The European Commission has now published proposals to reform the system of direct support payments made through the Common Agricultural Policy.
At present these are administrated through the Single Payment Scheme.
In future, 30% of such direct support will be conditional on farmers following mandatory actions deemed to be beneficial to the environment.
We’ve put together a briefing and want to hear your views. How would your farm business be affected?
Read the document to the right of this page (requires log-in) and let us know. Email the NFU here.
- Bear Place Farm, Reading - 04/11/2011
We spend a lot of time on environmental issues but monocrop 25 ha with sensible rotation. Our neighbours provide a multicrop environment, so an imposed multicrop plan on our land just won't happen
- David Bond - 28/10/2011
Agree with Keith Thompson - this is crazy. Don't they realize that growing another crop is about so much more than land use. We don't want to have to invest in more machinery or buildings to grow less profitable crops.
- Keith Thompson - 27/10/2011
Currently I am growing continous cereals on the home farm, the imposition of having to grow 2 more crops would be crass and impact on the profitablity of my farm. It would further impact on my cash flow as I would be forced to look at less profitable crops like Barley, Peas, Beans and Linseed. It would in one step distort the markets for these minority crops.
Having continuos wheat means our storage is simple, having to grow 3 crops would mean having to invest in storage separation, not something I was planning on.
Taking land out of production would lead to higher feed prices for the 60,000 hens we keep and 6000 pigs not an insignificant figure. There is no liklihood of a price rise in either of these sectors.
I contract farm 3 other farms on these farms I grow wheat and osr alternate years, again bringing a 3rd crop into the rotation impacts on my cost of production as I will have smaller blocks of crops making me less efficient in dealing with my clients crops. I would not be allowed to block crop as this may mean a client having his farm down to one crop.
We the decision makers must be allowed to decide what to grow and where to grow it not a bureaucratic body that doesn't know my farm or my clients. It reminds me of the USSR's experimentation with collectivisation. I am against any political body imposing bad regulation and distorting markets.