MEPs produce ‘mixed bag’ of CAP reform

Scottish farming leaders and politicians described the final set of proposals for the next common agricultural policy (CAP) coming out of the European Parliament yesterday as a mixed bag with some good policies and some less suited to Scotland.

Cautiously, because much of the detail from the two-and-a-half hour plenary session still had to be analysed, NFU Scotland chief executive Scott Walker welcomed the flexibility on coupling payments to specific sectors and also the watering down but “sadly not removing” the requirements of environmental focus areas (EFA).