Welsh farmers won't benefit from New Zealand trade agreement says union

NFU Cymru says the UK Government has signed a trade deal with New Zealand which will grant generous tariff-free UK market access for New Zealand’s producers, while securing almost no reciprocal benefits for Wales’ farmers.

Speaking after the announcement, NFU Cymru president Aled Jones said “Last autumn NFU Cymru raised serious concerns about the future trade deal with New Zealand, when the agreement in principle was published. There is nothing contained in today’s announcement to allay my concerns.

"I see very little in this deal to benefit Welsh farmers and there are significant downside risks for the red meat and dairy sectors, both of which characterise traditional Welsh family farming.

“This latest deal with New Zealand closely mirrors the UK/Australia deal, confirming the precedent which we feared had been set, leading to full tariff liberalisation across a range of sectors over the next few years. This means that we will shortly be opening our doors to potentially significant extra volumes of imported food, whether or not produced to our own high standards, while securing very little in return for our producers."

He added: "The potential negative cumulative impact of this cannot be overstated. NFU Cymru re-iterates its calls for a Wales-specific impact assessment for free trade agreements. It is only through such an impact assessment that we can fully understand the impact of these deals on Welsh farming, rural communities, our culture and language and how some of the adverse impacts can potentially be mitigated.

“These deals offer significant upsides for farmers on the other side of the world, who will in due course have full access to our hugely valuable market. The UK Government is asking us to go toe-to-toe with some of the most export-orientated farmers in the world, without the serious or long-term investment that is necessary to enable us to grow our exports.

"We call on the UK Government to convene the recently announced Food and Drink Export Council and to ensure the agri-food attachés which were promised to us last year are in post as a matter of urgency.”

Mr Jones has also called on the Welsh Government for future support policy for Welsh agriculture.

He said: “The trade deals with New Zealand and Australia mean potentially significant marketplace changes for Welsh agriculture. These trade deals, coupled with the impact of a pandemic, rising input costs and geo-political instability, mean that things have changed drastically in a short space of time. The world of early 2022 is very different to the one we knew when [the] Welsh Government first set out its proposals for future farm policy in Wales.

“With [the] Welsh Government set to take the Agriculture (Wales) Bill through the Senedd later this year, there is an urgent need to look again at how future agriculture policy can continue to underpin sustainably produced, climate-friendly Welsh food and support our rural communities.”