Livestock processors hit out at Paterson over CAP reform

Scotland’s red meat processing industry yesterday made it clear to UK Secretary of State for the Evironment, Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson, that they are extremely unhappy with the deal he has so far negotiated on the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

The main cause for their unhappiness is their claim that the reformed CAP will be anything but “common”, with some countries such as France having a decided advantage in the support their livestock sector will receive.

In a sharply-worded letter to the minister, the president of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW), Alan McNaughton, warned that the UK’s position on coupled payments must be reconsidered before it was too late.

The outcome from the EU Council of Ministers meeting last month enabled the UK to make coupled or linked payments of up to 7 per cent of the total subsidy package.

McNaughton said that, while this was an improvement on the current structure, it fell well short of what was needed to prevent further shrinkage of the industry.

The unlevel nature of the next CAP will see some member states applying up to 12 per cent coupled payments and this, McNaughton said, put Scotland at a big disadvantage.

“We are at a loss to understand why our ambitions and opportunities should be thwarted by a 7 per cent ceiling when other European governments are able to support their livestock industries to a significantly greater degree,” he said.

He claimed that Scotland was now unable to take advantage of new export opportunities or make a positive contribution to the UK economy because of the damage to the industry from the subsidy system.

Instead of expansion, the meat sector was having to cope with a shortage of supply, rocketing costs and inadequate returns, all of which had contributed to a number of business failures in the last year, he said.

Prior to and during the current CAP negotiations, Paterson made it clear he was opposed to any linkage of subsidy with production, saying it was now time for market forces to decide production levels.

However McNaughton rejected this approach, saying: “We are aware of your opposition to the principle of coupled payments, though we do not agree with the view that the market will provide the incentive for increased livestock production, and certainly not in Scotland’s hills and uplands.”

Pointing out that supply problems had continued to worsen, despite a doubling of livestock values in the past eight years, he questioned the “continued reliance on market forces as the UK government’s solve-all argument”.