CLA to discuss CAP changes with EU
Post on: 2011-11-02 By: admin
CLA to discuss CAP changes with EUWed Oct 26, 2011 10:13AMShare | Email | PrintWelsh Country Land and Business Association (CLA) is due to meet European officials in Brussels over Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) changes, seeking to ensure its benefits to Welsh farmers.
Wales aims at making sure that its farmers do not hurt in a shake-up of funding from the European Commission that is planning to alter CAP for the period 2014-2020.
CAP, which is in charge of funding the industry and fixing prices, gives Welsh farmers £260 million annually, which is 80 percent of their income.
CLA Wales policy adviser Sue Evans, who is to participate in the Brussels discussions, said, "The purpose of this reform must be to bring the whole of Europe up to the standard of the better-performing countries such as Wales."
According to the Welsh Deputy Minister for Agriculture Alun Davies, who attended the European Union Council of Agriculture Ministers meeting in Luxembourg last week, although the government intends to give a "cautious welcome" to the CAP proposals, "the work in negotiating the best possible deal for Wales starts now".
"CAP must change because the world has changed, farming has changed and the challenges that the whole of society faces have changed, but radically changing the CAP or making changes too quickly would pull the rug from under farming, and would place the viability of businesses in jeopardy," he further said.
The CAP proposals also include the allocation of 30 percent of farmers' direct payments to greener agriculture attitudes, encouraging agri-environmental initiatives.
Moreover, there are proposals for substantial investment in research to strengthen the mutual cooperation between agricultural industry and the scientific community.
Raising concerns over the issue, the Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW) president Emyr Jones had slammed the changes earlier, insisting it will "destabilise Wales' rural communities".
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