Cap reform proposals attacked by farmersand the NFU

The National Farmers Union (NFU) and farmers have attacked the cap reforms, Gail Soutar, senior CAP and International Advisor to the NFU told the conference that the greening proposals contained in the CAP reforms proposed by the European Commission are far from perfect. She said "the greening of direct payments in the CAP is inevitable and there is a role for the environment in the reforms of the CAP, but it has to be introduced without affecting production".

However, she said "that British farmers and those who are already involved in environmentally friendly production systems would be disadvantaged by three aspects of the current greening proposals in the reforms, crop diversification, retention of permanent grasslands and the seven percent ecological focus areas. Read more ...