Brexit is a matter of life or death for the UK's farmers

A confidential 70-page report issued to clients by specialist consultants Agra Europe has suggested that land prices are likely to crash, British agriculture will face a traumatic shock and 90% of the country's farmers could be ruined if Britain votes to leave the EU next year.

British farmers currently receive 60% of their income from EU subsidies and environmental subsidies; they would lose most of this at a stroke unless the UK government guarantees compensating support of one kind or another, and so far it has clarified nothing. 'What is certain is that no UK government would subsidise agriculture on the scale operated under the CAP,' the report states. The European Commission estimates that land prices would fall 30% across the EU if CAP subsidies were abolished. 'For farmers who have taken out debt against the value of their land, a loss of value could be fatal. Eighteen per cent of farms have current liabilities that exceed current assets,' says the Agra Europe report.

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