Politics and Brexit dent farmers’ confidence
Farmers’ confidence for the next three years has been hit by an 18-point drop according to a survey by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), with the political landscape being noted as the key driver for the fall, following the UK’s vote to leave the EU.
NFU president, Meurig Raymond.
NFU’s president, Meurig Raymond, has urged election candidates to take “firm action to maximise on the future potential of British food and farming”, noting: “In such a period of uncertainty politically, we need politicians to fully understand the impact this lack of clarity is having economically.”
Commenting on the survey, Raymond said it is “unnerving to see the three-year outlook drop, as it has in the past been fairly resilient and optimistic”.
He added: “Investment intentions – which are also a good and early indicator of profitability, production and how progressive farmers can be – showed that farmers were nearly twice as likely to be decreasing investment (20.1%) as a result of the EU referendum than increasing investment (10.7%) in the next 12 months.”
Raymond highlighted that the outlook for the next 12 months is positive, due to the weak sterling, but pointed out that “farming businesses are long-term and cannot rely on currency fluctuations”.
“With just 10% willing to increase investment in their business, it does not paint a pretty picture for the progressive industry that we are striving to be”, he said.
“But this is exactly why we’ll be working closely with the newly elected team at Defra, to ensure that investment is a key part of a new domestic agricultural policy.”
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