News
In the latest edition of Scottish Farmer magazine, dated Saturday 23rd May, contributor Brain Henderson highlights major concerns over dynamic alignment with the EU on Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) regulations.
Since the UK left the EU, significant restrictions on agri-chemical use has seen as many as 60 of the commonly used chemicals in UK arable farming receive restrictions on their use or even total bans. These chemical have been reviewed by UK regulators and continue to be approved for use, so the implementation of EU rules would see UK arable farmers severely impacted by rules which our own regulators believe to not be necessary.
As the article states, a conservative estimate on the impact of these restrictions, that again UK regulators deem to be unnecessary, could be as much as £810 million per year in gross income for the arable farming sector - equivalent to 6% of gross value add (GVA) of UK crop production.
The article goes on to say that, as highlighted by the farm consultancy Andersons, the loss of these key crop protection products would result in an overall decrease in crop production in the UK, across the board. The article cites cites examples of as much as 16% reduction in wheat output, and up to 6% reduction in potatoes. This would of course, as the consultancy states, have major implications not only the arable farming sector but also UK food security.
- Read the article in the latest edition of Scottish Farmer on Pressreader (account required)
