§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what aspects of the reform of the EU Sugar Regime are designed to encourage farmers to produce biomass and biofuels. [186095]
§ Mr. MorleyThe European Commission's latest Communication on sugar reform, presented to the Agriculture Council on 19 July, aims to move away from the present systems of price and production support towards a sustainable decoupled, market-based approach in line with other recent CAP reforms. It would involve both price and quota cuts in an initial phase, followed by a further review in 2008. This approach, which the Government welcomes as an important step in the right direction, should help to make sugar beet itself more competitive with other sources of biomass and biofuels, as well as promoting diversification among existing growers.