Brexit and the border 10 years on

A decade after the UK voted to leave the European Union, a Northern Ireland farmer reflects on the outcome, admitting it has "certainly not turned out as well as we had hoped." Robert Moore, an arable and beef farmer whose family has worked their land near Derry City for over 200 years, voted Leave with the intention of making decisions better suited to his business within his own country.

“

How has it turned out now? Certainly not as well as we had hoped.

"It probably hasn't worked out that well," Moore stated, expressing concern over the current political landscape in both Northern Ireland and Great Britain, where he feels some leaders "don't know what they're doing." Despite this disappointment, he maintains his belief in the fundamental principle that each country should have the autonomy to make its own choices, particularly regarding food production.

“

I decided that we would be much better off making our own decisions in our own country, and working with our neighbours, you know, but making decisions that suited our businesses, our farming within our own country.

For Moore's own farming business, significant changes have been limited to shifts in prices and the availability of certain products like crop spray and veterinary medicines. He assesses that farmers in Northern Ireland are neither better nor worse off overall since Brexit. He describes the region's position as being "a little bit in the middle," navigating the complexities of working with the Republic of Ireland (an EU member) and Great Britain (outside the EU), which he calls "not ideal, but it's not the end of the world."

“

I still believe in the basic principle that each country, particularly when it comes to food production, should be able to make its own choices.

George Fleming, chairman of Fleming Agri Products, a manufacturer of agricultural machinery sold internationally, also shared his perspective. While dismayed by the Leave vote due to his lifelong experience living in a border area and recalling past customs delays, he notes that little has fundamentally changed for his business a decade later. "We have maybe five minutes paperwork to do for a load going to France or whatever, but there's nothing that we would have said really obstructs our business or our flow of business," he reported. The unique arrangements under the Windsor Framework, which keep Northern Ireland within the EU's single market for goods, are credited with protecting the all-island economy and mitigating disruptions for businesses like Fleming's.

“

We here in Northern Ireland are a little bit in the middle because we're trying to work with the Republic that is in the EU and GB that isn't. Sometimes getting the best of both worlds or the worst of both worlds. It's not ideal, but it's not the end of the world.