Farmers told to follow Prince Charles’ lead

Farmers would be better off following Prince Charles’ lead and producing high-value organic food rather than subsidised crops, a free market think tank said on Wed (14 Sep).

The Daily Telegraph reports on Thursday (15 Sep) that the Globalisation Institute has lambasted the Common Agricultural Policy as a “disaster for the countryside” saying the taxation used to fund it represents theft from the common citizen.

The reports authors continue their criticism of the CAP and the market protection that it offers Europe’s farmers saying developed nations outside Europe loose billons every year because they can not gain access to Europe’s market.

“The Prince of Wales has given us the vision of a countryside concentrating not on high output but on high quality, high value produce,” said the report.

Pressure will continue to grow on European governments to abolish farm subsidies, said the report, especially since the amount of farm subsidies paid to farmers was disclosed earlier this year.