Taking back control of agriculture: can the government deliver a Brexit dividend?

In 2017, Michael Gove called Brexit an ‘unfrozen moment’ which would allow ministers to address long-standing criticisms of the EU Common Agricultural Policy and free the government to radically reform the way it supports farmers. So will redirecting England’s £2.4 billion annual farm budget deliver a substantial Brexit dividend? Will reforms bring about everything farmers, environmentalists and taxpayers expect? And can those changes be delivered while the sector is coping with labour shortages, rising energy prices, new trade deals and post-Brexit regulatory changes? And how can policy on food, farming and land use help the government meet its ambitions on net zero, levelling up and tackling obesity? With post-Brexit agricultural reforms the subject of a new IfG report, Agriculture after Brexit: Replacing the CAP, this event will discussed what needs to be done to ensure a better future for food, farming and land use in England. On the panel: Jonathan Baker, Deputy Director in the Future Farming and Countryside Programme at Defra Minette Batters, President of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) Sue Pritchard, Chief Executive of The Food Farming & Countryside Commission (FFCC) Beccy Speight, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of the Protection of Birds (RSPB) This event was chaired by Joe Marshall, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government. Follow @ifgevents #IfGBrexit