ADVERTISEMENT

U.K. Farm Union Chief Says Brexit Has Put Everything on Hold

U.K. Farming Union Chief Says Brexit Has Put Everything on Hold

(Bloomberg) --

Brexit uncertainty has dominated Minette Batters’s first year leading the U.K.’s National Farmers Union, and she expects the industry’s concerns to last a while yet.

Investment in U.K. farming has slowed because of Brexit, said Batters, the first woman to lead the NFU in its 110-year history. She also criticized the government for not doing enough on food security and the decline in foreign workers willing to harvest crops on British farms.

“This uncertainty is putting everything on hold,” Batters, 50, said in an interview in London. “It’s very bad for farm businesses, processors, manufacturers that have put a huge investment in this market and now wonder if it’s the right place to keep the investment.”

U.K. Farm Union Chief Says Brexit Has Put Everything on Hold
U.K. Farm Union Chief Says Brexit Has Put Everything on Hold

Trade with the EU is key for Britain because the bloc accounts for about two-thirds of the country’s food exports and is a major supplier. The uncertainty has hurt farmers’ confidence and led them to reduce spending, while last year some fruit was left to rot in fields amid shortages of seasonal workers.

The government needs to do more to ensure food supplies aren’t threatened by Brexit, according to Batters, who said her childhood dream was to farm. Since her family didn’t own a farm, she got into the business through a tenancy farm and now works with cows, sheep and arable land in Wiltshire, southwest England.

“I don’t think successive governments have taken food production, food security particularly seriously because we’ve lived within Europe and it’s been a very easy trading relationship,” she said.

Export Concern

Batters said leaving the EU without a deal would be “very, very bad” for the industry, and having to trade under World Trade Organization terms would make exports to the key EU market more expensive. She said the U.K. has been a “lazy” exporter compared with the likes of Germany or Denmark, and if it needs to open up new markets, the government should better promote food exports around the world.

U.K. Farm Union Chief Says Brexit Has Put Everything on Hold

The risk of a no-deal Brexit has increased after Theresa May’s decision to step down as prime minister. Boris Johnson, the favorite to replace her, on Wednesday said he isn’t aiming for such an exit, but the option must be kept on the table. Among the other contenders to lead the country is Environment Secretary Michael Gove.

Batters, who became NFU president in February 2018, said the NFU doesn’t support any candidate more than others. Still, “we would want a prime minister who wants to understand our industry, who values agriculture as the primary industry that is the engine for rural Britain.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Irene García Pérez in London at igarciaperez@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Nicholas Larkin

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.