The people have spoken and we respect the power of democratic decision making and must now work to develop appropriate plans and solutions for the future of agriculture.
Careful consideration now needs to be given to the timetable for exit and our current thinking is that, if possible, our formal exit should coincide with the end of the current EU budgetary period in 2020 in order to help ensure a smooth transition.
Unravelling us from the EU budget to which we were previously committed; negotiating trade deals and dealing with issues such as border controls will take time. We do not believe a rapid exit over a couple of years would be in anyone’s interests and could leave us with the worst of all worlds.
This morning we are no wiser than we have been in recent weeks. There remains no clarity on what the future holds so our immediate concerns are to gain clarity and indeed to help shape that clarity for the benefit of farmers in Wales.