Farming lobby leader in Germany demands plan for after Brexit
As Britain is a huge net contributor to EU finances, Brexit could have a major impact on funding of the EU's farming support scheme, called the common agricultural policy (CAP), Joachim Rukwied, the president of the German farming association DBV, said.
Farmers should not face cuts to their EU support payments because of Brexit, he said.
A major challenge will be creating a satisfactory trading relationship with Britain after Brexit, he said.
British Prime Minister Theresa May, who has said she will begin the formal EU divorce process by the end of March, has come under fire from businesses, investors and lawmakers for having given little away about her plans for Brexit.
May's farming minister has sought to reassure the British agricultural sector, saying it is the government's intention to maintain as low tariffs as possible, and zero tariffs where it can.
German farmers are worried about the status of big German food exports to Britain which totalled about 4.8 billion euros (4.19 billion pounds) in 2015 or about 6 percent of German food exports. Sales include German meat, milk, grains, fruit and vegetables.
Britain exported 1.4 billion euros of farm produce to Germany in 2015.
"We have a surplus in trade with food from Germany to the United Kingdom of 3.4 billion euros," he said. "I cannot see that any progress has been made on this issue in the United Kingdom."
Meanwhile, German farmers continue to suffer from the impact of a Russian ban on food imports imposed after Western sanctions were imposed on Russia following the Ukraine crisis, he said.
The loss of sales to Russia of German fruit, vegetables and other products had caused downward price pressure, he said.
source: uk.news.yahoo.com
