Auction Finder
21 Aug 2018
LAMMA 2021
25 May 2021
'Standards encapsulate the values of a nation and UK ag is right to focus on them' - business chief tells NFU20
Standards encapsulate the values of a nation and the UK is ‘absolutely right’ to highlight the importance of upholding them as the Government negotiates new trade deals.
Olivia Midgley
Carolyn Fairbairn, director general at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), told NFU Conference trade was a ‘contact sport’ and while businesses were rightly nervous about the future trading environment outside the EU, there were opportunities to be grasped.
She said it was down to the UK and organisations like the NFU to hammer home the importance of trade priorities and help countries such as the US to understand why factors such as animal welfare and reducing antibiotic use were so important.
“Standards encapsulate who we are as a country in terms of animal welfare, food safety how we care for the environment and employment standards,” she told delegates at the ICC in Birmingham.
“They are about who we are as a nation. It is absolutely appropriate for standards to dominate discussion on trade.”
Read More
She highlighted a recent CBI survey which found businesses were ‘optimistic and spirits had been lifted after the end of the gridlock last year’, but attentions were now turning to converting that optimism into investment.
“The Government has set out to create a high productivity, high growth country,” Dame Carolyn said.
“As a business community we need to come up with the solutions and the vision. Some of this will be disruptive but we have to support our members to change and adapt.”
Undermine
Later in a press conference, NFU president Minette Batters referenced Defra Secretary George Eustice’s appearance on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme on Sunday, where he said there was a ‘conversation to be had’ around standards, pointing to the use of lactic acid to wash chicken – a common practice in the US.
Ms Batters said: “We have to define what we want from the standards of imports. It is not about lactic acid, it is about method of production.
“We have a lot of cost in our supply chain to deliver what the customer wants. If we bring in ingredients that do not have to have those standards we undermine our own production and we put farmers out of business.
“And speaking farmers our in the US, they do not want to put our farmers out of business either.”
Most Read
Most Recent
Pig margins remain under pressure
3
Volatility highlighted in income forecasts
56
Sewage dumped in rivers sparks farmers' fury
372
137
88
Boosting exports outside the EU
124
Scottish farm incomes plunged in 2019/20
61
93
Flying Hereford trade at Shrewsbury
235
Farmer trampled in pen containing 17 bulls
3654
Will frosts knock flowering OSR?
127
46
175
New young sire options for Holstein breeders
95
125
DNA data could benefit the beef industry
71
New sheep scab project success
51Farmers Guardian and FarmersGuardian.com are trademarks of Farmers Guardian Ltd, a subsidiary of AgriBriefing Ltd.
All material published on FGInsight.com and FarmersGuardian.com is copyrighted © 2021 by AgriBriefing Limited. All rights reserved.
