Opinion: Farmers should make most of ‘Buy British’ mood

Despite many misgivings about so much of the way Brussels is run, I was on balance on the remain side of the Brexit debate and as such was inevitably surprised and disappointed at the result of the referendum.

But on reflection, we are where we are and we have to move on as a United Kingdom. What is needed now is strong leadership and pragmatism, not self-indulgent retrospection, gloating or bitterness.

© Food and Drink/REX/Shutterstock

We undoubtedly face a long and winding road, renegotiating our terms of trade with both Europe and the rest of the world. We should, if we haven’t already, quickly disabuse ourselves of any thought of achieving quick and favourable free-trade deals.

Equally, the notion that there will be some sort of bonfire of EU regulations to light the way forward into our brave new world, unencumbered by eurobureaucracy, should also be similarly set aside.

David Alvis is managing director of Yorkshire Dairy Goats

Since our entry into the Common Market in 1974, successive British governments have earned an unenviable reputation for gold-plating EU regulations and complicating the processes by which they are administered.

The ongoing farce that is the BPS is testament to this, as is our track record on dealing with bovine TB or the unilateral early introduction of higher animal welfare standards.

With the relative lobbying strength of UK agriculture outside the EU significantly reduced, rest assured we are not going to be given any sort of free rein to rewrite the rule book.

Furthermore, HM Treasury’s desire to reduce what it sees as market-distorting Pillar 1 direct payments will only have been bolstered by the Leave vote, and the distinct unease with which any questions directed to politicians on this issue have been answered post-referendum should give us a hint about what we might expect in future.

But it’s not all bad news. The weakening of sterling may have wiped billions off the value of the UK economy in a matter of hours, but it’s certainly perked up the markets a bit and made our exports look decidedly more competitive.

After all, agriculture’s historical track record of counter-cyclical good fortune in times of recession should lift the spirits as the country teeters on the precipice of another one.

Now is not the time for UK agriculture to be holding out the begging bowl. Expecting UK taxpayers, facing all manner of uncertainty, to happily sanction a domestic facsimile of the CAP is unrealistic and hardly progressive.

While providing a certain degree of historical market stability, the CAP has undoubtedly fostered a dependency culture and diverted attention away from the real market for what we produce, be it at home or abroad. It is a relic of the past and we need to look forward, not back.

See also: We have neglected our soils for too long

While developing export markets where we have a genuine competitive advantage will remain an important component of any future UK food and farming policy, it is our home market that is our biggest and hitherto perhaps most underexploited asset.

Whatever people’s reasons were for voting to come out of the EU, and I’m sure they were legion, it has ignited a sense of national identity that we must turn to our advantage.

Some 64 million – still relatively affluent – consumers need to eat every day and the better we understand and address their needs, the brighter our future will be .

We have a great opportunity right now to cast off the yoke of decades of support dependency and engage positively with consumers, riding the wave of post-Brexit national pride. 

Surely that is one legacy of Brexit that is worth capitalising on?