THERE will be a long period of uncertainty for Hampshire farmers in the wake of the EU referendum.

Growers and producers are beginning to work out how the county's farming industry will work outside the European Union - the world's largest agricultural trader.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) have called an emergency meeting with its governing body as they prepare to work with the government to negotiate ways to ensure farming does not suffer as a result of Britain's exit from the EU.

A new British agricultural policy will be drawn up to ensure standards of both imported and exported produce do not lower, there are enough farm workers to work the land and to ensure UK farmers are still able to trade with the EU.

Hampshire farmers, who bring £132m a year into the British economy, are now eagerly waiting the results of those discussions.

Raimes English Sparkling based in Alresford employs Romanian workers and owner Augusta Raimes said: “I have no idea how it is going to affect us. I am just waiting to see what happens.

"We employ people in the European Union and I am certainly hoping that we keep the single market and the free movement of labour, as we get very good help from Romanian people that work for us.

“It is a shock and I am just really hoping we can follow the Swiss model.”

The Hampshire branch of the NFU has warned that there could be months of uncertainty and "there is not going to be a quick solution".

Sandra Nichols, NFU county advisor for Hampshire and Surrey, said: "Our initial thoughts are that it's going to lead to period of uncertainty for farmers in Hampshire.

"The NFU's view was that, in terms of the agricultural industry the UK would be better off with the EU but people have had their say and now we need to move forward.

"The NFU's next job is to engage fully, first of all with our members, to find out what a new UK agricultural policy will look like and then we will need to engage with the British government to try to create new arrangements for our farming industry.

"There's no tremendous rush to this. We need to take our time.

"Agriculture is a fundamental industry for our country.

"We need to achieve the best possible access to European markets because they are our main trading partner.

"We will also need to ensure that we have access to markets in the rest of the world but at the same time ensure that we are protected from any inports that are produced to a lower standard because we have very high standards here.

"There's not going to be a quick solution to this. We will need time to pick the bones out."