According to CLA President Mark Tufnell, UK farmers do not trust Defra to manage the transition from the Single Payment to new post-Brexit measures such as ELMs.
He told the Guardian, “We’re not at all clear what Defra is doing. [Farmers say], ‘We don’t think that Defra know what they’re doing,’ and ask me: ‘What do you know?’”
He added that the future of farming was more than ever in the hands of the government, with trade deals, problems with the planning system, and the new system of ELMs. “We may end up with more people claiming from a limited pot, meaning that the individual will end up receiving less.
“If the government doesn’t come forward with the type of support that it’s talking about … it makes it much more difficult for those farmers who are in the less profitable category, the bottom 25 per cent or even 50 per cent, who have their basic payments cut, so they’ll only get about 25 per cent of what they originally had.
“They will find it very difficult to continue their farming business. They’ll need to look to other sources of income, and I think they’ll find it quite difficult, particularly if they don’t get support in selling their product overseas.”
Photo source: Defra