The latest European Commission proposals for reforming the Common Agricultural Policy would devastate European food security and destabilise Wales’ rural communities, according to Farmers’ Union of Wales president Emyr Jones.
"Last year the EC acknowledged the dangers Europe faces over the coming years due to food shortages and identified this as the number one priority.
"But the latest proposals would take land out of agriculture and reduce food production across the EU while undermining farming communities across Wales."
Mr Jones said the proposals represented a missed opportunity to address the key challenges identified by the EC and the European Parliament and this failure could delay the finalising of an agreement on CAP reform.
"The combined problems of food security and climate change have been described as ’the perfect storm’, and the CAP should be seen as a toolkit to address these challenges.
"Yet today’s proposals could almost have been aimed at making matters worse and ignoring the fact that we have a framework which was specifically set up to protect people against starvation."
Mr Jones’ concerns were echoed by Members of the European Parliament at a special meeting of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee with Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos during which the proposal to take land out of food production was slammed.
Mr Jones added: "We have already discussed our concerns with members of the European Agriculture Committee and the Commission and we have our work cut out over the coming months to ensure the regulations are changed in a way which protects rural Wales and Welsh food production."
