PRIME Minister David Cameron has warned that coming out of the EU could cost farmers as much as £330m in loss on lamb and beef exports.

In his latest appeal to voters to choose to stay in the union, he said that more than 90 per cent of UK lamb and beef exports — worth around £605 million - currently go to the EU.

The farming sector contributes £9.9 billion to the UK economy and employs almost half a million people.

The National Farmers Union has not yet taken a stance on the issue.

A spokesman for the NFU South West said “The NFU is trying to get as much information to members as possible so they can make an informed decision. As we have seen recently there often seems to be more heat than light in the referendum debate and it is important they have all the facts at their disposal.”

The spokesman added: “To aid this process, the NFU has commissioned an agricultural research institute from the Netherlands, LEI Wageningen, to crunch the numbers and provide some objective data on whether farmers would be better off

in or out – it’s expected this research will be discussed by the NFU Council at its April meeting.

“It is the role of the NFU to promote the best interests of British agriculture and that is what we will do in the run up to the EU referendum and afterwards, irrespective of the outcome.”

Mr Cameron, speaking at a farm in north Wales, said: “British farmers and food producers rely on the single market.

“It gives them access to 500 million consumers, to whom they can sell their goods on an open, unrestricted basis. No tariffs, no barriers, no bogus health and safety rules designed to keep our products out.

“If we left this single market and - as some suggest - relied on World Trade Organisation rules, the extra costs of exporting British beef would be £240 million a year.

“An extra £90 million would be added to the cost of British lamb exports.

“British agriculture, British farmers and British jobs

could suffer enormously if we were to leave the single mar-

ket.”