Oxford panel discusses farm support after Brexit
Representing the green lobby, George Monbiot, journalist, environmentalist and political activist, put forward radical proposals, where money would be focused on environmental benefits and break the link with support for farming. He went so far as to say that some areas of the UK need to stop farming and should focus entirely on environmental benefits.
He also outlined three ways to make subsidies “fairer” for everyone. These are a rural hardship fund, which Monbiot says should not only be for farmers, a payment based on the provision of public goods and services, such as care of the environment, and a transitional fund to cater for new entrants. He added that alongside this, work needs to continue on bringing more equality into the food supply chain.
Guy Poskitt, a carrot farmer and vice-chair of the NFU horticulture and potato board, was pushing for support payments to be channelled into grants to improve efficiencies. He argued that direct support should be phased out but warned this could take more than 10 years. “We need to use public money to drive our businesses into a position where we don’t need it,” he said.
source: farmersjournal.ie
