Defra secretary George Eustice travelled to the US this week as the UK government stepped up preparations for a trade deal.
During his visit Mr Eustice met agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack in Washington and farmers and food processors in Pennsylvania.
Speaking at the Soil Association’s agroecology conference on Thursday (28 April), after arriving back in the UK, Mr Eustice said open markets were an important part of food security.
The Defra secretary said one issue addressed on his trip was differences in animal welfare standards, which is seen as a potential barrier to any agreement.
There is concern among UK farmers that a deal would pave the way for food produced to lower welfare standards to flood the market.
“Some other countries including the United States have a slightly different culture – they’ve had a resistance to having regulations on farm animal welfare,” Mr Eustice told the conference.
Environment Secretary, George Eustice, has been meeting farming groups in the US this week. Hear more about the visit here 👇 #FutureFarming pic.twitter.com/KPU8YrZVmo
— Defra UK (@DefraGovUK) April 27, 2022
“But in place of that they have actually got some quite vibrant private accreditation schemes that accredit individual farms to a higher standard.
“One of the things we are exploring is whether we can find a way of recognising producers that accredit to that higher standard that is therefore much closer equivalent to ours.”
British lamb exports
In a separate update about the visit, Mr Eustice said discussions were continuing about British lamb exports to the US.
“They’ve already given us an export health certificate to use and there are a few final creases to iron out,” Mr Eustice said.
Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said: “Secretary Eustice and I are committed to continuing the strong, special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.”
