Curry Commission Report (Hansard, 22 July 2004)

§ Alun Michael

The Government accepted 101 of the 105 recommendations in the report of the Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food. These are being taken forward through the Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food. However, the onus is not on Government alone to deliver these changes: many of the Commission's recommendations were targeted wholly or partly at industry, which has a pivotal part to play in this process.

We are making good progress towards delivering the Strategy's objectives, most significantly through implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy reform agreement in June 2003. The deal will provide a more sustainable basis for European agriculture and reflect the wider environmental and rural development objectives which society seeks to achieve. The decoupling of payments will break the link between subsidy and production, so the farming industry will be free to react directly to market signals, not encouraged to follow the unsustainable production patterns of the past. CAP reform is expected to deliver significant economic benefits for the UK. These are estimated at between —400 million to —550 million a year at present exchange rates. The introduction of the Single Payment means that farmers will be freed from many of the bureaucratic rules associated with production linked subsidies and will have greater opportunity to 404W restructure their businesses to best meet the needs of the market. We estimate that overall there will be an increase in farm incomes up to £150 million which represents around 5 per cent. of UK Total Income From Farming in 2003.

Enhancing our environment is central to the vision set out in the Strategy. A new agri-environment scheme, Environmental Stewardship, is being introduced in England in 2005 and this includes the new Entry Level Stewardship (ELS). The ELS will be at the heart of improving farming's environmental performance. It will be open to applications from all farmers, enabling them to deliver what society wants: the sustainable management of our countryside as a whole.

A series of initiatives in the food chain is designed to achieve a more efficient and competitive supply chain. These include the Food Chain Centre and English Farming and Food Partnerships, two industry bodies set up with Government support to increase competitiveness and encourage co-operation.

The Government recognise the need for smarter regulation of agriculture, focusing on outcomes rather than processes in order to minimise burdens on the industry. We are working to join up regulatory requirements into a whole farm approach which will reduce bureaucracy. The Whole Farm Appraisal is one of the key initiatives being developed to assist the farming industry in streamlining regulation; this has been successfully piloted and will be launched in autumn 2005.

Other initiatives being taken forward to deliver the Strategy include the establishment of a Non-Food Crops Centre to provide information and advice on non-food crop production; work on animal health and welfare, including the recent launch of the Animal Health and Welfare Strategy; consultation on the goals and priorities for the Food and Health Action Plan under the "Choosing Diet" strand of the Department of Health's "Choosing Health?" consultation and delivery of a Learning Skills and Knowledge programme.

The Government announced a sum of £500 million to implement the Strategy as part of the 2002 Spending Review, in addition to existing spending by Defra and other Government Departments which is already being used to deliver aspects of the Strategy. This sum covers a number of major aspects of the Strategy. These include the new Environmental Stewardship Scheme and the IT system to underpin all the England Rural Development Programme schemes; improvements in livestock traceability and other major animal health and welfare measures, and the new food chain initiatives.