Sir Ben Gill has said that the farming industry has never faced such a period of potentially dramatic change than the one it will witness in the next few years. Sir Ben has made the comments in his New Year message.
He said: “Twelve months ago there were few commentators who would have given positive odds on a reform of the CAP. While I had my concerns, I also has an appreciation of Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler's determination to affect a massive change in the way that farming is supported, as well as an understanding of the political experience that he has built up over his years. As a result, I told the January 2003 meeting of NFU Council - our governing body - that I believed that there was a high chance of a reform.
“This anticipation helped us when we actually got down to the final negotiations of the reforms last June. The French, by contrast, whom I met in the early hours of the last night of the three-week marathon negotiations, seemed lost. All they could do was comment that they were not opposed to reform in the cereals and sheep sectors. But by then it was too late and the French civil servants were holding back their hapless Minister until he finally realised that for the first time in the history of the EU and the CAP, the German-Franco alliance had not held the sway.
“Having had that advantage we must not now lose the initiative. We must ensure that the new rules are implemented in a practical, proportionate and meaningful way based on hard facts. They must be implemented with real comprehension of the delicate balance of the biodiversity that farmers maintain 365 days a year, not by meaningless dogma.
“Other farmers in Europe have already benefited from higher market prices in most sectors because of their involvement in co-operatives or other farming groups, run buy world-class management. In the new world of a reformed CAP, that will be the real key to delivering a sustainable future for farmers based on profit.”