5 top priorities for Welsh agriculture after Brexit

The National Assembly in Wales has outlined its five key priorities for agriculture after Brexit.
The Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee report stresses the importance to Welsh exports of retaining access to the single market and the current level of funding Welsh agriculture receives through the Common Agricultural Policy.
See also: Groundwork prepared for targeted badger culling in Wales
It also highlights the importance of ensuring the Welsh government will have a say in a future UK agricultural policy, rather than a UK-led policy dictated by Westminster to the devolved administrations.
Committee chair Mark Reckless said: “We can only take advantage of this opportunity to reinvigorate our rural communities by ensuring that we, in Wales, do not lose out as a result of the vote to leave.”
1. Access to the EU single market
The committee recommends Wales retains access to the single market by either UK membership of the European Free Trade Association or the EU Customs Union. Losing access would be “grave” for Welsh agriculture.
It also calls for Hyby Cig Cymru and the Welsh government to produce a 12-month strategy to grow the red meat sector to mitigate against the potential effect of leaving the UK on Welsh exports.
2. Appropriate level of funding
The UK government must maintain the current level of funding in Wales until at least 2021, and the Welsh government must commit to spending this on agriculture and rural development.
The constituent nations of the UK must together agree a mechanism to determine funding in the longer term, but the committee said there is “little evidence” that the level of co-operation that would be required is in place already and this is a “cause for concern”.
3. Regulatory framework that supports farming
The opportunity for reforming regulations should draw on the views of food producers, while ensuring continued support for the production of high-quality food and the widest possible access to markets.
The committee fully backs the Welsh government’s proposals for the joint ministerial committee to be developed into a “UK Council of Ministers”.
4. Access to labour
The Welsh government should seize the opportunity to consider its workforce planning for the agricultural and food-processing sector.
The Welsh and UK governments should begin work immediately to ensure Wales’ labour needs are fully reflected in negotiations, while assessing the skills shortages Welsh businesses may face as a result of a possible reduction in migrant labour.
5. Transitional arrangements
The Welsh and UK governments must ensure the transitional arrangements are a central focus of the proposed UK Council of Ministers.
Ministers must ensure a transition period for future funding arrangements equivalent to the duration of the remainder of the current and the next CAP funding cycles.