Here in the beautiful Cumbrian countryside, the sun is out, our grass is growing and the sky is blue. Sheep are busily nibbling the pasture while cattle are basking in the summer warmth. These are perfect conditions for farming. The animals are content and the farmers are working hard.

Everything should be fine, but there is a big, dark cloud lurking on the horizon: the possibility of a no-deal Brexit. This is a threat to everything we do. The uncertainty around Brexit and the prospect of trade tariffs that would cripple our business is a real worry. The future direction of UK-produced food is simply unknown.

Will we be forced to adhere to ever higher standards, while our government allows food to be imported from countries where farmers adhere to welfare or other standards that would, rightly, be illegal on my farm? Will our politicians assure British farmers that they will avoid a disastrous no-deal Brexit?

Politicians visit farms and livestock auction markets and tell farmers: “Don’t worry chaps, it’ll all be fine.” Then we hear them on the radio proclaiming that the great prize of Brexit will be cheaper food.

All this plays to my very real fear that we will be sold out as the British government desperately seeks trade deals with anyone who will have us. I believe they would happily open up our highly regulated food sector to all-comers if they’ll buy our financial services.

Selling out British farming could end up being the legacy of Brexit. My fear is that free-trading ministers, who are frustrated by what they dismiss as the “red tape” of the EU, could sacrifice rural Britain in a heartbeat if it meant a trade deal with the US.

We cannot let that happen. Instead of discussing just how many billions of pounds will be needed to mitigate the effects of a no-deal Brexit, politicians should be discussing their vision of what the future of British farming and food production looks like. We need to be thinking further than just 31 October.

Our farm is a family affair, a mixed business that I run in partnership with my brother and my parents, on the edge of the Leven estuary at the head of Morecambe Bay.

The parts of our farm are all complementary. We have sheep, free-range hens, beef and dairy cattle, all accredited by either the Lion code, Red Tractor or RSPCA Freedom Foods. We’re very proud to produce wonderful food to some of the highest standards in the world.

Our family has farmed for more than 400 years and we hope to leave our land in good heart for the next generation. It’s why we’re involved in agri-environment schemes that promote biodiversity, pollinators, good soil health and much, much more. We’re proud custodians of the countryside.

When I look over my farm, I see opportunity. We need our politicians to recognise this too. They need to have a real, genuine conversation about how they will ensure the food and farming sector thrives far into the future, continuing to deliver for the public, providing them with food, shaping our iconic landscape and providing essential services for rural communities.

We need to hear answers and genuine policies from both Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson about how they will establish a sustainable domestic food production system that will stand the test of time. This is about UK food security. Right now, we have none of that. Instead I am having to shelve my plans to expand my business, and reinvestment is put on hold. That’s all down to the current uncertainty.

I despair when I hear those who are dead set on leaving the EU without a deal on 31 October, pronouncing that this will bring the end of uncertainty. The huge irony is that if we crash out with no deal, uncertainty will remain king, but this time it will probably last for years while the powers-that-be grapple with the task of striking a future trading relationship with the rest of Europe.

I don’t have the luxury of waiting to see what any of that produces. A no-deal Brexit could wipe out my business. And where would that leave our farmers’ ability to produce our own food? Shoppers would be subject to US chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef produced to standards much inferior to those I can guarantee.

That’s not a future for British farming I want to see, and I don’t think the public wants to see that either. I believe British people love their countryside and want to see the rural regions thriving. I would love to see a future where British farming continues to produce some of the world’s best food, continues to care for the world’s most beautiful countryside, and provides a real model of sustainable farming for the future.

I want farming to be recognised as part of the solution to climate change, as we work towards a carbon-neutral future. In the UK we’re not cutting down rainforests, we’re planting trees. We are champions of animal welfare, when some other countries don’t know the meaning of it.

We don’t always get it right and there will always be room to improve, but I believe we have limitless potential, and for that to be realised we need some certainty back in our lives. We need real blue-sky thinking, not the black clouds of a no-deal Brexit.

• Will Case is a farmer in Cumbria