New Zealand deal another blow to Scottish farmers - Martin Kennedy

Fears that UK Government’s trade deal agreed with Australia last year would set a dangerous precedent have been realised, farming organisations claimed this week.

Reacting with disappointment to the signing of a similar deal with New Zealand this week, farming groups said that despite the initial limits to be set on volumes, the move would ultimately grant another major food exporting nation unfettered access to the UK market - and claimed that the cumulative impact of all such deals on UK farmers and crofters would be substantial.

And organisations said that the move would see the UK potentially open up its borders to huge volumes of imported food, a significant proportion of which could have been produced to standards and in systems very different to those required in the UK

Warning that the impact of such a move on sensitive areas - such as dairy, beef, lamb and horticulture – would threaten the viability of Scottish and UK farmers at a time when consumers were looking for local produce, NFU Scotland added that the deal offered virtually nothing to Scottish farmers in return.

“As with the Australian deal, a cap on tariff-free imports is merely a slow journey to allow New Zealand, a major exporter of food and drink, unfettered access to food and drink UK markets,” said union president, Martin Kennedy

He added that while he recognised trade deals could help the industry identify and grasp export opportunities for the country’s world class produce ,this would require investment and collaboration between UK Government and the industry – adding that such a collaboration ‘did not exist at present’.

The deal, which will now face scrutiny by the Trade and Agriculture Commission before seeking Parliament’s approval, still threatened a significant increase in sheepmeat imports into the UK which would create an unnecessary risk for Britain’s sheep farmers in years to come, according to the National Sheep Association.

The organisation’s chief executive Phil Stocker said that although the current global supply and demand dynamics suggested there would be no sudden flood of New Zealand lamb into the UK, the deal could return to bite the sector in years to come – and allow the UK Government’s cheap food policy to continue its race to the bottom.

English NFU president, Minette Batters added that it was not the individual deals themselves but the cumulative impact of each deal when added together which represented the threat to UK farmers.

“UK farm businesses face significantly higher costs of production than farmers in New Zealand, and margins are likely to tighten further in the face of rising input costs, higher energy bills and labour shortages. “

She added that the UK Government should provide UK farmers with the levels of serious, long-term and properly funded investment which were enjoyed by producers in other nations to allow them to compete on a more level playing field.