Australian rivals and Brexit barriers leave UK farmers on stony ground

Australian rivals and Brexit barriers leave UK farmers on stony ground

Swapping their pastures for the concrete jungle, hundreds of Britain’s farmers will take off their wellies this week and head to a conference centre in central Birmingham for the annual shindig of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).

Nearly 1,500 food producers will meet to discuss the “blueprint for the future” of British farming, against the backdrop of the biggest upheaval in a generation in agriculture, following the UK’s departure from the EU and the pandemic, and amid discussions about future land use in the face of the climate crisis.

Farmers insist Covid only increased consumers’ appetite to “buy British”, especially at a time when global supply chains were disrupted. But the past two years have shown it’s not always easy for food producers to get their produce from field to fork.