"We need a fair marketplace where England’s food producers are on a level playing field with the rest of Europe."
At nine per cent transfer there is enough money in the pot to honour the existing commitments and provide additional funds to renew efforts in the future agri-environment scheme. Six and a half million hectares are currently supported, plus farmers actively manage more than 200,000 hectares through the Campaign for the Farmed Environment every year.
Increasing the rate to 15 per cent would place England’s farmers at a direct disadvantage to those in Scotland, and more widely in Europe – a decision which would undermine their ability to produce British food when consumers increasingly demand it, in the light of the horsemeat scandal.
NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond said: “I need to make it absolutely clear that this debate is not about farming versus the environment. Farmers take their environmental credentials incredibly seriously and that’s why 70 per cent of all farmland in England is managed under the various agri-environmental schemes.
“But it’s not just that. Greenhouse gas emissions are down 20 per cent since 1990; certain farmland birds like the goldfinch, stock dove and whitethroat populations are growing, while wood pigeon and jackdaw numbers have doubled. Then there’s the active management of our hedgerows, more than 70,000 new ponds since 2007 and many more.
“It must be stressed that famers’ good work would not be undermined if modulation rates continued at nine per cent. Every pound of effort currently focused on the environment would continue and England’s farmers and growers would not be further disadvantaged. In the backdrop of more people wanting to buy more local food it makes absolutely no sense for our own Government to make it tougher for English farmers to compete when farmers in Scotland – and the rest of Europe are not being disadvantaged in this way.
“The bottom line is: we need a fair marketplace where England’s food producers are on a level playing field with the rest of Europe – not playing with half a team and with our hands tied behind our backs by our own Government.”