Conclusions of The Commercial Farmers Group

Conclusions of The Commercial Farmers Group

1.  The government must be urged to base policies on the strategic need for both food, energy and water security.  The accelerating decline in self sufficiency must be stopped.

2.  Similar pressure should also be put on politicians, especially DEFRA to redefine policies so that the relevance of commercial viability of UK farming to environmental sustainability is fully recognised.

3.  The government must create a framework to address the imbalance between production and retail.  Commercially driven co-operative structures must be encouraged and supported, both legally and financially, as in other EU countries.

4.  The implementation of CAP should be on a level playing field with other EU countries.  There is a discrimination against the UK which does not exist elsewhere in the EU – for example the national funding of modulation.

5.  There must be a reversal of the damaging reductions in funding for agricultural R & D which is so essential if UK agriculture is to adapt to the changes that lie ahead.

6.  We must reinforce the national protection against the import of potentially dangerous products; and to expose the hypocrisy inherent in the exporting of environmental problems to those countries with lower standards.

7.  The government must ensure the relevancy of the heavy load of bureaucratic controls that they have introduced and which increase cost of production.  

For more information please read these articles:

The agricultural think tank
Henry Fell
Facts about food security