Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Member of Parliament for The Cotswolds, commenting on the major European Conference that was held at the Royal Agricultural College last Friday, said “the presence of the Secretary of State for Environment and Agriculture made this a really special conference.

“It was particularly timely, in view of the delicate state of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy negotiations, that the Secretary of State had a hard hitting message that British Agriculture should increasingly rely on getting its income from the market and that agricultural subsidies would inevitably decline slowly because of the economic situation in Europe.”

He also said that the country should always proceed on the basis of sound science, which was exactly the approach he took to controversial issues such as neonicotinoid pesticides in relation to bees, badger culling and GM foods.

Other speakers included Professor Gaskell, Principle of the Royal Agricultural College, Neil Parish MP, Member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, Richard Ramon I Sumoy, Representing the Directorate General Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission, Pekka Pesonen, Secretary General of Copa-Cogeca as well as Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP himself, whose main message was that it was really important to encourage young students, such as those at the Royal Agricultural College, to take an active part in agriculture based in the UK and around the world.

The conference was sponsored by the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, which is a Centre-Right group of parties believing that individual member states in Europe should do more and that the central bureaucracy in the commission should do less.

Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said “The conference was very well attended and I am sure that the delegates who were present will have benefited from a range of well informed and highly helpful speeches”