Commission on broadly the right track with CAP reform paper, says CLA

The CLA says that the European Commission is broadly on the right track with a leaked paper on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The Association said the Commission was absolutely right to call for a "well-funded and strong" post-2013 Common Policy which addressed the "food and environmental challenges that will confront Europe for decades to come".

The leaked paper – which today came into the public domain through reportage in industry newsletter Agrafacts – proposes a "greening" of the first pillar of the CAP, and champions the balanced approach of Food and Environmental Security that the CLA and its EU partner European Landowners' Organisation (ELO) have long advocated.

CLA President William Worsley said: "The Commission has tried to steer a course between those defending the status quo and those saying the CAP should only be about the environment, and this seems pretty sensible.

"This paper contains many statements we wholeheartedly support, acknowledging the need to retain both pillars and that the CAP has to evolve further to face the food and environmental challenges ahead."

He said: "It stresses the balanced approach the CLA and ELO have been urging, maintaining the EU capacity to produce food, encouraging innovation and productivity, and yet also explaining that it is farmers who can provide more of the environmental public goods we want in Europe.

"There are intriguing suggestions about how these ideas can be built into Pillar 1, including stronger and more predictable support for the marginal farming areas, for example, the uplands."

The CLA President stressed that it was a leaked paper, setting out the Commission Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development's ideas for the CAP. "We have yet to see what the other Commissioners think of it especially the ones in Budget, Finance, Trade and Environment. This paper is not necessarily the final word," he said.

He added that there were aspects of the paper with which the CLA disagrees such as "bringing payment capping back on the agenda" and talk of only so-called "active farmers" being the only beneficiaries, which does not recognise the environmental work that non-farming landowners provide.

Mr Worsley said there was a lot more detailed work needed on this framework to get a suitable CAP for 2014-2020.

Angus Collingwood-Cameron, Director CLA North East said, "It is very good news that the Paper does set out the three priority objectives for the CAP. The first is viable food production. The Paper recognises that the priority of agriculture is to produce food and that we must maintain our productive capacity. The second priority is the sustainable management of our natural resources, and third includes encouraging rural employment, vital for securing the social fabric of rural areas.

"I doubt that many could disagree with these objectives, but in order for them to be achieved the CAP will need to continue to be adequately funded."