In or out? The two sides of the Brexit argument on agriculture

摘要

The polls suggest the EU referendum on Thursday 23rd June could go either way. For the UK sheep industry, arguably more than any other farming sector, the stakes are enormous.The UK sheep sector is hugely reliant on exports to the EU. Exports were worth E345 million in 2014, with 38% of UK lamb going out of the country. The EU is the destination for 92% of UK sheep meat exports, with 60% alone going to France. Looking at thewider industry, E17.8bn of UK food, drink and animal feed was exported in 2014, with E10.7bn (60%) going to the EU; E37bn of food, drink and animal feed was imported, including E26.5bn from the EU.