EU Referendum: No F***ing Use supporting the EU

05/03/2016

Leaving the EU is too great a risk for UK farmers. The European single market accounts for 73 per cent of Britain's agri-food exports and gives us access to a market more than twice the size of the US. Outside the EU we could keep all or some of this market, but we would have to abide by EU regulations without a say in their formation and pay into the EU budget without receiving EU payments in return. We'd pay, but have no say.

The letter is fronted by Sir Peter Kendall, former president of the NFU, and Lord Plumb, another former president of the NFU and one-time MEP who briefly became European Parliament president, with nearly forty other signatories.

From a public relations perspective, this is ill-advised. The NFU – which represents only the minority of working farmers – is otherwise known as No F***ing Use, and has acquired for its members the reputation of "whingeing farmers" who only get interested in politics when their subsidies are at stake.

In fact, as Owen Paterson points out, of three EFTA states – Switzerland, Norway and Iceland - in Europe but not in the EU – all get much higher agricultural subsides than EU member states.

Paterson also argues – as does George Eustice - that outside the EU, we would have much more flexibility as to how we spend our money. Paterson states:

Subsidies could be more specifically tailored to satisfy the UK's unique geography and climate. In lowland areas, decisions on which crops to grow and animals to raise should broadly be left to the market. However, there are areas where food production is simply inadequate as an income generator.

The landscapes of the Lake District, the Peak District, and the mountainous areas of Wales and Scotland are the basis for a tourism industry worth an estimated £20-£30 billion per annum; there is currently no mechanism for the market to reward farmers and landowners for the public good, provided by the work they do maintaining and improving these environments.

Such issues are explored in detail in Flexcit, which open new vistas for a post-exit policy, making it clear that UK agriculture would be far better off without the dead hand of Brussels.

Despite this, the Times allows the dismal pro-EU advocates to exploit the lack of coherence in the "leave" camp by stating:

The Leave campaigns talk about trying to negotiate a free trade deal similar to the Swiss model. But that would not cover all products and would not give the same unrestricted access as provided by the single market. Where we did get duty-free access we would still be required to meet EU standards and regulations. In other words, the regulatory bonfire we've been promised by the Leave campaigns just wouldn't happen.

This is the same straw man technique that is being used across the board by the "remains", with no hint that the bulk of agricultural standards are set by the "three sisters" (Codex, OIE and IPPC), by UNECE and the OECD. Conformity within the context of continued EEA membership – where we would have greater say in the formulation of standards – would put us in a far better position.

To those who know, therefore, what we're actually seeing is not argument but the low drone of ignorant Europhiles. They tell us that "leaving the EU would mean reducing our access to our most important market, little or no reduction in regulation, no influence on future rules, the speedy abolition of direct support and an uncertain future for UK agriculture".

Yet, in the EU, the direction of travel is towards a progressive decrease in support payments, matched by increasingly onerous and intrusive bureaucracy. Only the "barley barons" and the subsidy farmers could be happy with situation – and that's who we're hearing from in this letter.

Most real farmers are conscious that the CAP is and always has been a disaster. Outside the EU, agriculture has a future. Inside, only the vested interest of those who are No F***ing Use would prosper.