The Tenant Farmers Association seven golden principles for CAP reform

The Tenant Farmers Association’s National Chairman Greg Bliss has identified seven golden principles that must underpin the next reform of the Common Agricultural Policy due to get underway in Brussels later this year.

Writing to EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos in advance of the tabling of formal EU Commission proposals for further CAP reform he set out the following seven principles:

1. Direct payments through pillar one must continue to form the principal basis of support through the CAP.

2. Measures must be put in place to ensure that support payments do not become capitalised into land values.

3. Rates of modulation should be uniform across the European Union.

4. Domestic producers should be protected from imports from third countries and other EU Member States using lower environmental and animal welfare standards.

5. All Member States should be required to have the same level of decoupling.

6. Market management instruments should be introduced to assist the industry in managing volatility.

7. Measures should be put in place to protect the access of tenant farmers into Pillar 2, agri-environment schemes.

"Direct payments continue to be essential to ensure that farmers receive a fair standard of living which it is clear the marketplace is unable to deliver. This support also recognises the increased costs associated with the higher environmental and animal welfare standards demanded of domestic producers. We also need the ability to protect ourselves against imports of food produced to lower standards," said Mr Bliss.

"It is also important that the benefits of any support, whether through direct payments or agri-environment schemes, actually go to working farmers. Too often we are concerned that landlords take the payments without passing the benefits on to their tenants," said Mr Bliss.

"We need a system which provides a level playing field across the EU. It is simply not fair that other Member States of the European Union are allowed to continue providing production related support in certain sectors and charging a lower modulation rate in comparison to that faced by UK farmers. These measures are anti-competitive and must not be allowed to continue," said Mr Bliss.

"A consequence of the move away from coupled support has been a major increase in the volatility of returns to primary producers. We have also experienced the same in relation to input costs. This is something which we are looking for the EU to address in any future reform programme," said Mr Bliss.