May 12: Farmers call out trade deal with Donald Trump as a 'disaster' for British farming

This is your Farming in Five, daily news update, from Farmers Guardian.I’m your host Chris Brayford. Farmers have reacted with frustration and dismay to the announcement of a US-UK trade deal agreement, adding that cheap beef imports could 'devastate' their businesses.President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer have declared a trade agreement was reached between the UK and US on Thursday (May 8), where they announced details of a deal on trade regarding agricultural products including beef, ethanol and machinery.The Department for Business and Trade said, as part of the deal, the UK will create a preferential duty-free quota of 13,000mt for US beef to enter the country, with the same details being reciprocated for UK exports to the US.And the UK will offer a preferential duty-free tariff rate quota of 1.4 billion liters for US ethanol to enter the UK.Sir Keir said British farmers' high standards will not be compromised in the trade agreement, and added it could offer the UK agricultural sector new market access and further export opportunities.However, farmers have reacted with frustration and disdain to the announcement of the deal.Liz Webster, founder of campaigning group Save British Farming, said UK farmers will be left paying the price of a trade deal with President Trump.Cornwall tenant farmer Rob Halliday said the trade deal puts UK farmers at the bottom of a 'steep hill', and added UK businesses will be competing with a country that does not hold the same rigorous environmental and welfare standards set by British farmers.Poultry producer Sam Hall, of Sam's Hens Free Range Egg Farm in Croxden, said the deal was a disaster for British farming."The new trade deal will mean American beef will eventually end up on our plates, probably through the wholesale food sector, undercutting high quality British family farmed produce,” Mr Hall added."British consumers will be eating US beef and other agricultural products unknowingly, as it eventually ends up in the food service sector. And politicians like Conservative Party Leader Kemi Badenoch said the deal was far from 'historic', as Sir Keir has said, and rather has left British farmers feeling 'shafted' and undermined. Shadow Defra Secretary Victoria Atkins said she felt British farmers would be left at a 'disadvantage' by the trade deal over 'uncertainty' regarding the availability of American beef in UK supermarkets, shops and restaurants.Ms Atkins said: "Whilst we have a reciprocal arrangement on beef, we need absolute assurance that our market will not be flooded with meat that's far cheaper to produce with lower standards to meet."This looks like a two-tier agriculture policy that puts our farmers at a disadvantage. "When Labour negotiates, Britain losesTim Farron, Rural Affairs Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said despite the deal being agreed, he argued British farmers are 'not out of the woods' when it comes to understanding the implications of the deal, adding that the devil will be in the details.While Defra Secretary Steve Reed said the Government has and always will act in the 'national interest' to protect British farmers, their businesses and jobs across the economy."The deal we signed on Thursday [May 8] will also protect British farmers and uphold our high animal welfare and environmental standards," Mr Reed added."Food standards matter so much to us in Britain.""I have always been clear: no hormone-treated beef, no chlorinated chicken. As promised, these products remain illegal in the UK. That will not change."That was your Farming in Five update. You can find more of these stories by subscribingYour daily update from Farmers Guardian