Haskins: Moment of truth for farms
11 December 2001
Haskins: Moment of truth for farms
By FWi staff
RURAL recovery coordinator Lord Haskins has said that next year will be a “moment of truth” for European agriculture.
The next 12 months will provide more opportunity to reform the Common Agricultural Policy than at any time in the past 40 years, he said.
Lord Haskins made the comments at a debate organised by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors on Monday (10 December).
“It is a moment of truth for European food and agriculture,” he said.
“There is an opportunity for a radical look at the way we run our food and agricultural system in Europe and the world.
But Lord Haskins cautioned that there was equally an opportunity for another “spectacular fudge”. He added: “It can go either way.”
The drivers for change will be World Trade Organisation talks on freeing up the food trade and European Union enlargement, he said.
Addressing an audience which included officials from many world embassies, Lord Haskins said agriculture was dominated by politics.
“It is political, it always has been political and, despite what anyone may say about the future, it will always continue to be political,” he said.
CAP reform was on its way because people believe that maintaining a strong domestic food system in the EU cannot be justified, the peer added.