image expired which was dominated by discussions on the CAP and the challenges and opportunities it poses for the industry.

He said: “Unfortunately, the English experience provides a case-study of how not to implement reform. I would urge the Commission to ensure that, certainly as far as direct payments go, they keep an entitlement-based system as simple as possible.

“The more layers, the greater the risk of error in delivery on the part of the authorities and the greater the restrictions on dynamic businesses that operate under a range of long and short-term tenancies and share farming and contracting agreements.”

The EU Commission published its plans for the system, The CAP Towards 2020, in November and is due to present formal legislative proposals this year which will undergo further review before introduction in 2014.

Mr Kendall urged the Commissioner to focus on the supply chain and ensure it was fairer and more balanced so that farmers stand a much better chance of making profitable returns.

He cited the dairy industry as an example of where the market was failing primary producers.

“We are losing too many good dairy farmers. This ought to be a sector that is thriving; instead it is being strangled by the level of undercutting that is happening in the supply chain.”

On the question of further greening of the CAP, Mr Kendall made the case for productive farming and warned the Commissioner about the dangers of introducing obligatory measures within Pillar 1 that would require farmers to take land out of production.

Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said last week that instead of relying on direct subsidies, farmers should instead be rewarded for the work they do to benefit the environment and the countryside.

And she said the new CAP, which must be in place by 2014, should work on the global stage to make farming more sustainable.

Ms Spelman said the Common Agricultural Policy “continues to distort trade by maintaining high EU prices. This gives rise to high import tariffs and the use of export subsidies to clear market surpluses.”

She added: “We need to address the tendency to protectionism in other member states which undercuts producers in developing countries, because this is morally wrong.”

In the UK more than £2bn is distributed to farmers every year – more than half of their income. And Ms Spelman said that as the number of food crises increased, so would prices of farm goods.

Mr Kendall met the Commissioner on a tour of two farms near Oxford.

He added: “These are traditional family farms, perhaps operating on a larger scale than some family farms on the continent, but are still the bedrock of farming in the UK.

“Even these farms, tightly run, using the latest technology, and business-focused as they are, are heavily reliant on the single farm payment.”

Unfortunately, the English experience provides a case-study of how not to implement reform