Brexit news update, 1 January 2019

The New Year kicks off with Sustain running several sessions as part of the Brexit Room at the Oxford Real Farming Conference (3^rd and 4^th of January 2019), where Defra Secretary of State Michael Gove will also be on stage, to be grilled by Kerry McCarthy MP on the future for food and farming policy. Sustain is also contributing to sessions with the RSA’s Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, and the People’s Food Policy.

To get a taster of what 2019 holds for our food system, take a look at these blogs:

• Food and farming in 2019 – what’s going to happen? The Agriculture Bill, a new Environmental Land Management scheme, the development of a National Food Strategy and increasing climate breakdown – all these lie in store for us in 2019. In a time of Brexit uncertainty, Sustain’s sustainable farming coordinator Vicki Hird looks to the year ahead and prospects for better outcomes for our food supply, farmers and the environment.
• Climate change, health and hunger. We have so much that needs to be won: Sustain's chief executive Kath Dalmeny reflects on the need for national food policy that steps up to the challenges of climate change, health and hunger.

Sustain’s immediate plans

Current Brexit-related priorities for the Sustain alliance include:

• Supporting alliance members, decision-makers and the public to understand the implications of a ‘no deal’ Brexit, for food, farming, fishing, the environment and public health
• Championing crucial amendments to post-Brexit agriculture legislation, and contributing to the processes that will implement policy in practice, to promote public health, agro-ecology, fair dealing, decent pay and conditions for agricultural workers, and high food and farming standards in international trade deals.
• Championing key improvements to post-Brexit fishing legislation and policy to make the UK a world leader in sustainable fish.

We will also be seeking to shift the conversation towards the aims of our Campaign for a Better Food Britain – a positive vision for the UK’s food, farming and fishing, which includes a renewed focus on achieving a Right to Food in the UK; and working with our members to tackle climate change. This will also include alliance work to influence the emerging National Food Strategy promised by Defra.

Read the Brexit news

Follow the links to get news updates on key Brexit themes relating to food, farming and fishing.

• Sustainable farming
• Sustainable fish
• Food, Farming & Countryside Commission
• Coming to terms… Deal or no deal?
• Environment policy
• Food standards and trade
• A National Food Strategy?
• EU Withdrawal process