Following a meeting with environment secretary Angela Leadsom this week, NFU president Meurig Raymond said the union is relieved that the Defra secretary appears to share its concerns for farmers’ wellbeing post-Brexit.

At the meeting, the NFU president urged the government to place equal priority on food and farming as well as other economic sectors in upcoming negotiations, and said that any free trade deals must not come at farmers’ expense; food experts have stated that certain deals the government has indicated it might pursue could leave farmers exposed to cheaper imports.    

Mr Raymond said, “We set out firmly that high standards of UK farm production must not be sacrificed in a free trade deal and I was pleased to hear that Mrs Leadsom agreed with us on that. British food cannot withstand a market flooded with imports produced to lower standards – there was universal understanding of this in the meeting.

“We welcomed her initiative to explore new markets outside the EU such as China where she has held talks recently but stressed that retaining key export markets for agricultural commodities, such as those to the EU, is vital for many UK farming sectors.”

The talks also touched on the need for farmers to retain access to overseas labour, and Mr Raymond said the NFUs desires “unfettered” access to the EU’s single market for farmers, even after Brexit.

Mr Raymond and Ms Leadsom also discussed the 2016 Basic Payment Scheme, after the disruptive delays experienced in the scheme’s first year.

After the meeting, Mr Raymond said, “We were clear that the RPA’s target to pay 90% of claimants in December was a welcome one for English farming. But we are acutely aware that RPA is already warning BPS claimants, such as those on commons or cross-border holdings, to plan for a later payment.  It is not acceptable that these same farms could be paid late in the payment window for the second year running.

“We were robust in our calls to Mrs Leadsom and the RPA that these farmers are paid as soon as possible and if that is not possible then Government must urgently plan for an early bridging payment to avoid the repercussions of last year.”