Prescriptive rules on grassland, cropping and the ecological focus areas featured in the recently published Common Agricultural Policy post 2014 proposals concerned local farmers at the recent Monmouthshire NFU Cymru Annual General Meeting.
Ed Bailey, NFU Cymru President told members present, "Some of the proposals contained within the European Commission document are a cause for huge concern for farmers throughout Wales, particularly if the proposals for 30 per cent of the future direct payment to farmers is to be linked to greening measures, come into force.
"We firmly believe that the greening proposals, as they are currently written, fail to take into account the agri-environmental gains we have made in Wales and would be better delivered through voluntary measures under Pillar Two."
Colin Phillips, NFU Cymru Monmouthshire County Chairman said, "Monmouthshire is one of the most productive counties in Wales in terms of food production – featuring some of the most fertile arable land and is home to very successful dairy and livestock units. We are a prime example of a food producing county - whether it is grain, milk or meat - and the greening proposals will deter, not improve, food production at a time when the challenge is to produce more not less food.
"If these proposals come into force, many of us will be forced by regulation and not market decisions to change our farming practices in such a way that will take land out of production and seriously disrupt crop rotations. This would be wholly unacceptable. Simplification we thought was meant to be one of the key priorities from this CAP reform process, this to me seems to be completely lost from the proposals that the Commissioner announced last month. There is much work to do to make these proposals work for farmers in Monmouthshire and throughout the rest of Wales."
