Farming & food on our two islands are so interlinked. A hard Brexit could lead to the untangling of years of cooperation and trading. Our farm is an example of this.
Our Bronze Turkey chicks start off life in the UK. All our chicks are hatched in the UK from Bronze Turkey eggs produced from our UK farming friends. They are then incubated in a hatchery and sent over to us just after they hatch. There is no Bronze Turkey hatchery in Ireland. The market for Bronze Turkeys although growing yearly is not big enough to support a hatchery.
So what happens next June when we plan to get ready for Christmas 2019 and order our chicks. Will we be able to source Bronze Turkey chicks from the UK? In the case of a hard Brexit I seriously doubt a trade agreement will be in place by June to allow for the movement of goods between our islands.
This is only one tiny example of how we depend on each other. I am one farmer that wishes someone would shout stop and common sense would prevail. We need each other and squabbling over trade deals will not do our relationship any good.
The EU was set up to build bridges between the peoples of Europe after centuries of fighting. History can repeat itself, we all need to be very careful.
Ronan Byrne
The Friendly Farmer
