IS that it? After seven years’ anticipation or, perhaps, dread, the post-Brexit settlement looks remarkably like the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP): the same triumph of process over outcomes, the same over-engineered hoops for farmers to jump through and, apparently, the same legion of civil servants to administer ‘public money for public goods’ (and for public servants’ salaries). Critically, most farmers are scratching their heads and wondering how they will balance the books when the impact of free trade hits.
