European farming payments must deliver more for the countryside say MPs

In its latest report, ‘The Common Agricultural Policy after 2013’, published today (Friday), the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee has highlighted the need for proposals to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to be more ambitious by making the environment a key priority rather than creating a complicated ‘greenwash’.

While not supporting all the report’s recommendations, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) agrees that the current reform proposals don’t go far enough.  We warmly welcome the Committee’s call for the CAP’s key objectives to include the management and maintenance of Europe’s wildlife, landscapes and natural resources.

CPRE believes this should be the primary objective of the CAP, as all our food production depends on a healthy natural environment. In our evidence to the Committee, we urged that the CAP must be radically reformed to reward farmers for all the environmental work they do and pay for the much needed enhancement and restoration of many of our farmed landscapes.  This would make CAP payments fairer, reduce the impacts of market volatility and establish a clear link between public money and provision of environmental public goods.

Ian Woodhurst, CPRE Senior Farming Campaigner, says: “It is essential that CAP reforms focus on improving the quality of our countryside. We need to restore Europe’s habitats and landscapes and improve the condition of our soil and water resources.  This will be an enormous task made even more difficult by the challenges of climate change.

Securing these reforms will be vital to the success of the Governments broader environment policy ambitions, to be set out in the White Paper on the natural environment expected soon.  If we fail to seize this opportunity we risk further depleting our natural resources, and this in turn will seriously diminish our ability to produce food sustainably.”

[1] The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and its associated bodies. The Committee undertook an inquiry into the European Commissions proposals for reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2013 to consider the impact of the proposals on farming in the UK. CPRE made a written submission to the inquiry and appeared before the Committee to give evidence. The report ‘The Common Agricultural Policy after 2013’, to be published on Friday 15th April, is available on the EFRA Committee website: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environment-food-and-rural-affairs-committee/

[2] The European Commission published its CAP reform proposals in November 2010. ‘The CAP towards 2020: Meeting the food, natural resources and territorial challenges of the future’, COM(2010)672/5: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/cap-post-2013/communication/com2010-672_en.pdf

CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 57,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. www.cpre.org.uk