World Grain - January 2020 - 46

FEATURE: BREXIT CERTAINTY... FOR A YEAR

The biggest concern over cereal farmers,
if I'm honest, is the reduction of direct
payments, even more so than trade.
Sarah Baker, strategic insight manager, AHDB

international commodity and trade will continue in
grain, but the loss of direct payments means that there
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They are going to have to work really hard to make
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Baker said AHDB is working hard on what characterizes the top 25% of performance and making sure
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the cereal industry to have an opportunity to reach
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IMPACT ON PRODUCERS
Sheila Ritchie, a member of the European Parliament,
representing Scotland, and a member of the parliaPHQW¶VDJULFXOWXUHFRPPLWWHHZDVFRQFHUQHGWKDW8.
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has not even bothered to look at the proposed CAP reIRUPXQWLOUHFHQWO\,¿QGFRPSOHWHO\DVWRQLVKLQJ´
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of the Renew Europe Group of MEPs, expected much
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"If British agriculture, including the wheat sector,
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right in saying that was about 80% of wheat exports
last year, then it absolutely must be aligned with what's
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the European Parliament, "so that we come out on
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no-deal Brexit remains a possibility, particularly as
Johnson plays with this 'it'll all be done by the end of
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46

thought it was bonkers - my words not hers - to be
aiming for December 2020 because there was simply
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plenary at the parliament with the Brexiteers in full attendance, which is an unusual occurrence, heckling and
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She said the grains industry will have to become
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"Its productivity, in the contexts of standards and
quality, is going to have to improve consistency, and
it will probably have to look at niche markets in order
to be able to ensure that it has places to go with what
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other completely human thing to put into the equation
there is that the new trade commissioner is Phil Hogan,
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She understood that Irish Commissioner Hogan, who
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wanted him to be in charge of negotiations with Britain
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"If we think we are going to get a soft deal out of Phil
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"It was struggling with labor costs because so much
of farming has been dependent on Eastern European
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already disappeared, and it will disappear even further
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Chris Lyddon is World Grain's European correspondent.
He may be contacted at: chris.lyddon@ntlworld.com.
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to worldgrain@sosland.com. For reprints of WG articles,
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January 2020 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com
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World Grain - January 2020

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