UK apple farmers fear that a trade deal with Australia that allows their farmers' crops to be treated with banned pesticides could ruin their livelihoods. Australia signed the agreement in December and hopes to triple its apple exports to the UK.
Health campaigners say the antipodean country allows the use of 33 hazardous organophosphates in agriculture, compared with four in the UK, and that an influx of 'cheaper' and 'sub-standard' produce may threaten British sales.
Barny Butterfield, of Sandford Orchards in Devon, said: 'Imported products sold as equivalent but produced to lower and dangerous standards will chill the price the British farmer can achieve and undermine the fruit market. … It will also rightly cause a loss of confidence from the consumer that what they are buying is safe.' Chlorpyrifos, an insecticide used against spiders and beetles, has been linked to developmental and behavioural problems in children and is banned in the UK, US and EU. Australia does ban its use in areas where children or pregnant women could come into contact with it, but it is allowed on farms.
The government's own impact assessment shows the post-Brexit trade deal with Australia will result in a £94 million hit to local agriculture, forestry and fishing.
Source: dailymail.co.uk