Radical reform of Common Agriculture Policy

Local Conservative MEP and Chairman of the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee, Neil Parish today re-iterated calls for the EU to strengthen its reforms of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) after the European Parliament hosted a public hearing on the "Health Check" of the CAP.

The "Health Check" is the first overhaul of the CAP since the introduction of Single Farm Payment scheme in 2003/4 and assumes even more importance with spiralling food prices around the world. It seeks to update and simplify the scheme, adapting the CAP to new challenges like food security and making it more relevant to the modern world by moving more money away from direct subsidies and into areas such as environmental stewardship.

Mr Parish welcomes many of the proposals but does not feel that the reforms go anywhere near far enough to tackle the challenges that British agriculture faces in the 21st Century. He also fears that attempts to reform the CAP will be hijacked by those countries that wish to see a return to the old, coupled system of payments.