For the first time ever the Parliamentary Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Select Committee will be taking evidence at the Royal Show. The committee will be hearing views on the future of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) directly from individual members of the rural community at the show on July 4.
The session will be part of the committee’s inquiry into the government document - A vision for the Common Agricultural Policy - published in December 2005. The report is intended to stimulate debate by describing what the UK government is trying to achieve in terms of European agricultural policy reform in 10 to 15 years’ time.
The occasion will be an important public hearing by an influential cross-party group of MPs at the annual event in Stoneleigh Park, Warks.
Ten people with experience of, or expertise in, the issues raised by the Vision for CAP document have been invited to present their views and then answer questions from the committee which will then also hold an informal briefing later in the day.
Areas the Committee is interested in include the whether the government is committed to UK food production, potential distortions of treatment of producers across the EU, environmental consequences of the proposals and international implications of reform.
Show-goers will also have the opportunity to attend a conference and debate on climate change on the opening day. It will be chaired by head of the government’s Biomass Task Force Ben Gill, while Environment minister Ian Pearson and Met Office’s Philip Beauvais will set the scene. Further papers exploring the opportunities for farmers both in the UK and further a field will be delivered by Professor Chris Pollock, from the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research and CLA president David Fursdon.
The conference starts at 2:30pm on Sunday 2 July, with seats on a first come first served basis. It is due to end at 4:00pm.
