NFU Scotland has welcomed the passage of the UK Agriculture Bill in Westminster this week as a significant step forward in securing a prosperous future for the agriculture sector in Scotland and the UK after the end of transition.
Since the outset of the Bill – now an Act of Parliament – NFUS and other UK farming unions have argued that the legislation must enable farmers, crofters and growers across the UK to increase their productivity and ability to supply a burgeoning export market in a manner which builds on existing, world-leading standards of production.
Following extensive debate about the lack of recognition on the face of the Bill for domestic standards of production and the potential implications of future trade deals, NFUS and the UK farming unions secured a significant win with the inclusion of a last-minute amendment that will significantly improve the scrutiny of new trade agreements in terms of their potential implications on animal and plant health and welfare, the environment, and food standards.
The Bill deals largely with future agricultural policy in England. Given the devolved nature of agricultural policy, Scotland will set its own agenda through the Agriculture (EU Retained Law and Data) (Scotland) Bill that has completed its journey through the Scottish Parliament – enabling the continuity and improvement of CAP schemes through 2021 to 2024 and the development and delivery of new agricultural and rural policy from 2024.
However, following NFUS lobbying the Agriculture Bill passed today also includes a mechanism to resolve the long-standing issue of red meat levy repatriation – ensuring the return of millions of pounds of levy funding back to Scotland to support our beef, lamb and pork sectors.
President Andrew McCornick who farms in Dumfries and Galloway said: “The UK Agriculture Bill is largely an enabling act for future agricultural policy in England, and Scotland has set its own policy direction through its own Bill.
“However, we have extensively engaged in the passage of the Bill, which is now an Act of Parliament, on the UK-wide elements which are of key strategic importance to agriculture in Scotland.
“The passage of the Agriculture Bill has been a long and sometimes politically fractious journey, however NFUS strongly believes that with the inclusion of the government’s last-minute amendment on scrutiny of future trade deals and agricultural standards should ensure that the Act delivers what the agriculture sector needs – a basis on which to productively grow agricultural businesses and reap the benefits of the UK’s new independent trade policy.
“Having campaigned for many years for a mechanism to return lost red meat levy funding to the industry in Scotland, NFUS welcomed that the UK Government had heeded industry concerns and introduced the mechanism to resolve this issue in the Bill.
“In another lobbying win, the new Act will also ensure that the government works with the devolved administrations to gather data and report on food security in the UK – a measure which has only become more important in the face of the Covid-19 crisis this year.
“NFUS thanks Ministers and MPs from all benches for their close and constructive engagement with the sector throughout the passage of the Act.”
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