The much-anticipated Agriculture Bill, tabled by Defra secretary Michael Gove today has answered several questions for Britain's agriculture industry, but keeps some cards to its chest.
The Bill, and the corresponding briefing released today, was likely to satisfy some but disappoint others. In such uncertain times, details are desperately sought, and much of the content concerned EU direct payments and their phasing out by 2027 in place of an Environemental Land Management system.
But on remaining issues such as labour, pesticides and supply chain fairness, policy suggestions remained broadly similar to plans suggested in the government'sHealth and Harmonywhite paper, released in February.
Jack Ward, of the British Growers Association, said much of the detail policy on subsidies will affect horticulture less than their livestock and dairy counterparts.
“The payments are less of an issue for fresh produce,” Ward said. “The move away from CAP is an opportunity to find out more about our capabilities but the support we’re looking for is in things like skills, training, R&D, and access to labour.”
The Soil Association’s Tom MacMillan, Director of Innovations said the “devil is in the detail” agreeing with other food and health industry groups that the bill should have included more on nutrition and health. “Over-riding all of this, however, is the widespread consensus that a no-deal or hard Brexit would be catastrophic for food standards, farmers and the environment,” MacMillan said.
Risk
This year’s horrendous growing conditions, featuring the twin punch of the “Beast from the East” followed by an unprecedented drought, highlighted the risk farmers face every year in planting and growing crops.
The Bill says the government will be consulting on improving access to insurance and risk management tools for farmers, as well as exploring how to better their own response to crises.
“The Government will conduct behavioural research and engage the farming and insurance sectors to further inform work in this area. Defra is consulting on barriers to wider development of insurance, futures contracts and other risk management tools for farmers. The Government is also considering how to improve the government response to major crises.
“The paper proposes “domestic provision for safety net mechanisms currently provided by the EU Common Market Organisation regulations, which will allow the government to intervene in such crises”
Fairness in the supply chain
One of the big issues for producers, championed by EFRA select committee chair Neil Parish, is supplier relationships. The recent merger of Sainsbury’s and Asda, alongside growing concentration of retailers has raised concerns over suppliers being squeezed.
Today's Bill briefing stated Defra wants to explore how “the collection and dissemination of market data could be improved to increase transparency, encourage better communication and the sharing of information, and support efficient working across the supply chain”.
It also touts “exploring the case for mandatory reporting of price and volume data” from producers, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers for some agricultural commodities.
Producer Organisations
On producer organisations, the briefing is aptly brief stating: “The paper promotes Producer Organisations as helping farmers increase their power in the supply chain. However, it is not clear how this diverges from current EU approaches.'
Seasonal workers
The bill acknowledges the new pilot scheme to allow 2,500 non-EU seasonal workers, and suggests further schemes could be setup in a matter of months. ”The UK Government has said that it is seeking a flexible migration policy overall and wants to ensure that post- Brexit there is “access to seasonal agricultural labour”.
“It has consistently said that it is keeping the need for re-introducing a SAWS under review but that this would be unnecessary as long as the UK retained free movement of labour with the EU. The Government has always said that it would be possible to establish a new scheme within a number of months if required.'
Pesticides and GM
On pesticides and GM, the government won’t break heavily with the status quo, with a technical notice last week already stating EU rules on GM will become UK law. Restrictions on neonicotinoids will remain in place, with the Bill stating the government's 25 Year Environmental Plan will encourage the minimum use of pesticides with a 'stronger emphasis on the holistic Integrated Pest Management approach'.
On GM the Bill affirmed: “The Government has said that the intention is for the EU rules to be converted into UK law so that a similar regulatory framework will apply after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Discussions are ongoing between Defra, the FSA and DAs on how best to convert the EU arrangements.”
Organic
The briefing confirms last week’s technical notice “could experience delays of up to 9 months after a no deal Brexit because UK organic control bodies offering the necessary certification would need to be approved for operation in the UK by the EU,” adding “the UK is hoping to find ways to speed this process up.”
