End wasteful subsidies - Beckett

Now is the time to change farming policy, says Beckett

The government is calling for an end to wasteful production subsidies as part of a major shake-up of farming.

Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, used a keynote speech to attack the subsidies as "blunt, inefficient and ineffective instruments".

Practical solutions, not pie in the sky ideals, are needed

Michael Paske
National Farmers' Union

Mrs Beckett, whose new department was set up to replace the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, said there had never been a better time to change the Common Agricultural Policy.

Her speech on Tuesday comes a day after Labour peer and government adviser Lord Haskins said a unique chance for change would be lost if politicians did not act now.

Chance for change

The remarks to an international conference come after growing pressure for an end to wasteful subsides and intensive farming methods.

The BSE crisis and the foot-and-mouth outbreak have turned the spotlight further onto the question of reforming British farms policy.

Margaret Beckett called the foot-and-mouth crisis an "appalling tragedy".

Beckett: CAP is "unsustainable"

But she argued it provided an opportunity to accelerate changes in agriculture which had been needed before the outbreak.

She said: "Market price support and production controls are outdated mechanisms that should be phased out, with farmers being helped to adjust with transitional support payments," she said.

The environment secretary appeared on the platform with German Agriculture Minister Renate Kunast, who supports organic and more environmentally-friendly farming.

Mrs Beckett said: "As long as I have been in full-time political life, people have been saying that the CAP must change.

"But there is no better time to secure that change."

She said the next round of World Trade Organisation talks, which are held in Qatar in November, must include agriculture and would almost certainly need more cuts in agricultural support.

Unsustainable policy

European Union enlargement made the CAP "unsustainable" in its current form, she continued.

And she urged other EU nations to back reform in what will be seen as a message particularly to the French government, which has obstructed radical change in the past.

"The CAP is failing to deliver on its objectives," said Mrs Beckett.

Haskins believes in subsidies for land stewardship

Consumers and taxpayers are demanding better value for money as well as greater reflection of animal welfare and environmental concerns."

Mrs Beckett made her speech at the conference sponsored by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

She told delegates the government wanted more competitive and diverse farming and food industries "with the context of sustainable and rural development".

"We will be looking closely at agriculture's relationship with wider society, in particular the consumer."

Mrs Beckett said organic farming was an "important element" of the government's new approach to farming, she said.

Crisis pressure

Prime Minister Tony Blair signalled a review of farming policy at the beginning of the election.

He raised the prospect of long-term changes to how the UK's agriculture industry is managed in the aftermath of the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Lord Haskins, chairman of Northern Foods and a government adviser, said on Monday that changing the CAP had for years seemed impossible.

"Now, with Europe's farmers reeling from agricultural crises and CAP clogging up the European enlargement process, there could be a window of opportunity for reform," he said.

Lord Haskins is heading a nine-month research project into the issue for left-leaning think tank the Foreign Policy Centre.

His vision is of a liberal market with subsidies for land stewardship, not production.

Farmers recognise that the CAP will move towards more environment based support, according to National Farmers' Union vice president Michael Paske.

He will tell the RSPB conference on Tuesday afternoon that "practical solutions not pie in the sky ideals" are needed to take the agenda forward.