Sustain responds to the Brexit agreement and comments on the potential implications for food, fishing and farming, and the impact on the environment, health, businesses and citizens.

Sustain member Friends of the Earth warns against the impact that a mega pig farm would have on animal welfare and the environment.

An influential parliamentary committee has warned that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is too complacent about potential disruption to trade and says fundamental issues for food, chemical and animal importers and exporters are yet to be resolved. The Public Affairs Committee (PAC) also found the Department had not engaged adequately with small and medium businesses and as a result the SMEs are ‘ill prepared’ for Brexit.

For too long agriculture policy has failed in its stated goals to protect farmers or stop harm arising from food production. We have the opportunity in the UK now to address these failings and ensure UK farm policy supports farmers in producing food whilst delivering public benefits like environment and nature, tackling climate change and other benefits. These are defined, somewhat loosely, as ‘public goods’.  What seems less well understood is the need to protect public health via agriculture policy. 

A roundup of responses from the food and drink industry to the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s 2018 Budget.

Sustain member the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) have written a guide for public health campaigners for the process of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Sustain member Pesticide Action Network UK has a new briefing on how to set a target and ways in which it could be used to drive a meaningful and lasting reduction in pesticide use.

Defra Ministers Michael Gove and George Eustice gave evidence to the Environment and Rural Affairs Select Committee today.

Sustain is concerned that a no-deal Brexit, and subsequent trade deals, may undermine crucial efforts to tackle Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, and affect the information available to consumers on packaging.

Sustain member the Wildlife and Countryside Link host the next seminar in their series on Brexit.

MPs were falling over themselves to show interest in farming during the six hour Second Reading of the Agriculture Bill on 10 October. The Debate ended with a vote on a Labour reasoned amendment on the Bill's lack fo reference to food security - a frequent comment throughout the debate. The vote was lost and so the Bill now goes to committee stage.

The Department of Trade wants your views on trade opportunities after Brexit.

The Welsh Government are seeking views on securing the future of farmland after Brexit.

Sustain members GM Freeze and Beyond GM have joined together to launch a new petition to protect consumers’ rights in knowing whether they are buying food made from GM ingredients.

The implications of the UK Agriculture Bill go beyond farming. This article sets out the three big areas that sustainable fishing specialists may have missed. Those concerned with sustainable fishing need get involved in the parliamentary process to come.

A group of Oxfordshire farmers and their customers, local businesses and national policy specialists will meet on October 9 to discuss the future for local farming and the rural economy, the day before Parliament debates the future of UK farming policy and farm subsidies post-Brexit, as outlined in Secretary of State for farming Michael Gove’s draft UK Agriculture Bill.

The UK will create its own Geographical Indication (GI) system if there is a no-deal Brexit.

The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics - convened by Sustain, Compassion in World Farming and the Soil Association - expresses dismay at plans for the UK to continue to allow routine use of farm antibiotics after Brexit, despite an imminent EU-wide ban on this dangerous practice.

The MP for Macclesfield is to oversee the protection of UK food supplies amid concerns of a no-deal Brexit.

On a two day trip to a United Nations summit in New York this week Theresa May insisted that a no-deal Brexit would be better for the UK than any Canada-style free trade agreement allowed by the EU.

In a new environmental policy ‘The Green Transformation’, released yesterday, Labour set out bold new proposals for fishing as part of three key priorities; addressing climate change, air and water quality, and reversing biodiversity loss.
 

Agri-tech scientists are calling on the government to relax the rules on gene editing after Brexit. Sustain member GM Freeze believes we need to keep the EU’s strong safeguards in place.

A draft of the first UK Agriculture Act for nearly 50 years (currently in Bill form) was published last week (12 September 2018). For the Sustain alliance, we have something to celebrate as it contains specific measures to achieve fairer trading and more sustainable farming.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that the government has failed to hire enough vets to process exports from the UK and there are fears that this means food and livestock could be delayed at UK borders after Brexit.

Ahead of the second reading of the Trade Bill in the House of Lords on Tuesday 11 September, the British Medical Association has published a parliamentary briefing on international trade and health, entitled ‘Beyond Brexit’.

A new report by the Food Research Collaboration says there are signs that government ministers are willing to sacrifice food standards for Brexit deals.

NI Executive launches consultation on future of agriculture after Brexit. Sustain member the RSPB respond saying the protection and restoration of the environment should be the central focus.

Sustain joined with eleven other farming and civil society groups to write an open letter on the need for the new Agriculture Bill to include powers to strengthen supply chain regulation. This featured in Farmers Weekly the farming magazine. 

Sustain makes the following comment on the notices on How to prepare if the UK leaves the EU with no deal released by the government today:

A ‘no deal’ Brexit would be an unacceptable and damaging outcome for British farmers, food businesses, consumers and the environment. Yet the understanding of how our food system works is dismayingly low among senior decision-makers. How can good food sense prevail? asks Kath Dalmeny, Brexit lead for Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming.

The possibility of the UK crashing out of the EU with ‘no deal’ has raised the spectre of potential food shortages. Sustain comments, urging a fair, measured and well-planned approach to avoid unnecessary food disruption and anxiety, particularly for the 8.4 million people in the UK already living with food insecurity.

Leading marine NGOs have issued a rallying cry: write to Michael Gove now to call for better post-Brexit fishing policy

Save the date(s): This is an extract from the Sustain Brexit Forum newsletter. Sign up to receive regular updates (monthly or bi-monthly) at: www.sustainweb.org/brexit/

The possibility of the UK crashing out of the EU with ‘no deal’ has dominated the past few febrile weeks on the Brexit scene. This is an extract from Sustain's Brexit Forum newsletter, examining the implications of a 'no deal' Brexit for food, farming and fishing. Sign up to receive news updates monthly or bi-monthly at: www.sustainweb.org/brexit

Farm support, access to farm labour and the future of animal welfare are just some of the issues being addressed in UK farm policy. This is an extract from Sustain's Brexit Forum newsletter, June/July 2018. Sign up to receive news updates monthly or bi-monthly at:  www.sustainweb.org/brexit

The Government's plan for replacing the EU Common Fisheries Policy has at last been published - find out more here. This is an extract from Sustain's Brexit Forum newsletter, June/July 2018. Sign up to receive news updates monthly or bi-monthly at: www.sustainweb.org/brexit

How can we use the whole resource of public and private money and social capital to support thriving food, farming and countryside? This is an extract from Sustain's Brexit Forum newsletter, June/July 2018. Sign up to receive news updates monthly or bi-monthly at: www.sustainweb.org/brexit

A new Environment Act, green watchdog and institutions to regulate chemicals are all needed - and must be robust enough to defend our health and the natural environment. Just some of the issues being addressed in UK environment policy. This is an extract from Sustain's Brexit Forum newsletter, June/July 2018. Sign up to receive news updates monthly or bi-monthly at: www.sustainweb.org/brexit

The new UK Trade Bill, preparations for future trade deals, and US food standards have been dominating the media and Parliament. With so much to play for in food, farming and fishing, read more about the latest developments in UK trade policy. This is an extract from Sustain's Brexit Forum newsletter, June/July 2018. Sign up to receive news updates monthly or bi-monthly at: www.sustainweb.org/brexit

Farm support, access to farm labour and the future of animal welfare are just some of the issues being addressed in UK farm policy. This is an extract from Sustain's Brexit Forum newsletter, June/July 2018. Sign up to receive news updates monthly or bi-monthly at: www.sustainweb.org/brexi

Sustain is shortlisted for its work on Brexit (PR Team category), SUGAR SMART (Campaigning Team category) and for the Children's Health Fund (Corporate Partnership with a Retailer category). The winners will be announced on 3 October 2018.

In a new briefing out today (25 July 2018) the Sustain alliance makes the case for bringing in a new body in England to negotiate wages and better conditions for agriculture workers.

The latest Food Brexit briefing from the Food Research Collaboration at City University (published 23 July) includes the explosive claim that the government is planning to suspend food safety measures in favour of waving through perishable goods, if we fail to secure a Brexit deal with the EU.

Wildlife and Countryside Link (who are part of the Sustain alliance) have co-ordinated 25 charities to challenge the Prime Minister to be more ambitious in the scope and detail of the newly announced Environment Bill.

Academics, public health advocates and food and farming specialists have joined forces to call on the Prime Minister and her Cabinet, formally to recognise public health as a public good in UK agriculture policy.

Patti Rundall OBE, policy director of Baby Milk Action, gives an eye-witness account of US government bullying tactics to prevent global efforts to protect breastfeeding and restrict misleaing marketing of breastmilk substitutes. It wasn't "fake news", she says - it really happened - "I know, I was there".

 

Nourish Scotland (who are part of Sustain) believe that recent government publications on the future of Scottish agriculture give no clear direction for farming after Brexit.

Recent moves by the World Health Organisation to encourage breastfeeding across the globe were reportedly blocked by the United States of America. Drawing on decades of research showing that mother’s milk is the healthiest for children the resolution ran into trouble when the US, apparently responding to the financial interests of infant formula manufacturers, objected.

The UK Government has today committed to negotiate with the EU for "a common rule book for all goods including agri-food" - Sustain's chief executive Kath Dalmeny welcomes the aspiration and raises concerns about the detail.

Policy work these days can be stifling; keeping you stuck to a desk, locked in meetings and shuffling around Westminster. It is only a matter of time before we hear news of Brexit fatigue or even burn out. The sheer volume of news and Bills and lobbying requirements makes it hard to go out and see what is happening in the field and talk to ‘real people’.