Sir
In response to recent letters about the three crop rule, it is true that it may affect smaller farmers to a greater extent than larger farmers. This has been consistently argued by the NFU and supported by Defra throughout the whole CAP reform. The NFU position was clearly laid out and Peter Kendall spoke recently about the 'madness' of the rule. We have not given up our efforts to get this rule changed at the earliest opportunity.
The NFU strives to create a business environment for farms of all types, sizes and business structures to survive and prosper. It is certainly not a ploy by anyone to support the three crop position and other greening requirements - larger farms are subject to the same rules, and there are many so called 'large farms' which will have to complicate their farming systems, reducing their ability to respond to the market signals for crops, and increase their costs as well. The storage issues are relevant to all, but can be solved by some imaginative marketing of the minor crops.
Rules are temporary and usually get exposed for their stupidity, but sometimes it takes longer than we would like. An agricultural commissioner that understands market response and competitiveness would be a good start.
Andrew Watts
NFU Combinable Crops Board Chairman