The last-minute trade deal struck between EU and UK negotiators has been hailed as "positive news" for East Anglia's farming industry.

The National Farmers' Union (NFU) has repeatedly warned that a no-deal Brexit would be "catastrophic" for food producers who rely on free trade with Europe.

So industry leaders have welcomed the Christmas Eve deal, agreed just a week before current trading arrangements expire.

But they called for more efforts to minimise the anticipated disruption from new border checks, paperwork and trade requirements after the Brexit transition ends on January 1.

Gary Ford, regional director for NFU East Anglia, said: “The successful conclusion of a deal between the UK and EU is very positive news for farmers in East Anglia.

"The EU is our largest trading partner and we have been clear throughout negotiations that maintaining tariff-free access to the EU market is absolutely crucial for our food and farming industry, not only for farmers’ businesses and livelihoods, but for our ability to continue to provide a secure supply of quality, home-grown food for the nation.

“We will now analyse the details of this agreement to ensure it meets the needs of British food and farming.

"The tariff-free element will be a particular relief for farmers that rely heavily on the EU export market, as well as farmers across British agriculture that produce the safe, traceable and affordable food that underpins more than £14bn worth of export sales each year to the EU.

“It does remain the case though that our relationship with the EU will experience a fundamental change at the end of the transition period on 1 January 2021 and we do anticipate that there will still be disruption to trade at the border.

"New checks, paperwork and requirements on traders will add costs and complexity.

"It is vital government does all it can now to prioritise exports of our high quality, perishable agricultural products to make sure that these products are not left languishing in queues at the border when the changes take effect.

“With only seven days left until the end of the transition period and traders still facing a huge amount of disruption on the ground, I would urge both the UK and EU to now use the basis of this deal to continue talks to manage any disruption we may experience from 1 January.”