Farmers blame Brexit muddle for food waste 'disgrace'

The United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union without an effective follow-up plan for agriculture has created chaos on the nation's farms, with mountains of food being wasted and prices in grocery stores needlessly rising, a top farming representative has said.

Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers' Union, said at her organization's annual conference in Birmingham on Tuesday that 200,000 pigs are currently cooped up on British farms because of a lack of skilled butchers able to slaughter them and process the meat. She said another 40,000 animals have been culled and "thrown away" because of a worker shortage.

"Government needs to understand that we need certainty, commitment, and consistency … We need a plan that preempts crises, rather than repeatedly run into them. The current situation in the pig sector should have, and could have, been avoided," Batters said.

While claiming the government has "its mind on anything other than food", she said the NFU, which counts 55,000 farmers and growers among its members, wants more investment from London and retailers, so more British food can be processed and make it onto the country's grocery store shelves.

Immigration policy

In the absence of EU membership and the resulting access to the bloc's labor pool, the country urgently needs a "dial-up, dial-down" immigration policy that can ensure farmers are able to access enough workers internationally.

Batters also said the UK government's pursuit of post-Brexit free trade deals with other nations will "support lower standards overseas "at the same time the government is expecting UK farmers to raise the bar at home in terms of environmental standards and in pursuit of net-zero emissions.

"There needs to be a plan. A plan which enables Britain to keep on farming and to continue to be world leaders in high-quality, safe and sustainable food," said Batters, as the UK's environment secretary George Eustice listened from the audience.

Since leaving the EU, farmers in the UK have suffered from plunging export volumes, increased red tape when attempting to export products, slower processes that previously ran smoothly and a shortage of workers, said the NFU in a report it unveiled at the conference.

The report, "British Farming: A Blueprint for the Future", recommends not only additional government investment in the agricultural sector but also new financial incentives aimed specifically at ensuring farmers stay in the industry.

Specialist publication Farmers Weekly said the post-Brexit challenges that farmers are facing and the extra costs they are incurring have led 10 percent to leave the industry in recent years.

The publication, which described Batters' attack on the UK government as "blistering", quoted her as describing the situation in the sector as a "disgrace and a disaster".