NFU president Ben Gill travels to Brussels on Thursday for talks with European Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler on proposed reforms to the Common Agriculture Policy.

The talks are taking place a month before crucial talks between member states to hammer out an agreement on the plans. An informal meeting of agriculture ministers in Corfu on May 8-9 should see lively discussion and throw up any potential compromises, while formal positions are expected to emerge at an Agriculture Council meeting in Brussels on May 26.

Gill said: 'The NFU is strongly supportive of the principle of decoupling, but there are many issues about the introduction of the new arrangements that are causing concern to British farmers.

'Commissioner Fischler has asked for detailed examples of problems as the proposals are currently constructed and this meeting will give me a crucial opportunity to go through the various issues ahead of next month's meetings.

'I will also be spelling out to Commission Fischler the importance of reaching agreement on the reforms ahead of the next WTO round in September.

'Allowing these negotiations to drag on will merely prolong the uncertainty for UK farmers, which is already having an impact on many aspects of our farming systems.

'Up and down the country, farmers have been giving their support to the principle of decoupling. We must ensure that in the complex negotiations over the coming weeks, we don't end up with a compromise situation that gives us the worst of both worlds and few of the potential benefits that could be achieved by a more market-orientated system.' • The CAP reforms, which were outlined in January, involve a shift in focus of the CAP from production-based support to payments that are less market distorting. Decoupling involves replacing commodity-based subsidies with a single farm payment.