3 February 2011
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown calls on the Government to ensure that reforms to the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) ensure that Europe plays an important role in enabling agriculture to feed the world and moves away from structural faults that encourage practices such as growing crops that no one wants.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con): I ought to declare an interest as one of the few practising farmers in this Parliament.
Will the Secretary of State, when considering the reform of the CAP, consider that Europe will have an important place in enabling agriculture to feed the world? Will she move away from the CAP's structural faults, such as the growing of tobacco that is of such poor quality that no one wants to use it, and ensure that those practices are stopped?
Mrs Spelman: It is of the utmost importance that farmers in Europe are encouraged to produce more food and to do so sustainably. When we look at the threat to our society globally in relation to food security, it is clear that the nations that have the capacity to increase production sustainably are the ones that we should be fully behind.
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Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con): I ought to declare an interest as one of the few practising farmers in this Parliament.
Will the Secretary of State, when considering the reform of the CAP, consider that Europe will have an important place in enabling agriculture to feed the world? Will she move away from the CAP's structural faults, such as the growing of tobacco that is of such poor quality that no one wants to use it, and ensure that those practices are stopped?
Mrs Spelman: It is of the utmost importance that farmers in Europe are encouraged to produce more food and to do so sustainably. When we look at the threat to our society globally in relation to food security, it is clear that the nations that have the capacity to increase production sustainably are the ones that we should be fully behind.
| Hansard
