More cash for farm trade watchdog to scrutinise Pacific deal

Fears that the farm trade watchdog set up by the government would not have the resources to scrutinise a new trans-Pacific deal have been dispelled, after ministers granted the body a “substantial” amount of extra cash.

Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) chairman Prof Lorand Bartels warned last year that language barriers and legal differences would make it difficult to analyse production standards in the 11 countries which are already part of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Transpacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The TAC had been forced to rely on a researcher funded by Cambridge University to produce its report on the Australia trade deal.

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Although he was unable to reveal how much more money had been allocated, Prof Bartels said: “I am satisfied it is enough to help us do our job. It involves a dedicated researcher who will be able to assist us full-time.

“There are also additional funds which we are able to spend, if we need to, on targeted consultancies.”

The CPTPP is a multilateral deal between 11 countries around the Pacific Rim, including Canada, Chile, Mexico, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Prof Bartels told Farmers Weekly it was “possible and maybe even foreseeable” that developing countries in the CPTPP may have lower production standards than wealthier countries – although he cautioned that he had no evidence yet on which to base this assumption.

“Poorer countries find it more difficult to engage in compliance activity than wealthier countries,” he said. “That is just a function of how much money is out there.

“But there could also be cost savings through use of pesticides which might not be permitted in the UK. Where there is less money around, there might be more of a temptation or tradition of engaging in practices which in wealthier countries you do not see so much, because they are able to afford ways of not doing that.”