In the heart of the English countryside, Will Woodhall somehow tries to stay positive, even as several tons of his organic beets, worth more than £100,000, are rotting on his farm for lack of European buyers.
“It’s really a shame, all the effort for this,” the 35-year-old farmer wails, pointing to a 4.5-meter high mountain of vegetables that has been rotting since October.
“I’ve never had an unsold crop of this size. Of course it weighs on our company. Hopefully we can digest that, I’m trying to stay positive,” he told AFP.
Will Woodhall’s beets are the latest victims of the BrexitThe bureaucracy associated with the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union has made it difficult to export British products to the continent.
On his 770 acre farm, Woodhall Growers, Will Woodhall has been producing organic beets for nearly a decade and exporting almost half of his production to Europe. He initially thought that Brexit, which will take effect in early 2020, would have little impact on his business. But after an 11-month transition period, the UK left the European Customs Union and the Common Market, leaving traders of all kinds in limbo.
“A lot of hassle”
Soon one of his European buyers broke his contract to purchase hundreds of tons of beets and has not placed an order since. “They said they didn’t want any more non-European products,” explains the English farmer.
Usually his buyers mixed his beets with others from other European countries, but with Brexit they now have to separate them to distinguish them from each other, which costs time and money. “It’s a lot of hassle. I can’t blame them,” admits Will Woodhall.
The grower, who usually ships his produce in the winter after the harvest in late autumn, ended up with a few hundred tons of unsold beet, worth around 90,000 pounds (109,000 euros). “We had a big hit,” he sums up.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other Brexit supporters had promised that leaving the EU after half a century of European integration would free the UK from bureaucratic restrictions and open up new markets for the country.
But for many businesses, who, like Will Woodhall’s farm, are at least partially dependent on trade across the canal, Brexit has made exporting much more complicated.
“Heartbreaker”
“From now on we will only produce for the United Kingdom. No more exports to the EU of our organic beets, which is a real pity”, regrets Will Woodhall. To compensate, he plans to grow more spring onions, grains and peas to diversify his production for the domestic market.
“You just have to move on,” says the farmer, aware that British buyers can only partially compensate his European customers. He even plans to go “glamping”, luxury camping. “You can’t do better with 19 hectares than with 34 hectares,” he explains. “It’s good to produce more to really lower production costs.
Despite everything, the farmer, who voted to stay in the EU in 2016, remains optimistic about the long-term possibilities of Brexit, if the promises are indeed delivered.
Do we have the necessary support? I don’t know.
“I honestly think that in ten years we will be better outside (the EU), with Brexit, with our own market. But how many will be bankrupt by then? “, he is concerned. “And do we have the necessary support? I don’t know “.
While agriculture in Europe is heavily subsidized, UK government support “falls short” due to the small size of the sector. Farming “isn’t worth that much, I guess, but it’s a way of life for people like me, for thousands of people,” says Will Woodhall. Meanwhile, he has no choice but to let his beets rot. “It’s heartbreaking. I come every day and look at the pile, and sometimes I hold my head in my hands,” he says. “I really need to think about something else.”
