shield itself from damage by moving its headquarters and research and development departments across the border to the Republic of Ireland.
16 uniteWORKS Autumn 2019
Farms and food companies that rely on EU staff are gravely concerned that labour shortages that began to bite in earnest after the referendum in 2016 will get worse. This would result in crops being left to rot in fields and factories unable to operate properly.
The number of EU migrant workers coming to the UK dropped by 10 per cent in 2017, 13 per cent in 2018 and a further 13 per cent fall is expected this year.
EU farm workers in Oxfordshire have already started to look for work in other countries, Leniec said, and he expects the trend to get worse if there is a no deal Brexit. “They don’t feel welcome and the pound has absolutely tanked so they’re not earning what they were. This year, crops have been left unpicked and that’s just with the threat of a hard Brexit. If there’s no deal there’s going to be even less workers coming over,” said Leniec.
The danger that food will rot if no deal comes to pass is not just limited to crops being left in the fields.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
