MacSharry Reforms failed to bring green benefits

23 March 1998

MacSharry Reforms ‘failed to bring green benefits’

THE MacSharry Reforms of 1992 failed to help create a “greener” Common Agricultural Policy, according to a Countryside Commission report published today.

The report says that in some cases the changes did more harm than good because it failed to encourage farmers to switch to more sustainable farming practices. Farmers were encouraged to plough up meadows and plant heavily subsidised crops such as flax, the report says.

The report comes as European Union farm ministers prepare for key talks in Brussels on “greening” the CAP.