Brexit and Agriculture

Brexit is shaking the foundations of UK agriculture to the core. The EU market, laws and policies, including the Common Agricultural Policy, shaped the evolution of UK agriculture for decades. Brexit creates a partial vacuum that simultaneously poses considerable opportunities and challenges for the UK; it raises fundamental questions regarding whether to have a centralised or devolved approach, what objectives and standards to strive for, what markets to target, what is permissible or feasible and, crucially, how the law will stand post Brexit. National politics, the future relationship with the EU, international (trade) law, food safety and quality, sustainable agriculture and environmental protection are only some of the relevant considerations.

This book addresses these questions and analyses the UK government’s attempts to address the uncertainties through the Agriculture Bill. It outlines the potential for a Domestic Agricultural Policy embracing agri-sustainability and how this new policy might be shaped to achieve a more sustainable food future.