A new online Brexit impact calculator launched this week will allow farmers and growers to see for the first time how their enterprise may be affected by potential Brexit scenarios.
It’s part of a wider suite of practical business tools unveiled by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) to help farmers and growers review their business performance and remain fit for the future.
‘Tremendous uncertainty’
The Brexit Impact Calculator allows individuals to input their own data and see what effects the different Brexit scenarios might have on their business.
“Tremendous uncertainty still surrounds the outcome of Brexit negotiations,” said AHDB chief strategy officer Tom Hind.
“Nonetheless we believe it’s important that businesses make conscious, proactive and strategic decisions to be fit for the future.
“Last year, we analysed how a range of Brexit scenarios could impact on different farming sectors. Feedback from farmers and growers has indicated that many are unsure how the different scenarios might affect them, so we have now produced a tool to help them better understand what Brexit could mean for their bottom line.”
How it works
The calculator is just part of a wider tool list which looks at five key areas of the business covering topics, from being efficient with resources to financial management and planning for the future.
The simple calculator allows growers and farmers to input their income from crop, livestock and CAP as well variable and fixed costs.
It will then generate a report predicting the consequences of each of three possible Brexit scenarios:
Scenario 1: Full and comprehensive free-trade agreement with the EU. Support payments stay at the current level.
Scenario 2: No free-trade agreement with the EU but the UK unilaterally lowers all agricultural tariffs to zero. Level of support reduced by 50% and permanent labour costs rise.
Scenario 3: No free-trade agreement with EU and the UK adopts current EU tariff levels on all agricultural trade. Level of support reduced by 75%. Permanent and casual labour costs rise.
The five areas are:
- Review of farm business;
- Profit and performance;
- Brexit scenario planning;
- Individual farm performance – technical change;
- Getting the most from the marketplace.
The online toolkit also features a resilience checklist which uses questions to identify areas of the business that may benefit from additional attention to ensure it is sustainable after Brexit.
