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Brits face cow-tastrophe as a drop-off in subsidies to hard-up meat farmers is set to trigger a shortage of roast dinners.
A fall in post-Brexit payments combined with increasing cost pressures has led some farmers to reduce the numbers of cows and lambs they own. That could result in shortages of homegrown beef and lamb and, in turn, meat prices could rocket.
According to the National Farmers’ Union, upland businesses will lose an average of 37% of cash support. The UK has been rolling out green farming schemes to replace the EU’s £2.4bn subsidy regime.
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But industry chiefs warned sustainability-linked subsidies are not tailored to hill farmers – who typically rear cattle and lambs as the land is not suitable for growing crops. The Government said it will unveil a new package of funding this year though timelines have since been pushed back.
Helen Drinkall, from Chorley, Lancs, said she cut the number of cattle at her farm after years “treading water”. “It depends on whether the public values having homegrown beef and lamb on shelves because supermarkets will always find it somewhere,” she said.
“They will just import more so the beef and lamb will be less climate-friendly, lower welfare and just not up to the standards we’re used to.”
Hill farmers claim the UK schemes fail to recognise the work they do to maintain the countryside in upland areas – some of which are in the nation’s best-known national parks such as the Peak District and Exmoor.
NFU vice president David Exwood said the anticipated fall in Government subsidies was “not a surprise to the farmers working in our hills”.
He said the union has been urging ministers to accelerate proposals that “deliver meaningful income in return for the vital management hill farms deliver and the environmental goods they supply”.
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