CAP reforms draw a mixed response

Seventy pages of proposals for the reform of the common agricultural policy – including limiting the amount of cash going to any individual farmer, eliminating payments to those who are no longer farming and increased support for environmental measures and those coming into the industry – were published yesterday by the European Commission.

Most of the details of those policies had been leaked last month and yesterday’s announcement by the European Union agricultural commissioner, Dacian Ciolos, was only confirmation of the position of the commission at the start of negotiations, which are expected to last for at least 15 months.

For Richard Lochhead, the Scottish Government rural affairs secretary, and Nigel Miller, the president of the National farmers Union of Scotland, this is just a starting point in negotiations which will radically change the support package that currently delivers £650 million annually to Scottish agriculture.

Both expressed their surprise that Ciolos had included a suggestion that 7 per cent of land should be taken out of production and put it into environmental projects at a time when increased food production is a worldwide issue.

Ciolos denied this move was contrary to the increasing need for more food production, saying most farms in Europe had small areas of non-productive land.

But Miller questioned this comment, saying that Scotland had little enough top quality land without taking a percentage of it out of food production.

Lochhead was also less than happy with the proposal, but said he would like to see an analysis of what difference it would make to productive farming.

However, both welcomed an acceptance that there could be discretion for member states to provide direct payments in some areas as this would allow targeting support for Scottish livestock farmers in Less Favoured Areas.

The politician and farm leader were also together on only giving support to active farmers; a move that will see an end to payments to “slipper farmers”, as those who were farming ten years ago but are no longer doing so are described.

The same proposal will also ensure that the 1.5 million hectares of “unfarmed” land under forestry and other uses in Scotland will not dilute the overall payment.

Lochhead opposes a proposal by the commission to limit – or cap – the maximum support for any individual farmer. He said the decision should be based not on what an individual receives, but on what he produced, with support following production.

The union was also against the capping of payments. Miller claimed that it would create “an industry of accountants” devising systems to get round the regulation. Miller observed that the more he looked at the overall package, the more he was convinced that it would, if unchanged, be more complex than the current CAP and it would create more requirements for compliance measures.

The package will now go out to member states for their reactions and then to farm ministers before returning to the European Parliament. The negotiations will also be affected by the decision of finance ministers on the size of the CAP budget; an issue described by Lochhead as “the elephant in the room”.