Efra ‘right’ to recognise importance of CAP in food production

The CLA said the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Committee report on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2013, published today, was right to recognise the importance of the CAP in food production.

CLA President William Worsley said: "The Efra Committee’s recognition of the importance of the CAP in the production of safe, high-quality food is welcome and we are pleased the report questions Defra’s rush to scrap direct payments in the short term.

"The Committee supports the CLA view that additional payments for maintaining and enhancing biodiversity, landscape management and clean water are needed as markets do not currently reward farmers for these services."

However, Mr Worsley said it was wrong for the Efra Committee to get "hung up" on arguments over which pillar is best for delivering environmental benefits when considering the greening of the CAP.

He said: "We should be taking advantage of the strengths of both pillars. Pillar 1 is more certain, whereas Pillar 2 is more flexible and lends itself to regional adaptability. We must ensure that livestock production businesses in the Uplands, which rely on the CAP as their main source of funding, are adequately rewarded for the ecosystem services they provide.

"It is important to agree what we want farmers to provide and then guarantee a sufficient budget to deliver it."