Kit Papworth, who runs a contracting business in north Norfolk and is also chairman of the National Farmers' Union's sugar board (NFU Sugar), said the government's move towards "dynamic alignment" with Europe creates risks and opportunities for UK farmers.

The risks include plant health threats if the country lose access to crop protection chemicals which are not approved in the EU, he said.

And he echoed industry pleas that plant science advantages such as gene editing - created through post-Brexit precision breeding legislation - must not be traded away in the "reset" talks.

"If we get this wrong the costs to growers and industry could be........

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