Defra secretary of state Liz Truss has called for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to be made simpler for farmers, as well as demanding a revamped EU fruit and vegetable scheme.
Truss, addressing EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan at the Royal Welsh Show this week, said Defra wanted to see more flexibility for individual countries to adopt EU guidance in their own way, more forms of evidence such as geo-tagged photography and satellite imagery to show farmers were conforming, and simpler and reduced farm inspections.
She also called for an overhaul of the greening requirements - including the abolition of the much-criticised 'three-crop rule' and a refreshed EU fruit and vegetable scheme to support growth of the horticulture industry and encourage more growers to join producer organisations.
The revised scheme should be simpler to administer and help growers secure new export opportunities, Truss added.
Her other demands included a review of the EU's system of controls - the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) - to bring 'a more pragmatic and proportionate approach to inspections, checks and penalties.'
Hogan is expected to set out the next set of CAP simplification proposals in the autumn, and follows recent moves by the commissioner to make it easier to meet greening requirements and for the Rural Payments Agency to process farmers' claims.
'Food and farming is a thriving sector in the UK, but the potential to further grow this sector is being held back by overly complicated and bureaucratic rules within the Common Agricultural Policy that our farmers have to follow,' Truss said.
'That’s why I am continuing to push the commissioner to look at further ways to simplify the regulations, including reducing the number of farm inspections, guidance that’s easier to follow and scrapping the ineffective three-crop rule.
'This is part of our commitment to do everything we can to help our farmers grow more, sell more and export more.'
NFU president Meurig Raymond welcomed Truss' statement. “It’s reassuring that the government has listened to the NFU and the burden our members face in the implementation of the latest new CAP schemes,' he said. 'There is no doubt that the latest reform has left what was a complex policy even more complicated. Fairness and simplification have been lost from the CAP.
“The NFU has lobbied government on these points and has joined forces with a number of leading EU farm organisations to identify shared areas of concern. We have written directly to Commissioner Hogan, highlighting a list of 10 proposals we want to see included in proposals to simplify the CAP. I’m pleased that the UK government has incorporated many of these specific points in its position.'
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