Preparing for Brexit is simpler than you might think (and help is on hand!)

Whilst coronavirus has proved to be a major distraction, both to us and politicians around the globe, we continue to move speedily towards the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020..  Yet many farmers haven’t started to prepare and there are many reasons you might recognise:

• I don’t know enough to plan – what exactly am I planning for?
• The impact won’t come immediately, there’ll be time to work out how things will pan out.
• I’m committed to farming, things might not be as good as they are now, but I’m intending to keep going regardless.
• I don’t have that many options, I can’t afford to do something else or spend money preparing, I’m going to have to keep going and hope things work out ok.
• The government will come up with something, they can’t let farmers go to the wall.
• Brexit will bring opportunities in my sector, I don’t need to plan for challenges!

However, even if you feel that there’ll be a bump in the road and then things will settle out, you need to be clear that you can weather that bump.  You might see opportunities arising from Brexit, in which case you need to plan now so that you’re in a strong position to take advantage of those opportunities.   A plan needn’t be a complex document.  Ask yourself the following questions – you can print this off as a table with room for your answer.  Jot down your response in the box opposite – and this then is the basis of your Brexit plan.

The Farm Advisory Service can fund one-to-one support of up to £1,000 to help with the cost of the planning exercise, go to www.fas.scot/specialist-advice/

Using the funding in this plan a consultant can review your existing business and help to you understand whether you are sufficiently profitable already, how well you’d weather any Brexit impacts, and what practical steps would be worthwhile to be as ready as you can be.