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NFFN's UK Manifesto: Trade deals which don’t undermine UK standards – our CEO’s perspective

United Kingdom
Policy & Views
policy

This blog supports the key asks found in our UK Manifesto 'A Field of View'

It is a perennial source of frustration to NFFN CEO Martin Lines that, as governments ask UK farmers to meet higher standards of animal welfare and environmental protection, supermarket shelves are stacked with imported food from countries with far lower levels of regulation. 

“Farmers are being undercut,” he says. “To give one example, we are going to see significant amounts of Australian and New Zealand lamb in the country, and while we shouldn’t see this as a problem, we do need to recognise these products could be held to different, often lower, standards. As farmers, we will happily compete with farming systems worldwide, but it has to be a level playing field when it comes to production standards.”

It is a problem that has increased since the Brexit vote in 2016, with governments increasingly looking to distance themselves from the European Union and project an image of a Global Britain. “There are still too many people in politics who think that whatever other nations eat is safe for us to import as well,” Martin says. “Many politicians champion the economic benefits of free trade, often overlooking the crucial health and safety standards of imports."

We wouldn’t import cars without brakes or seatbelts because there is an agreed standard on what is best for citizens, yet we are importing food with shockingly low standards that is harmful to people and the planet.

Martin Lines, CEO of NFFN

Martin explains that having lower standards for imported food to strike trade deals does not reflect the wishes of either UK farmers or the general public. “The UK population wants to see high animal welfare standards,” he says. “At the same time, we must deliver nature recovery and climate mitigation. What we can’t do is work to very high standards here and then import cheaper products while exporting our environmental footprint to other nations around the world.”

It's a problem Martin has personal experience of as an arable farmer in Cambridgeshire. “We are currently importing milling wheat and oilseed rape, which is being produced using pesticides that were banned here years ago because of the harm they caused to citizens and the environment. It is crazy. It might be wonderful that I have lots of biodiversity on my farm because I’m not using insecticides and am minimising pesticide use, but that does impact my production and increases the risks. I can’t compete if products are being imported which are cheaper because they are using pesticides that are decimating nature in other places around the world.”

Martin says it is the job of the UK government to stand up for high standards when signing trade deals and shut the door on substandard imports. He says potential fears about food security if imports are restricted are unfounded when at least a third of food produced in the UK is currently thrown away and large amounts of land are used for growing crops that are not fed to people. He wants to see loopholes closed and stricter regulations introduced and enforced.

“The government is currently turning a blind eye to what is being imported,” he says. “Unlike products such as sustainable timber, which are assessed for their environmental impact, food—the primary driver of adverse climate and biodiversity outcomes globally—lacks a similar measure in the UK for regulating imports and driving improvements. Producers and retailers in the global supply chain can’t act alone on this due to being disadvantaged in the market, so it’s up to the UK government to step up and deliver a framework that ensures we head in the right direction.

“We wouldn’t import cars without brakes or seatbelts because there is an agreed standard on what is best for citizens, yet we are importing food with shockingly low standards that is harmful to people and the planet.”