Trade and agriculture

The UK has a long history as an agricultural trading nation. For much of our existence, we’ve been a net importer of food, creating a free trade economics 'virtue' out of the necessity of needing to feed ourselves. But calibrating a well-balanced trade policy for agriculture and food is a notoriously difficult thing to do. When we were part of the EU, UK commentators often criticised Brussels for being excessively protectionist. The UK is now a free agent, in trade policy terms. So just how much has actually changed? Have we actually adopted a liberal agri-food trade policy? Brexit has created new bureaucratic barriers to trade. What impact are these actually having on UK food importers and exporters? And what difference will the UK’s new trade agreements with partners around the world actually make to the economics of producing and selling food here in the UK? Fiona Smith (University of Leeds) Ludivine Petetin (CITP) and Nick von Westenholz (NFU) tackle these questions from our presenter, Chris Horseman (Borderlex).