News

11 April 2017

‘Keeping up our standards in the brave new world’

Nine months after the historic referendum result in June 2016, the Prime Minister has officially notified the European Council of the UK’s intention to withdraw from the European Union. The actual business of negotiating the details of our departure can at last begin.

Sugar will be an important battleground and a microcosm of the wider issues facing agriculture. Not only has sugar beet been a relatively reliable source of income for 3,500 of Britain’s arable farmers, supporting nearly 10,000 jobs; it is also an important rotational crop that helps soil sustainability and – a point often forgotten – encourages biodiversity. The RSPB notes that UK sugar beet production supports ‘internationally important’ populations of pink-footed geese and ‘nationally important’ populations of stone-curlews.

You can read the full blog in The Spectator from NFU Sugar Board Chairman, Michael Sly, here.