Brexit and Agriculture

Ludivine Petetin, Mary Dobbs

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9780429994722
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Droit
• Subtopic: Théorie et pratique du droit

Acknowledging the challenges and opportunities raised by Brexit for the agrifood supply chain and agricultural policies across the UK, this book provides the first in-depth analysis of agricultural policy developments across the UK's four nations rooted in strong theoretical and practical underpinnings.

Arguing that the four nations could be more ambitious in departing from the Common Agricultural Policy and extending beyond the 'public money for public goods' approach adopted across the UK, it critiques the core attributes of their policies with focuses including the debate over outcome-based schemes, governance mechanisms, impacts on farm diversity and path dependency on the Common Agricultural Policy and English approaches. It promotes a 'resilient agriculture' paradigm and utilises social-ecological services, net zero, agroecology and agri-food democracy as the main pathways to achieve this. In doing so, it scrutinises the evolving contextual, political and legal landscape within which devolved and UK agricultural policies are developing from a multilevel governance perspective, examining the implications of WTO law for the UK and its devolved administrations to determine environmental, food and animal welfare standards under the GATT, the SPS and TBT Agreements and financial support schemes under the Agreement on Agriculture.

The book assesses the significance of the Northern Ireland Protocol, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU and other free trade agreements for standards across the UK and access to markets. From a domestic perspective, challenges to devolution and the stability of the Union are highlighted. Elements of unilateral recentralisation are visible via financing mechanisms, the UK Internal Market Act and the Agriculture Act.

The book's interdisciplinary nature makes it of interest to lawyers, political scientists, economists, human geographers and scientists, as well as policymakers, agricultural communities, civil society organisations and think tanks in the devolved administrations, the UK, the EU and beyond.

1 The challenge of Brexit

DOI: 10.4324/9780429503719-1

Agriculture is of considerable significance across the United Kingdom (UK). It makes up approximately 72% of land use (not including forestry), with nearly half a million directly employed in agriculture and contributing approximately £10 billion to the gross domestic product.¹ The UK agri-food sector is the biggest manufacturing sector, worth £113.2 billion to the UK economy and employing just under four million people.² Although the UK remains a net importer overall³ (Northern Ireland being an exception⁴), domestic agriculture contributes significantly to the provision of food – something that is essential for food security and hopefully helping to address the urgent issue of food poverty in the UK.⁵

1 DEFRA, DAERA, Welsh Government Knowledge and Analytical Services and the Scottish Government, Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services, ‘Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2019’ (2020)
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950618/AUK-2019-07jan21.pdf accessed 1 May 2021, 10. 2 N8 AgriFood, ‘N8 AgriFood Academics Give Evidence to House of Commons International Trade Committee on COVID-19 and the Impacts on the Food System’ (4 May 2020) www.n8agrifood.ac.uk/international-trade-committee-covid19-evidence/ accessed 1 May 2021. 3 On trade generally, see HMRC, ‘UK Regional Trade in Goods Statistics – Quarter 2 2020’ (17 September 2020) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/917852/RTS_Q2_2020.pdf) accessed 1 May 2021; and on trade in agricultural goods see DEFRA et al. (n 1), 129–131, Figure 13.1 and Table 13.1a. 4 This is based on HMRC Regional Trade Statistics. See A. Stennett, ‘Northern Ireland Trade in Goods, 2018’ (Northern Ireland Assembly Research Matters 8 April 2019) www.assemblyresearchmatters.org/2019/04/08/northern-ireland-trade-in-goods-2018/ accessed 1 May 2021. 5 United Nations General Assembly, ‘Visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights’ (April 2019) https://undocs.org/A/HRC/41/39/Add.1 accessed 1 May 2021. See also, House of Lords Food, Poverty, Health and the Environment Committee, ‘Hungry for Change: Fixing the Failures in Food’ (Report of Session 2019–20, HL Paper 85, July 2020).

In light of the extent of its land use, agriculture clearly has a significant potential to positively or negatively impact the environment – its relationship with nature conservation, greenhouse gases and climate change, and water quality being particularly key. Positive land stewardship by farmers, for instance, through crop diversification, crop rotation, seed saving, the use of nitrogen-fixing plants and the use of hedgerows – can help develop and maintain habitats;⁶ foster genetic diversity and protection of unusual strains or species;⁷ and improve soil nutrients and stability.⁸ And, for some, agriculture simply holds a special place in their hearts due to the cultural, bucolic and historical connection with the land.⁹

6 See L.E. Hanon and T.D. Sisk, ‘Hedgerows in an Agri-Natural Landscape: Potential Habitat Value for Native Bees’ (2009) 142(10) Biological Conservation 2140; S. Wehling and M. Diekmann, ‘Importance of Hedgerows as Habitat Corridors for Forest Plants in Agricultural Landscapes’ (2009) 142(11) Biological Conservation 2522. 7 See B.B. Lin, ‘Resilience in Agriculture through Crop Diversification: Adaptive Management for Environmental Change’ (2011) 61(3) BioScience 183; S. Ceccarelli et al., ‘Plant Genetic Resources and Plant Improvement as Tools to Develop Sustainable Agriculture’ (1992) 28(1) Experimental Agriculture 89; and R. Vellvé, Saving the Seed: Genetic Diversity and European Agriculture (Earthscan 1992). 8 R.T.T. Forman and J. Baudry, ‘Hedgerows and Hedgerow Networks in Landscape Ecology’ (1984) 8 Environmental Management 495; J.K. Ladha and M.B. Peoples (eds), Management of Biological Nitrogen Fixation for the Development of More Productive and Sustainable Agricultural Systems (Springer 1995). 9 See, for example, the popularity amongst UK viewers of the BBC television programme Countryfile.

In developed countries, including the UK, agriculture has benefited from sustained levels of financial support since WWII. However, the sector’s increasing competitiveness and market orientation beg the question of why this agricultural exceptionalism continues. On the one hand, agriculture is like other economic sectors, as producers participate in the production of food, fibre and fuel for markets. On the other hand, it possesses particular attributes because of the potential for the delivery of environmental and social goods and wider ecosystem services (often called ‘public goods’ in the UK)¹⁰ that are not and cannot be commodified in the same manner as marketed goods. For these reasons, it is often asserted that ‘securing the provision of public goods provides a valid reason for public intervention in a market economy’.¹¹ Farming also delivers dietary needs for a healthy life. The 2019 EAT-Lancet Report calls for a holistic approach between agricultural and food policy to deliver a ‘healthy reference diet’ based on increased consumption of fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts and wholegrain food, with fewer fats and sugar and reduced but high quality and better-sourced meat and dairy, to be further in line with dietary recommendations.¹²

10 See Chapters 3 and 4. 11 T. Cooper, K. Hart and D. Baldock, ‘Provision of Public Goods through Agriculture in the European Union’ (Institute for European Environmental Policy 2009) 162. 12 W. Willett et al., ‘Food in the Anthropocene: The EAT–Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems’ (2019) 393(10170) The Lancet 447. See also IPCC, ‘Climate Change and Land: An IPCC Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems’ (August 2019) 5.6.3.1; and Royal Society of Arts, ‘Food Farming and Countryside Commission, Our Future in the Land’ (July 2019) 21.

However, agriculture is also a highly complex and vulnerable area. It entails substantial investment in land, equipment, labour, livestock/plant materials, feed/fertiliser and much more, over seasons and even generations.¹³ Agriculture is also highly dependent on external factors – in its production and then in its role as an economic activity. Thus, it is vulnerable to environmental changes (whether individual, short-term changes or more broadly due to climate change), pollution, diseases, changes in consumer tastes, fluctuations in the market, price volatility etc.¹⁴ – changes that may occur abruptly or sometimes without sufficient time for agricultural producers or other actors in the supply chain to respond and adapt to or mitigate the impacts. It is also vulnerable to international markets and their volatility. Indeed, the economic activity of farmers often depends on external, international factors. Globalisation can also increase both resilience and vulnerabilities for agriculture. For instance, whilst seeds can be procured from an alternative source if the original source is diseased, new pests, diseases, or invasive species may be introduced into an environment. Longer supply chains may also be more easily disrupted, as exemplified by COVID-19.¹⁵

13 See FAO, ‘The State of Food and Agriculture: Migration, Agriculture and Rural Development’ (2018) www.fao.org/state-of-food-agriculture/2018/en/ accessed 1 May 2021. 14 FAO, ‘Price Volatility in Agricultural Markets: Evidence, Impact on Food Security and Policy Responses’ (December 2010) www.fao.org/economic/es-policybriefs/briefs-detail/en/?no_cache=1&uid=48900 accessed 1 May 2021. 15 See L. Petetin, ‘The COVID-19 Crisis: An Opportunity to Integrate Food Democracy into Post-Pandemic Food Systems’ (2020) 11(S2) European Journal of Risk Regulation 326.

Whilst farming can beneficially contribute to the environment and human health, it can also lead to environmental degradation through deforestation, soil erosion, changing the nutrient or chemical balance of the environment, monocultures and depleting biodiversity and ecosystems.¹⁶ Indeed, the relationship between agriculture and environmental protection could be considered ‘bittersweet’. When one considers the objectives at play, the vulnerabilities of farming and the uncertainties that arise, for example, regarding the rate and impacts of climate change – it becomes clear that agriculture is a ‘wicked problem’¹⁷ that agricultural policy-makers find difficult to address including in the UK. This is only intensified when one considers that agricultural policy is not simply decided at the UK level, but is a devolved matter as well as an international one due to obligations via international trade agreements and World Trade Organization (WTO) law. Agriculture, therefore, permeates all levels of governance.

16 See P.F. Donald, F.J. Sanderson, I.J. Burfield and F.P.J. van Bommel, ‘Further Evidence of Continent-Wide Impacts of Agricultural Intensification on European Farmland Birds, 1990–2000’ (2006) 116(3–4) Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 189; Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, ‘State of Nature 2019’ (2019). See also V. Gravey, ‘Agricultural Policy’ in C. Burns, A. Jordan and V. Gravey (eds), The EU Referendum and the UK Environment: An Expert Review (The UK in a Changing Europe 2016) 36. 17 H.W.J. Rittel and M.M. Webber, ‘Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning’ (1973) 4 Policy Sciences 155; and B.G. Peters, ‘What is So Wicked about Wicked Problems? A Conceptual Analysis and a Research Program’ (2017) 36(3) Policy and Society 385.

1.1 A 21st-century UK agriculture – divided, yet united?

Farming varies considerably across the UK, both within the different nations but also between them. For instance, when comparing agricultural statistics across the UK¹⁸ it can be seen that there are proportionally more large farms in England, followed ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Endorsements
• Contents
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• List of Abbreviations
• Table of Cases
• Table of Legislation
• 1 The challenge of Brexit
• 2 ‘Taking back control’?: a web of powers and constraints
• 3 The essence of UK and devolved agricultural policies
• 4 Tailoring ambitious policies across the UK: striving for resilience in agriculture
• 5 Shaping governance: changing contexts for future policies
• 6 Treading new, resilient paths?
• Bibliography
• Index