UK organic farmers face the prospect of a trade embargo being placed on their products destined for the EU if we leave without a deal, the NFU has warned.

The NFU has maintained that it is vital a deal is agreed to ensure an orderly Brexit to avoid immediate serious problems for British farmers and growers and food production.

Chairman of the NFU organic forum, John Pawsey, says a no-deal Brexit would mean producers here needing the EU to formally recognise UK organic production standards and accept these as equivalent to EU standards. He warns that without recognition for UK organic standards, organic products destined for the EU market would have to be sold as conventional and would therefore lose the premiums they need in order to cover the higher costs of production.

The NFU is writing to Defra Secretary of State Michael Gove to highlight this as another example of where leaving the EU without a deal would be catastrophic for UK agriculture.