New year, new challenges. Luxembourg's farmers' association is apprehensive about the potential consequences of Brexit.
The British government is expected to vote on Theresa May's deal on 21 January. The future of the UK is currently somewhat up in the air with the decision between a "hard" or "no-deal" Brexit, May's Brexit deal and even a second referendum still looming.
The Grand Duchy would generally prefer for May's deal to go through rather than go down the route of a no-deal Brexit. Josiane Willems, president of the farmer's association, stated that the UK is an important trading partner to Luxembourg.
A great deal of goods from the 27 member states are exported from the continent to Britain, and Great Britain is in turn an important exporter to continental Europe.
With Brexit, taxes and customs costs are expected to go up, making products more expensive and less competitive. Experts are warning of a hard Brexit, saying that consequences could be even more dire than during the 2014 Russia embargo.
Almost five years ago, some markets completely collapsed under the pressure. Milk prices were especially affected. Brussels is currently working on an emergency plan to prevent history from repeating itself. But even with a solid plan in place, the consequences are expected to be felt in continental Europe as well as across the Channel.
As if Brexit weren't enough to worry about, climate change and the extremely hot temperatures in recent years are putting farmers in a spot of bother.
Willems stated that the farmers' association is also fearful of potential cuts to the European agriculture budget.
A guaranteed price stability does not exist in the agricultural sector, which means that farmers have to deal with a lot of uncertainty.
