On Monday, Landlords’ lobby group the CLA put pressure on the government to come up with a ‘Plan B’ for agriculture, in the event of next month’s referendum on EU membership resulting in a vote to leave.

Responding to a report on agricultural policy from the House of Lords’ EU Committee, the headline thrust of which was that payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) must deliver a benefit for society, CLA said the report “clearly demonstrates” why Government must commit to maintaining direct land management payments to farmers whatever the outcome of the EU Referendum.

On Monday, the Lords’ EU Committee became the latest influential group to call for the CAP to be refocused to deliver public goods, and to be acceptable to taxpayers who foot the bill, through fostering higher animal welfare standards, genuine food security and better stewardship of the land. The Lords argued that although the current income support payments help farmers to withstand periods of low prices, these payments can also prevent the entry of new farmers into the sector.

Public goods
 
CLA president Ross Murray, who presented evidence to the Lords Committee in December 2015, said the report recognises that the direct land management payments delivered through the CAP cushion farmers against market volatility, and could be targeted to help farmers build longer-term resilience.

Commenting on the report’s release, Murray said the Committee had stated clearly that direct payments “are, and will remain, critical for the future of the agricultural industry.” Though he acknowledged that there are “improvements to be made” to the CAP, which is next set for reform in 2020, Ross said “It is reassuring that influential committees such as this recognise that direct land management payments are vital to ensuring a robust future for UK food production as well as the delivery of public goods through land stewardship, which benefit everyone.”

During the last reform process, and since the introduction of the new CAP, influential researchers and campaigners have warned that unambitious reforms are bad for the public, the environment and - as the Lords committee warned - many farmers. In September, researchers from the University of Cambridge reported that targeted agri-environment measures have observable positive effects on emissions and the environment, whereas the current “perverse subsidies” are bad for the farmed environment and the economy. A year prior to that study, Cambridge researchers reporting in the journal Science declared that, through its diluted CAP reforms, the EU had failed to stand to its commitments to fairness and greening, resulting in a policy that is “Bad for nature.”
 
Last month, over 100 NGOs demanded the EU Commission commit to a ‘fitness check’ to ensure that the current regime is delivering on the stated aims of the Common Agricultural Policy.

The NFU welcomed the Lords’ report on its publication, stating that it showed support for British farmers in volatile times. However, NFU president Meurig Raymond contested the pronouncements on public goods, claiming, “Direct payments [under the CAP] provide a degree of income stability which enables farmers to maintain productive capacity despite volatile agricultural markets and climatic shocks… They allow farmers to deliver a range of wider public benefits that flow from the management of agricultural land.”

No plan B for farming

Last week, Chancellor George Osborne appeared before the Treasury Select Committee and said the Government is undertaking contingency planning in the event of a ‘Brexit’ vote in relation to financial stability, and that to his knowledge no other authorised planning was taking place. On Monday, CLA president Ross Murray said, “It is a concern there are still no signs that ministers or the civil service are preparing a contingency plan for direct land management payments if the UK votes to leave the EU next month.”

Defra secretary Liz Truss is backing Prime Minister David Cameron’s ‘remain’ campaign ahead of the vote. Truss has issued warnings about the possible costs of an exit from the EU to farmers and food exporters on an almost weekly basis, most recently ahead of a meeting with farmers in Cumbria. However, the government has remained quiet on what farm policy would look like in the event of a ‘Brexit’ vote.

Although members of the ‘leave’ campaign have claimed that farmers could be expected to receive higher direct payments in an independent Britain - citing the support received by farmers in Norway and Switzerland as examples - experts have pointed out that these campaigners are in no place to deliver on their promises, that successive British governments have pushed for reductions in direct payments within the EU and that the experience of an independent Britain - as the first ever member state to cede from the EU - would be much different than either Norway or Switzerland.   

On Monday, Ross Murray added, “This Plan B is vital so as to give reassurance that the necessary support for farming and land management would continue outside the CAP, up to 2020 and beyond. Every day that passes after a vote to leave that ministers do not give reassurances will fuel uncertainties and compound the wider crisis we are facing across our farming sector. The Government may not wish to reveal its plans before polling day, but it is critical to know that the right plans are being formed. The lack of reassurance on this important issue is causing major uncertainty and concern for rural businesses and within rural communities.”

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