Successive British governments have underestimated the resources needed to meet the dual challenge of securing food and environmental security and the Foresight report - which asks farmers to grow more food at less cost to the environment - should serve as a wake-up call to the coalition government according to the CLA.
The Association said it agreed with the conclusion of the Foresight report on Global Food and Farming Futures - that a sustainable intensification of global agriculture will be required to meet the food and environmental challenges facing the world.
CLA South West Director John Mortimer said that the report had assembled the evidence and the leading thinking globally on the problem of food insecurity and although most of the world’s ‘food insecure’ population lived in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia he said that Europe still had a role to play.
“For years now the debate in Europe has been about how to achieve a mix of productive and competitive farming on the most fertile land while at the same time reducing negative environmental impacts and increasing the delivery of wildlife, landscape, climate, soil and water protection – services only farmers can deliver.”
“This report must be taken seriously. We hope it will act as a wake-up call to the Government to take a more enlightened stance to helping farmers to maximise Europe’s contribution to global food security.
Mr Mortimer said there could be no dispute that the demand for food would grow and it followed that the food producing capacity of a finite land resource would have to be increased – but, at the same time, reducing the amount of food wasted should be given greater priority and we had to remain mindful of our responsibility for the environment.
“Food producers and Government have a part to play – but so do consumers and others involved in the food chain. We have to find better ways of using the food we produce and reducing the amount which is wasted.
He said that Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy had to be capable of maintaining and increasing Europe’s capacity to produce food while arranging to pay farmers for the environmental services - landscape, biodiversity, water quality, heritage and other public goods - for which the market will not pay.
“This is at the core of the debate on the reform of the CAP which is currently underway and it is the position, we believe, the Coalition Government should support.”
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Localism Bill Should Support the Rural Economy
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The Coalition Government’s proposed Localism Bill, which received its Second Reading this week, must do more to help deliver economic growth in rural communities, says the CLA.
The Association supports the Bill’s aim to give local people a greater say in decisions that affect them, but says amendments need to be made to help sustain the rural economy - otherwise the proposed reform of the planning system risks actually hindering growth.
The CLA says that for rural areas to benefit, amendments should include:
• A presumption in favour of sustainable development to help provide certainty for investors and encourage small-scale economic activity in rural areas
• An extension of the power of local authorities to grant reliefs to businesses in rural areas because scrapping the current exemption and replacing it with powers to grant relief only to charitable or not-for-profit enterprises, will put the rural economy at a considerable disadvantage.
• A clear definition of an ‘asset of community value’ – the Bill as it is currently drafted could become a means for the authority to compulsorily acquire a privately owned asset considered to be of value to the community without the checks and balances of the existing compulsory purchase process.
CLA South West Director, John Mortimer, said: "I think everyone now accepts that we need the opportunity to trade ourselves out of recession but this whole localism agenda will require people to step up and become involved in the planning process – we can no longer rely on other to do it for us.
“Rural businesses have the will, but they need confidence that their activities will be encouraged. If the Localism Bill does not enable the conditions for growth, businesses will stall or simply relocate and take the wealth and jobs they have created with them.
“Rural communities must recognise that they might have to accept - and even encourage - change in the form of appropriate development in order to secure longer term benefits.”
Notes to Newsdesks:
For further information on this press release contact: Paul Millard CLA SW Communications Manager on 01380 830179
For further information on the CLA go to: www.cla.org.uk
Read our blog at http://southwestcla.blogspot.com/
Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/clasouthwest
The Coalition Government’s proposed Localism Bill, which received its Second Reading this week, must do more to help deliver economic growth in rural communities, says the CLA.
The Association supports the Bill’s aim to give local people a greater say in decisions that affect them, but says amendments need to be made to help sustain the rural economy - otherwise the proposed reform of the planning system risks actually hindering growth.
The CLA says that for rural areas to benefit, amendments should include:
• A presumption in favour of sustainable development to help provide certainty for investors and encourage small-scale economic activity in rural areas
• An extension of the power of local authorities to grant reliefs to businesses in rural areas because scrapping the current exemption and replacing it with powers to grant relief only to charitable or not-for-profit enterprises, will put the rural economy at a considerable disadvantage.
• A clear definition of an ‘asset of community value’ – the Bill as it is currently drafted could become a means for the authority to compulsorily acquire a privately owned asset considered to be of value to the community without the checks and balances of the existing compulsory purchase process.
CLA South West Director, John Mortimer, said: "I think everyone now accepts that we need the opportunity to trade ourselves out of recession but this whole localism agenda will require people to step up and become involved in the planning process – we can no longer rely on other to do it for us.
“Rural businesses have the will, but they need confidence that their activities will be encouraged. If the Localism Bill does not enable the conditions for growth, businesses will stall or simply relocate and take the wealth and jobs they have created with them.
“Rural communities must recognise that they might have to accept - and even encourage - change in the form of appropriate development in order to secure longer term benefits.”
Notes to Newsdesks:
For further information on this press release contact: Paul Millard CLA SW Communications Manager on 01380 830179
For further information on the CLA go to: www.cla.org.uk
Read our blog at http://southwestcla.blogspot.com/
Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/clasouthwest
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Localism Bill Should Support the Rural Economy
The Coalition Government’s proposed Localism Bill, which received its Second Reading this week, must do more to help deliver economic growth in rural communities, says the CLA.
The Association supports the Bill’s aim to give local people a greater say in decisions that affect them, but says amendments need to be made to help sustain the rural economy - otherwise the proposed reform of the planning system risks actually hindering growth.
The CLA says that for rural areas to benefit, amendments should include:
· A presumption in favour of sustainable development to help provide certainty for investors and encourage small-scale economic activity in rural areas
· An extension of the power of local authorities to grant reliefs to businesses in rural areas because scrapping the current exemption and replacing it with powers to grant relief only to charitable or not-for-profit enterprises, will put the rural economy at a considerable disadvantage.
· A clear definition of an ‘asset of community value’ – the Bill as it is currently drafted could become a means for the authority to compulsorily acquire a privately owned asset considered to be of value to the community without the checks and balances of the existing compulsory purchase process.
CLA South West Director, John Mortimer, said: "I think everyone now accepts that we need the opportunity to trade ourselves out of recession but this whole localism agenda will require people to step up and become involved in the planning process – we can no longer rely on other to do it for us.
“Rural businesses have the will, but they need confidence that their activities will be encouraged. If the Localism Bill does not enable the conditions for growth, businesses will stall or simply relocate and take the wealth and jobs they have created with them.
“Rural communities must recognise that they might have to accept - and even encourage - change in the form of appropriate development in order to secure longer term benefits.”
The Association supports the Bill’s aim to give local people a greater say in decisions that affect them, but says amendments need to be made to help sustain the rural economy - otherwise the proposed reform of the planning system risks actually hindering growth.
The CLA says that for rural areas to benefit, amendments should include:
· A presumption in favour of sustainable development to help provide certainty for investors and encourage small-scale economic activity in rural areas
· An extension of the power of local authorities to grant reliefs to businesses in rural areas because scrapping the current exemption and replacing it with powers to grant relief only to charitable or not-for-profit enterprises, will put the rural economy at a considerable disadvantage.
· A clear definition of an ‘asset of community value’ – the Bill as it is currently drafted could become a means for the authority to compulsorily acquire a privately owned asset considered to be of value to the community without the checks and balances of the existing compulsory purchase process.
CLA South West Director, John Mortimer, said: "I think everyone now accepts that we need the opportunity to trade ourselves out of recession but this whole localism agenda will require people to step up and become involved in the planning process – we can no longer rely on other to do it for us.
“Rural businesses have the will, but they need confidence that their activities will be encouraged. If the Localism Bill does not enable the conditions for growth, businesses will stall or simply relocate and take the wealth and jobs they have created with them.
“Rural communities must recognise that they might have to accept - and even encourage - change in the form of appropriate development in order to secure longer term benefits.”
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Weather Forecast
Weather Commerce Ltd:
Persistent & heavy rain across Wales and SW England bringing a risk of flooding
Becoming mild or very mild however, with temperatures above average
Longer term signal is for colder weather to return beyond mid-January
Persistent & heavy rain across Wales and SW England bringing a risk of flooding
Becoming mild or very mild however, with temperatures above average
Longer term signal is for colder weather to return beyond mid-January
CLA President says CAP should reward farmers better for environmental work
Reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy should lead to an adequately funded policy which provides Food and Environmental Security - according to the President of the CLA, William Worsley.
Giving evidence to the influential House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Committee on Tuesday (11 January), Mr Worsley and CLA Policy Director Professor Allan Buckwell set out the CLA case for reform and gave detailed answers to questions posed by the Committee.
The issues covered included the future of Single Farm Payments, competitiveness in agriculture, payment capping, sustainable food production, increased environmental requirements, food security and the mechanisms for delivering more environmental “public goods”.
Asked what the CLA would like to see from CAP reform, the CLA President told Efra: “An adequately funded, common policy on agriculture which is far better justified in the eyes of the public and taxpayer. This will be one which helps sustain the EU capacity to feed itself, contributes to global food security and makes clearer and better provision for rewarding farmers for the public goods they provide – in short a CAP for Food and Environmental Security.”
Mr Worsley said the Single Payment System would “survive until 2020 and evolve” and, although no agreement has been reached yet on how the available support would be redistributed, he argued that: “The relative importance of payments for public environmental goods is rising so any redistribution should reflect this”.
On agricultural competitiveness, Professor Buckwell said the long-term improvement of food productivity was being impeded by the EU’s attitude to the use of biotechnology in crop and livestock production.
Mr Worsley said the CLA opposed the proposal on capping payments to large farmers because it would discriminate against some of the most “productive full-time farms” and the providers of the greatest environmental and social public goods, create disincentives to improve labour productivity and cause legal battles between farmers and administrators.
He said: “A better structured CAP in which the supports are more clearly targeted to the provision of goods the market cannot supply does not require the additional complexity of payment caps.”
On competitiveness and sustainability, Mr Worsley said: “We have to talk about food and sustainability in the same breath because our food producers are also our most important environmental land managers.”
Asked about the future CAP budget, the CLA President said: “The CLA argues that we must first agree what we want the CAP to do, then estimate what a reasonable cost of achieving that is. . . we suggest this will lead to a CAP budget settlement not far from the current size.”
Giving evidence to the influential House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Committee on Tuesday (11 January), Mr Worsley and CLA Policy Director Professor Allan Buckwell set out the CLA case for reform and gave detailed answers to questions posed by the Committee.
The issues covered included the future of Single Farm Payments, competitiveness in agriculture, payment capping, sustainable food production, increased environmental requirements, food security and the mechanisms for delivering more environmental “public goods”.
Asked what the CLA would like to see from CAP reform, the CLA President told Efra: “An adequately funded, common policy on agriculture which is far better justified in the eyes of the public and taxpayer. This will be one which helps sustain the EU capacity to feed itself, contributes to global food security and makes clearer and better provision for rewarding farmers for the public goods they provide – in short a CAP for Food and Environmental Security.”
Mr Worsley said the Single Payment System would “survive until 2020 and evolve” and, although no agreement has been reached yet on how the available support would be redistributed, he argued that: “The relative importance of payments for public environmental goods is rising so any redistribution should reflect this”.
On agricultural competitiveness, Professor Buckwell said the long-term improvement of food productivity was being impeded by the EU’s attitude to the use of biotechnology in crop and livestock production.
Mr Worsley said the CLA opposed the proposal on capping payments to large farmers because it would discriminate against some of the most “productive full-time farms” and the providers of the greatest environmental and social public goods, create disincentives to improve labour productivity and cause legal battles between farmers and administrators.
He said: “A better structured CAP in which the supports are more clearly targeted to the provision of goods the market cannot supply does not require the additional complexity of payment caps.”
On competitiveness and sustainability, Mr Worsley said: “We have to talk about food and sustainability in the same breath because our food producers are also our most important environmental land managers.”
Asked about the future CAP budget, the CLA President said: “The CLA argues that we must first agree what we want the CAP to do, then estimate what a reasonable cost of achieving that is. . . we suggest this will lead to a CAP budget settlement not far from the current size.”
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
There May Be Turmoil Ahead
The economy and the new Government’s responses to the challenges it poses are changing the rules and structures to which we have come accustomed - all of which will contribute to 2011 being something of a year of turmoil according to Rupert Best, the chairman of the Dorset branch of the CLA.
The CLA, he said, had successfully influenced the debate on CAP reform and the dual issue of food and environmental security was now firmly on the agenda - but weather damage to crops around the world - plus the influence of a weak pound - had further highlighted the need for food security and the importance of self sufficiency.
“The weather of the last two winters has not only meant a satisfactory return to past cropping patterns but also appears to be good for wildlife and the ecology. I believe that Dorset’s growing reputation for quality foods provides clear opportunities for CLA members in agricultural and food processing businesses,” he said.
Mr Best said the early wintery conditions highlighted the importance of four wheel drive vehicles and their essential role in rural areas both for livestock and people.
“Four wheel drive saved the day in many rural areas and I do think the extra tax on them is unfair and, in the light the need to cope with normal snowy and icy weather, should be ended.
On other issues Mr Best said that the Government had made a welcome start on tackling Bovine TB and, while there was no logic in continuing to give badgers the legal protection of an endangered species, DEFRA’s proposals were the best on offer.
“Natural England is determined that the route around Portland and Weymouth Bay should be in place by the Olympics, so Coastal Access will continue to be a burning issue in the County. The Branch, now with a seat on various county bodies, will continue to argue for an Olympic legacy, not least in broadband and mobile telephone coverage.
A new planning regime is to be tested in West Dorset this year and Government Offices, Regional Development Agencies and business support funding are being swept away. Will 2011 be the year of a Local Enterprise Partnership for Dorset, with business and local authorities working as equal partners to promote the local economy? It is high time that rural areas, market towns and coastal industry received the priority they deserve and the CLA has an important part to play in ensuring that this is delivered,” he said.
The CLA, he said, had successfully influenced the debate on CAP reform and the dual issue of food and environmental security was now firmly on the agenda - but weather damage to crops around the world - plus the influence of a weak pound - had further highlighted the need for food security and the importance of self sufficiency.
“The weather of the last two winters has not only meant a satisfactory return to past cropping patterns but also appears to be good for wildlife and the ecology. I believe that Dorset’s growing reputation for quality foods provides clear opportunities for CLA members in agricultural and food processing businesses,” he said.
Mr Best said the early wintery conditions highlighted the importance of four wheel drive vehicles and their essential role in rural areas both for livestock and people.
“Four wheel drive saved the day in many rural areas and I do think the extra tax on them is unfair and, in the light the need to cope with normal snowy and icy weather, should be ended.
On other issues Mr Best said that the Government had made a welcome start on tackling Bovine TB and, while there was no logic in continuing to give badgers the legal protection of an endangered species, DEFRA’s proposals were the best on offer.
“Natural England is determined that the route around Portland and Weymouth Bay should be in place by the Olympics, so Coastal Access will continue to be a burning issue in the County. The Branch, now with a seat on various county bodies, will continue to argue for an Olympic legacy, not least in broadband and mobile telephone coverage.
A new planning regime is to be tested in West Dorset this year and Government Offices, Regional Development Agencies and business support funding are being swept away. Will 2011 be the year of a Local Enterprise Partnership for Dorset, with business and local authorities working as equal partners to promote the local economy? It is high time that rural areas, market towns and coastal industry received the priority they deserve and the CLA has an important part to play in ensuring that this is delivered,” he said.
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