Kicker: Supermarket chief says farmers suffering as a result of Brexit support
By Jane Thynne
INDUSTRY leaders have warned selling out farmers in order to secure future trade deals will put further pressure on the UKs increasingly fragile domestic food sector.
It comes as an anonymous supermarket chief executive suggested the agricultural industry was suffering as a direct result of its support for Brexit, on the BBC Food Programme podcast last week.
He said a lot of farmers voted for Brexit which was a vote to expose themselves to world markets but the UK produced very little which was competitive on world markets which meant farming was dependent on a Buy British narrative which had been successful on meat and dairy but not elsewhere.
The worrying thing though is that as we do trade deals and people see the price difference of New Zealand lamb for example... a lot of consumers will shift and supermarkets will, to some extent, inevitably shift with them.
Industry leaders, speaking to a meeting of the UK Trade and Business Commission to discuss the impact of Brexit and future export opportunities, have warned of more market contraction as the Government looks further afield for trade deals.
British Poultry Council chief executive Richard Griffiths said the UKs current relationship with the EU was a clear indicator of what farmers can expect from future trade deals, with an imbalance in trade.
He said UK businesses were at a disadvantage with cost of exporting not reflected in the cost of importing.
The more it costs and the more imbalance there is in our trading relationships, the greater the impact on our domestic food.
Mr Griffiths added the Governments desperation to look further afield for trade deals has led to a lack of focus on the benefits for the UK.
Save British Food founder Liz Webster said farmers were being led like lambs to the slaughter in order to secure deals to boost other commercial sectors.
She questioned why the Government wanted to rely on the Pacific nations to provide food rather than British farmers.
Horticultural businesses are collapsing on our doorstep, so we fly in lettuce from Mexico rather than support them. It makes no sense, she said.
There is no-one championing British produce and, by collapsing domestic production, we are being held to ransom by world markets.
