Farming: Fischer Boel hears Scots CAP case – and will see for herself

Published on Thursday 4 December 2008 20:00

WHATEVER the future of Scottish devolution – or independence – there is little doubt that in farming terms Scottish interests and opinions are keenly listened to within the European corridors of power in Brussels.

That was clear yesterday following a visit by the board of NFU Scotland and senior organisation staff. The highlight was a meeting with the agricultural commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel.

Ten days ago her "health check" of the Common Agricultural Policy was agreed, with Scotland coming out relatively well, especially compared with England.

The focus of debate is now on the next reforms of the CAP, which will become effective in 2013. The odds are that the 40 billion (34 billion) CAP budget will become largely targeted towards the environment and that farmers will have to surrender many of the payments they now enjoy that were formerly linked to historical levels of support in the years leading up to 2003.

That could be painful in the Scottish context, with annual payments now running at over 400 million, but Jim McLaren, the president of NFUS, emerged from the discussions late yesterday with a sense of cautious optimism.

He said: "It is important that we are involved in the debate on the future shape of the CAP at an early stage. This meeting with the commissioner and her commitment to visit Scotland next spring are making sure that our voice is being heard.

"It is vital that we create a CAP that has clearly identified what consumers expect farmers to deliver and that support forthcoming on that basis retains a strong link to activity on farms."

Fischer Boel is generally held in high regard in the rural sector. She is, after all, the wife of a farmer in Denmark.

However, while she will be welcome in Scotland during her forthcoming visit, the word in Brussels is that she intends to stand down following next May's elections to the European parliament.

One of the major concerns for the Scottish farming industry is the future of Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme (LFASS), which is worth 61m a year to farmers in the hills and uplands.

Recently Richard Lochhead, the Cabinet secretary for rural affairs, has had detailed discussions with interested parties on this vexed topic.

It was made clear to him in no uncertain terms that without LFASS payments, which cover 85 per cent of the land mass in Scotland, hill farming would collapse. Subsequently the Scottish Government gave an undertaking to support hill farming, but it may be a tough battle, as McLaren acknowledged.

He said: "We repeated our concerns to the commissioner that any redefinition of the less favoured areas could impact on the way that this lifeline payment is delivered to Scottish farmers."

Proposals by the EU to outlaw a wide range of pesticides and chemicals routinely deployed by arable farmers have resulted in predictions that crop yields, especially in the damper climes of Northern Europe, would suffer severely.

These moves are being driven by the green lobby, and practical farmers have repeatedly pointed out that Brussels has failed to make any impact assessment of a ban. This was another issue raised by McLaren.

He said: "Sound science is missing from the current debate on pesticides. But is reassuring that the Commissioner is alive to the impact that policies originating in other parts of the commission can have on her agricultural brief."