Farmers need to be freed up from red tape, over-regulation and allowed access to GM technology if they are to succeed in producing more and impacting the environment less.
That was the over-riding message from speakers at the inaugural NFU Eastern Arable Conference yesterday (9th November).
Speaking at the event in Peterborough, which was co-organised by the East Midlands and East Anglia NFU branches, former director general Richard Macdonald chair of the Farming Regulation Task Force spoke of his commitment to unburden the industry from excessive red tape.
He advocated a paperless system, with farmers submitting forms online, which would allow organisations to share data more easily and lead to reduced inspections.
Not pursuing GM crops despite the potential benefits of increased yields and decreased reliance on chemicals was “absolutely crackers” he said.
MP Mark Spencer, member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on science and technology in agriculture agreed saying that a concerted effort was needed to correct the public’s belief that GM foods were unsafe.
The supermarkets’ marketing of GM-free foods fuelled the fears and was “a short-term approach which undermines the stability of British agriculture.”
GM trials must be allowed and the results widely publicised, he said. Scientists should also consider producing crops that offered significant benefits to the consumer.
Meanwhile Peter Kendall called for a common sense approach to negotiations over CAP proposals which he described as a “muddle”.
The current proposals, which include set-aside at 7 per cent and a three crop rule, were inflexible and would lead to increased paperwork while also threatening productivity, he said.
The effect of the greening proposals so far had been that farmers – himself included – were reluctant to submit their Entry Level Scheme (ELS) agreements because of the uncertainty.
“Defra thinks I am scaremongering on this. But people are telling me that until they know the rules they are waiting for clarification.”
Moving money away from pillar one (market support) to environmental payments didn’t make sense, he said. “We don’t have a biodiversity crisis, but we do have a productivity crisis.”
He encouraged farmers to talk with MEPs and explain how the current proposals would affect their businesses.
Defra’s Martin Nesbit noted that the initial responses to CAP reform proposals had been negative not just in the UK, but with other member states. “But some of the rhetoric is along the right lines,” he said. “We need to work on the legislation to help it match the rhetoric.”
You can view more photographs of the conference on the NFU's Flickr site, here.
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