TWO young dairy farmer brothers are worried that their future will be at risk if the bull semen importation ban is lifted.

Peter Le Cornu (22) and his brother Steven (20) are concerned ahead of the States debate due in ten days time that letting in outside genetics will open the floodgates in the future to imported milk and livestock.

‘Our main concern is that lifting the ban will have a knock-on effect for milk imports,’ said Peter Le Cornu. ‘Jersey is unique because of our current ban on semen importation and the EU are happy to support that. But we understand that because we subscribe to the EU free trade of goods law, lifting the importation ban will stir things up and the EU might also question our existing ban on milk imports.’

Mr Le Cornu believes that the Jersey Competition and Regulatory Authority would be able to argue that live cattle should also be imported. ‘If this were to happen, a farmer in Jersey could feasibly import some black and white Friesian cows and change the face of Jersey,’ he said. ‘At the moment, our anti-competition law bans everything from entering the Island. Removing one part of that, such as bull semen, means that we would have to be open to everything.’