Creating sustainable business Environmental management in the age of - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Creating sustainable business Environmental management in the age of Brexit William Andrews Tipper Head of natural environment, Green Alliance 22 March 2018

Globally, UK farming performs well environmentally Dairy Wheat $9,000,000 $2,000,000 $8,000,000 $7,000,000 $1,500,000 $6,000,000 $5,000,000 $1,000,000 $4,000,000 $3,000,000 $500,000 $2,000,000 $1,000,000 $0 $0 l a d a a n A K d a i y e n d e a n K A a z n i n i o S U n d n i d b l c a n n o U S a a d a i i U a a a n t a r m t t a i i U l r l n s a n t B n a m a l n o t a a o a i o r I s e r e r k a P r k r l u e C F a P g Z U e C o d e A r P d G C A e w e F e F n N n a a i s i s s s u u R R Beef Poultry $15,000,000 $1,500,000 $10,000,000 $1,000,000 $500,000 $5,000,000 $0 $0 a a d a l A K a a n i n i n z d … n S U i o d a l i a a a i a U i l o a a a A K n n h n t r t i l r n l z i i n n B a e c l S U a a C I i t a b a a i a i U i p e s r u x m t r s h g u C e r n a z B e s d t T r A e M o s e u J A e n l u g R o F e A r C A n V a i s s u R Cost of natural capital impacts per USD million revenue (USD per USD million). Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization

But entrenched environmental declines make further improvements essential Anglian River Basin: over 50 per cent • of our best farmland, c.12,ooo farms • Produces more than a quarter of England’s wheat and barley, half of its sugar beet and much horticultural produce • Soils are declining – water is highly- stressed – climate change will intensify risks and challenges

Government is committed to supporting and rewarding greener farming 25 year plan for the environment. • Clean Growth Strategy. • Industrial Strategy. • Agriculture Command Paper. •

But current policy proposals create risks that will need addressing Where does food production sit in • relation to “public money for public goods”? How will universal minimum • environmental standards be enforced if cross compliance is abolished? What support will be available for • farmers to navigate the transition?

And since commitments are not yet locked-in through legislation, they could be undercut Hugely ambitious 25 year environment plan ; commitments over DOMESTIC POLICY Environmental “ green watchdog ”, retention of EU environmental principles , and standards protection of food safety, health and environment standards in trade negotiations. Emphasis of future farm payments will be delivery of Agriculture policy “environmental public goods” ; commitment from government to vision of “ best quality food in the world to the highest standards in the world ”. INTERNATIONAL Future relationship AGREEMENTS ??? with the EU UK will be outside the single market and customs union. Future trade ??? relationships with RoW

What might the future look like? No FTAs with In Europe, outside the EU other countries Deal with EU (inc FTA) FTAs with Best of both worlds others e.g. US Brexit outcome s f f i r a t N N F M l o l a o d t d Britain in the world e e a i l p l p w a i t h E U Unilateral trade liberalisation Trade at all costs

What might a US trade deal bring into play? • Lifting of bans on certain production practices e.g. hormone-treated meat, pathogen-reduction treatments (chlorine-washing). • Changes to traceability rules for meat products e.g. country of origin labelling or animal welfare statements on import certificates. • Changes to rules for pesticides e.g. raising of maximum residue levels (MRLs), lifting of bans on certain pesticides.

Some building blocks of a resilient system 1. Support continued development of world class UK agricultural assurance schemes. 2. Put into law acceptable minimum standards of environmental practice for farming. 3. Ensure that the new farm payments scheme to replace the Common Agricultural Policy encourages the shift to sustainable food production. 4. Institute a consultative process to define and enforce appropriate standards for UK food outside the EU.