“Preparingourselves for the future we need to ensure we focus on people, technology, soiland water management. We also need to widen our understanding on theimplications of the UN sustainable development goals and how they may impactfuture farming methodologies.
“That’sdespite the fact predicting the future for the agricultural sector is reallyrather difficult! Who could have predicted the Chinese economic slowdown, the Russianinvasion of Crimea, the reduction in oil prices, Brexit and their impact onboth current and future agricultural strategies
“Theresult of the referendum will obviously have implications for UK agriculture,however at the current time the policy makers have yet to decide the industry’soperating structure post EU exit.
“Despitethis uncertainty, the government’s welcome pledge to pay farmers the equivalentof their EU support cheques until 2020 provides valuable breathing space forbusinesses to closely examine their balance sheets and prepare for what liesahead.
“Barclayshas been supporting clients for over 325 years, throughout that time we haveseen many periods of change and uncertainty. The sector’s resilience has beendemonstrated time and time again - individual businesses will make decisions oncore production, diversification and adding value in just the same way as theyalways have.”