UK farmers demand continued access to crop chemicals in EU pact

Britain’s farmers must be allowed to keep growing gene-edited crops and using plant protection products currently banned in the European Union if the UK strikes a new pact with the bloc, the president of the National Farmers Union said on Tuesday.

The government is attempting to reset relations with the EU, with talks progressing since last autumn.

“We welcome the principle of an improved relationship with the EU – one that reduces friction and enables better trade at a time of global instability,” NFU president Tom Bradshaw told the group’s annual conference.

But Bradshaw said there was real jeopardy for Britain’s farmers in the negotiations.

“We mustn’t sacrifice our hard-won technological advances in gene editing, or our access to GB-approved plant protection products in order to reach a deal with the EU,” he said.

Farming and environment minister Emma Reynolds said Britain was seeking “technical adaptations and exceptions”, adding she would not provide a running commentary on the talks.

“In the five years since Brexit we’ve seen a 20% reduction in our agri-food exports from the UK to the EU. That is what we are trying to address and it is a big part of our broader EU reset,” she told reporters at the conference.

About 14 crop protection chemicals banned in the EU since Brexit remain permitted in Britain.

CropLife UK, whose members include pesticide makers, said in a report this year that losing crop protection tools could cost the farming sector between 500 million and 810 million pounds ($676 million to $1.1 billion) in the first year alone.

($1 = 0.7400 pounds)