At present I can take my sheep to Ashford market in the morning and the next day their carcasses are on the wholesale market on the continent, says Frank Langrish, the East Sussex farmer.
About 40 per cent of British lamb is exported to the European Union, where we get free and open access to over 500 million consumers. I don’t want anything put in the way of that, which is what I believe will happen if we vote to leave the EU.
The Brexit campaigners talk about renegotiating our trade arrangements with the EU and also the possibilities of trade with other parts of the world. However, I know from personal experience how hard it is to negotiate trade deals and how long it takes. When I was chairman of the British Wool Marketing Board we spent four years negotiating a wool deal with China. Then that was interrupted by the outbreak of foot and mouth disease and we spent another two years before we concluded the deal. Making deals is tough and takes time.
I believe farmers will be among the worst hit if barriers are put up by the EU to our trade in Europe, tariffs of 18 – 30% are likely to be imposed on sheep meat. Don’t forget how hostile the French farmers were to us- in the 1980’s they burnt trucks of imported sheep in protest at what they considered to be cheap imports. We thought the prices were good, they thought them low.
I also believe that even if trade deals can be successfully renegotiated with the EU, should we leave, we will still have to comply with their audited standards.
One has to remember that exports drive the price we farmers get for our sheep with the domestic market driving the price down because of the power of the big supermarkets. If it wasn’t for the export market to the EU I believe many sheep farmers, especially in marginal areas, would be put out of business.
That brings us to the issue of EU subsidies, that is the Common Agricultural Policy and its stewardship policies. Simon Wright, the East Guldeford farmer, in his article last week in Rye News, said his farm would be farmed completely differently without interference from the EU, with probably very few livestock, if any. His land would be ploughed for arable crops.
But the reason we still have the grazed landscape around Rye is because of the European subsidies. These help to keep the sheep that populate this landscape. Without the subsidies it simply wouldn’t be economical to keep sheep in the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve area where we have to utilise less intensive and less profitable farming methods to enable the considerable wildlife interest to be maintained. The way we husband the sheep in this area helps to produce the diverse grassland habitats. In addition, the subsidies help maintain many miles of drained ditches which are such an important part of the landscape.
Simon complains of the complex auditing system we have to go through with CAP and the Stewardship programme. Yes, the present bureaucratic system is over the top, but if we left the European Union and the British taxpayer wanted to support the environment in the same way I am sure the government will want to ensure the money is spent properly and as it directs. The present system of regulation is how our own civil servants have interpreted and acted upon the EU regulations and effectively gold plated the rules.
While EU subsidies to farmers are being reduced, we are suspicious that should Britain vote for Brexit our subsidies would not be at the top of the British government’s spending list. Substantial cuts are likely. Without the subsidies many of our smaller farmers would not survive and the landscape we enjoy around Rye could not be sustained. A report from independent consultants Agra Europe, said that EU subsidies accounted for 35-50 per cent of farmers’ gross income. Livestock prices have been low recently caused by world over supply of grain, subsidies are a protection measure that ensures food production is maintained in difficult times, it also ensures the price of food to the consumer remains low.
Farmers may not be at the top of voters’ lists of concerns but the EU, taking all concerns into account, has been a friend to the British farmers of East Sussex and helped preserve much of our grazed landscape.
Photo: Anastasia Vengerova
Subsidies, subsidies, subsidies all they ever think of is subsidies. Where does Mr Langrish think the money is coming from? But we do know subsidies are addictive hence Mr Langrish’s craving to keep them coming.
He knows full we ll that the (Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is along with the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) have been proved time and time again to be anti UK and corrupt.
The CAP is the mainstay of the German and French farming system. Invented largely by them and designed to pay them for doing virtually nothing.
The CFP another EU invention is a sick joke and has contributed to the demise of the UK fishing industry to the benefit of the French and particularly the Spanish.
Re the Civil Service gold plating the rules If the EU rules were not there then the Civil Service would have nothing to gold plate.
Mr Langrish would not want to comment on the minimum wage and zero hours contracts that are being utilised by large agri-businesses. A very large proportion of farm labour is now migrant sourced. An immigrant from Eastern Europe on £7.20p hour in the UK is on at least three times the wage he would get at home.
Good for him, good for the farmer but disastrous for local wage levels. Everybody gets told the same. Take it or leave it. Zero hours contracts which are an abomination them selves are a child of the EU.
The bottom line is the working people of this country, the pensioners and those who have contributed are sick of being sent to the back of the NHS, housing and services queue behind johnny come lately,s courtesy of the EU.
Of course most people are concerned about the environment and the green and pleasant lands around them. But a field full of sheep comes a lot further down the ladder than a decent paying job, a well earned comfortable home but without a two week wait to see a GP or a few weeks wait for ‘urgent’ surgery.
There is a better way —-out
A well-considered, non-hysterical, informed and valuable contribution to the EU debate. Thank you Frank for your thoughts.
Well said Loofaker,people must remember there are two sides, to every story.