The National Farmers Union of Scotland said such agreements offer few opportunities for United Kingdom farmers and could easily do more harm than good to Scots producers.
Instead, NFU Scotland wants the UK government to focus on getting good post-Brexit trade agreements with the EU, relegating trade deals with other countries to a further period of consultation with British farmers.
“NZ, Australia and the US are significant global exporters of food and if they were given greater access to our domestic market then this would have the potential to increase food miles and damage Scottish farm and croft incomes,” it said.
“The UK government has cited Brexit as a clear opportunity to highlight the UK’s strong environmental and animal health credentials of our food production.
“However, this would be an empty gesture if the same UK government allowed increased imports of foods from countries where we are unable to directly legislate any changes to production standards.
“That would be equivalent to exporting our precious welfare and environmental standards overseas.”
Urging the UK government to return to basics on FTA talks with NZ and others, NFU Scotland said the best post-Brexit market outcome for Scottish growers, farmers and crofters is continued membership of the European single market to ensure frictionless trade with key markets.
“If the Brexit referendum decision is interpreted as taking back control then it’s critical the UK government doesn’t follow up Brexit by undermining our own domestic standards in a rush to sign unnecessary trade deals with countries which produce a number of products to lower standards than would be accepted in the UK,” NFUS president Andrew McCornick said.
He also warned future trade agreements with those countries might have the potential to impact on Scotland’s ability to trade freely with customers in the EU, a situation that would be unacceptable.
“In 2016, UK food and drink exports to the EU were worth £9.9 billion while non-EU exports were on £4b,” he said, pointing out more than 70% of UK food and drink exports are dependent on frictionless access to the European single market.
“This includes over 90% of our beef exports, 75% of pig meat exports and 88% of sheep meat exports.
“If the government is serious about opportunities for our food and farming sector post-Brexit then they should go back to basics and undertake thorough consultation with the sector to identify market opportunities.
“If they believe that NZ, Australia and the US are the correct markets then I strongly suggest they go back to the drawing board.”
