Irish farmers’ union the IFA has said that uncertainty over Brexit means the EU should exclude beef from the Mercosur trade deal with South American nations.

Following reports this week that beef may be included in the trade deal, IFA President Joe Healy said, “The stark reality is that without the UK market, the EU beef sector would become 116% self-sufficient and there is simply no room for any additional beef imports. The EU Commission must insist that beef is excluded from the Mercosur trade discussions.”

Healy said that Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed recently made it clear at a Beef Forum meeting that Ireland’s position is that beef must be excluded from any deal. He went on, “IFA fully supports this strong stance by the Minister. As well as support from the French, Minister Creed needs to build stronger support for this position with EU colleagues.”

The IFA boss said the EU Commission’s own cumulative impact study on trade deals has shown that beef is extremely exposed and a very sensitive sector. Major EU beef producers, including Spain, France and Italy have been vocal in their opposition to this element of the trade deal.

The IFA president’s announcement comes after debate over the conditions of a possible UK-US trade deal revealed a split in the UK Cabinet. Whilst some ministers have sought to reassure that agriculture won’t be part of any trade deal that could expose UK markets to cheaper meat imports produced using methods that are currently illegal in the EU (and therefore UK), other senior government figures have sought to downplay the issue as one potential facet of a trade deal which is only in its earliest stages, and other senior Tories have given their backing to imports of hormone-treated beef and chlorine-washed chicken.

Commenting on Tuesday, Joe Healy said the recent Brazilian meat scandal should have implications for the terms of the EU-Mercosur trade deal. He suggested that a deal that included beef would open up EU markets to meat that doesn’t meet domestic standards on the key requirements of traceability, food safety, animal health and welfare controls and environmental production.

Joe Healy said it would be an absolute contradiction of EU policy on climate change to for Europe to agree a Mercosur deal that increases beef imports and replaces sustainably produced EU beef with product from South America that has a much higher carbon footprint. He said, “It is well established that the growth in South American beef exports and particularly exports from Brazil has come about on the back of widespread destruction of the Rainforest in the Pantanal and Amazon regions.”