Communications
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| WSDA Director Sandison visited U.K. sheep farm Baber Sheep Breeding and Consulting. |
earlier this month to explore new trade opportunities with the United Kingdom as it negotiates its post-Brexit relationship with the European Union.
The U.K. sponsored the seven-member team of American ag representatives through the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA). Sandison joined five other state agriculture directors and NASDA’s CEO Barb Glenn on an itinerary that included farm tours and dozens of meetings with senior British trade and agriculture officials, university leaders, research scientists, farmers and business representatives.
The trade mission came at a time when U.K. leaders are trying to find ways to minimize economic disruption associated with the nation’s push to leave the European Union (EU).
Depending on the outcome of the negotiations, the U.K. will need to explore and expand new agricultural markets to feed its citizens and keep its farm economy afloat.
“As they move towards Brexit, they are very much interested in entering into a free-trade agreement with the United States,” Sandison said.
The meetings were a chance to set the stage for discussions with U.S. trade representatives in the future.
“They wanted to learn more about U.S. agriculture – what some of our issues are, what products we might be interested in exporting and what products we might be interested in importing,” Sandison said.
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| Sandison toured a UK beef farm on a recent trip to the U.K. |
The delegation, which represented individual states, was not there to try make a deal, rather they wanted to get a better understanding of the landscape.
“We were there to understand what our producers will be facing when they want to sell products to the U.K. and what the U.K.’s bottom line is,” Sandison said. “A lot of what we talked about are the standards, phytosanitary standards for example, that are imposed currently under EU restrictions and what we can expect if they are free of European Union restrictions.
Compared to U.S. standards, the European Union’s standards are often stricter in areas such as pesticide use, veterinary medicines, and decontamination techniques. This is especially true for food safety standards associated with new technologies in agriculture and food processing such as genetically modified organisms (GMO), growth hormones and lactic acid treatments.
“We were trying to understand what we can expect,” Sandison said. “We wanted to know if they would deviate from the EUs current restrictive approach and liberalize their standards a bit.”
Sandison said British officials expressed interest in moving towards less restrictive import policies, they did not discuss any specific standards.
The U.K. is currently negotiating the terms by which they would conduct trade with the EU after Brexit. The two most likely scenarios at this point include one in which the U.K. comes to an agreement that will allow it to continue to do unrestricted business within the EU. In this case, standards would likely align closely with current EU standards.
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| Sandison with delegation at Thatchers Cider orchard. The UK seeks to expand its export markets. |
“If it’s a hard break, then I think they are going to be more interested in getting to a solid agreement with the United States, something that would promote the ease of trade and movement of goods,” Sandison said.
At this stage in the process, the Brexit outcome remains highly uncertain. But whatever the outcome, Sandison’s work with his NASDA partners could well lead to export opportunities in the future.
Visit the WSDA International Marketing Program webpage to learn about other activities WSDA conducts to promote Washington agriculture abroad.