What next for UK environment, food, agriculture and trade policies post Brexit

Seminar
This event has now finished.
  • Date and time: Thursday 3 December 2020, 11am to 1pm
  • Location: Online only
  • Audience: Open to staff, students (postgraduate researchers only)
  • Admission: Free admission, booking required

Event details

An internal event open to all University of York researchers and research students.

On the 31 December 2020, the Brexit transition period will come to an end and the UK will be formally outside of the EU polity and regulatory space. In the case of food and agriculture, this means that we are no longer covered by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) or the EU Common Commercial Policy (CCP) and will thus be free to redesign our food and agricultural regime policies from scratch.

In this initial workshop, we will bring together experts from across the YESI research network to assess the various social, environmental, technological and ethical dimensions of the UK’s environmental, food and agricultural policies in a post-EU exit world. The issues explored will include:

  • The extent to which the UK wishes to match, go below or exceed its current commits as part of the EU.
  • The extent to which the UK’s commitment to high environmental and animal welfare standards is compatible with its stated ambition to strike ambitious free trade deals with leading agricultural exporters including the US, Australia and the CPTPP nations.
  • The extent to which EU exit offers opportunities for agri-technological innovation in areas like gene editing.
  • The extent to which the UK will deviate from EU approaches and policy in the pursuit of ‘net-zero’ targets.
  • The extent to which, outside of the CAP and CCP, the UK will be able to strengthen the resilience and security of its food supplies.
  • The extent to which the UK’s ambitions in food, farming and environment meet or exceed private regulatory standards development my global businesses and NGO coalitions.
  • The extent to which the UK’s will pursue more ambitious policies to counter its external environmental footprint (for example, in areas like product labelling and ‘due diligence’ requirements British companies’ overseas supply chains).
  • The extent to which the UK’s food, farming and environment policies complement or clash with its foreign trade, security and development commitments.