BRITAIN: The British farming industry is "unsustainable" following the crisis caused by foot-and-mouth and urgent EU agricultural policy reform is needed to protect the countryside, an influential report concluded yesterday .
In the first of three official inquiries into last year's devastating outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, the Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food, chaired by Sir Donald Curry, recommended a radical overhaul in the method of distributing EU subsidies, moving away from large-scale crop growing to sustaining the environment.
"Tinkering around the edges would not work," Sir Donald declared; and, in a controversial move, he proposed that from 2004, 10 per cent of EU farm subsidies for crop growing should be removed to fund rural development and environmental measures.
The process is known as modulation - switching subsidies - and could provide £200 million for environmental projects, with a similar amount matched by the government.
But the president of the National Farmers' Union, Mr Ben Gill, condemned the proposal as unworkable, insisting modulation was just like "robbing Peter to pay Paul".
He added: "With the industry in its current dire state, it is hardly surprising that we oppose suggestions of taking money from farmers in this way. It equates to taking away cash that farmers simply do not have. We are not opposed to rural development and environmental spending - quite the reverse."
Charged with reconnecting the food and farming industries with consumers, Sir Donald said it was time for farmers to "turn over a new page" and embrace change.
The Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, welcomed the report saying "the current situation benefits no one: farmers, taxpayers, consumers, or the environment".