UKC

About the only areas I could see some argument for Brexit was around agricultural policy. Two recent stories seem to give hope for positive developments here:

The proposal to ban live exports for slaughter, and limit transport in the U.K. seems an undiluted good.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55167473

The reworking of CAP may need some refinement - but the levers for large scale land reform are in our hands, and also notably in the hands of the devolved administrations.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55102891

I appreciate the timing of these announcements is politically motivated, but am I wrong to see them as evidence of some tangible Brexit bonus?

Agree about animal welfare although its been claimed that UK being in EU was a pressure for animal rights throughout Europe. However not necessarily "undiluted" regarding financial returns for farming.

The levers may be in our hands but do we trust the current politicians to use them in a good way, especially if Brexit causes lasting economic damage?

I hope you're right.

Fair financial point - although the high value export trade for live breeding stock will be retained.

Do we trust these politicians? No more than i can throw Boris

Brexit is for life, not just for Christmas (or words to that effect).

We aren't just leaving for the duration of this government. Like it or not "taking back control" means any and all future governments have these powers at their disposal. Can we trust all future EU politicians to use their powers in a good way?

In Reply to Dr.S at work

Yes the CAP and CFP are a farce and it would be hard for the UK not to come up with something better.

That's one of those challenges I think that they may pull out all the stops on! Track record and all that.

I would hope it would improve (it surely cant be much worse than the negative impact the French have had) but, at least in England, I am not sure the government will stop representing the big landowners rather than anyone else so it depends what they want.

Not convinced. Over time a "deal" will evolve that looks suspiciously like being back in the EU on much worse terms. 

Hmm. As the newly minted proprietor of a croft, I'll be watching what happens with interest. I was happy to see that it's a devolved area as I lean far more towards the environmental direction than I do in the productivity direction and I suspect the Tories lean very much the other way. Maybe the SNP are somewhere in the middle. I guess time will tell.

What I would find very ironic and immensely entertaining is if the UK nations come up with a much better alternative to the CAP and the EU decide to copy it!

We could veto them if they didn't.

LOL, has 2020 passed you by? Doing far worse than even our low expectation is this government's signature. Expect these new powers to be used for more corporate looting then when the consequences of allowing that become apparent and start costing rural votes I expect they'll throw our money at those they shafted in order to pay off their donors.

jk

One presumes the government is also banning the import of live animals as well? Like the 500,000 pigs a year from Ireland.

It sounds good, however I'd be concerned that phasing out the current subsidies (and no doubt presenting costs to farmers while they adjust to the new scheme), at the same time as opening our markets to low-standard subsidised farmers in the US, might kill UK farming.

We can certainly trust them to use their powers in a better way then the current UK government.........but yes, in the future, a more specific UK agriculture policy is no bad thing, as long as we can take account of Ireland, which is very closely linked to the UK in all things agricultural for the benefit of both countries.

I think that particular one will be another complication that is hard to resolve - but in general I would hope so. 

Yes that, erm, ‘transition period’, will be critical, and we must be careful not to offshore food production with lowered standards by the back door.

Not to mention the Eire/N Ireland border problem and the WTO  rules.

I would suggest, the current government is very much intent on off-shoring our food production with lowered standards.

The ability to do so is one of the "benefits" of Brexit.

Interestingly, the conservatives seen to have picked up the vote in the former mining areas they decimated, just in time to f*ck over the farming communities that traditionally voted for them.

more food miles seems a bright idea

The other is the possibility, ha ha, to reduce fishing as common fisheries policy unsustainable. 

Not holding my breath. 

Whilst we.need rules on transport banning live exports is a crude measure that is based more on a desire to court popularity than practical considerations.  If you farm in the south-east journeys times to abattoirs in northern Europe can be as rapid as to alternatives on the UK mainland.

It needs one hell of a lot of refinement, as we move into the transition period the only thing that is clear is the rate at which payments and under the current scheme will be reduced

CFP? I hope you are joking.

We've finally some sustainable catches in industrially fished seas.

Is it perfect? No, and it started off badly but it has slowly turned around. (turning).

It undoubtably needs continual work but to not have a centralized fishery policy, an ecosystem level based approach is absolute stupidity. Brexit and the fisheries policy is one place where it is just stupidity.

Cheers

Dr Ridgway

PhD Fisheries Biology

How can they? How do you decide who catches how much of each species at different stages of their migrations through each others waters?

I nearly started a similar thread, CAP was really the one area that could be argued as a case for Brexit but a strong and nuanced argument for this was never put forward. If it can now be changed to something that rewards diverse use of land, rewilding, crop rotation, flood plain management, reinstatement of hedgerows etc then great. 

I'm sure this could have been argued for from within the EU system, especially as its time has come.

Its a shame the idiots in charge of Brexit decided that fishing was the hill they wanted to die on, because fishing was a much more complex problem and the fishermen are slowly beginning to realise that they may have been screwed.

clearly it’s a simple measure rather than assessing each movement as an individual event - that may mean some sensible journeys are lost, but should cut out the really daft ones. Its been a whilst since I did pre-export certification work, but some of it was silly.

So what would you like it to look like Tim?