Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Steve Cowley (RAS 21a)
1. After the meeting I felt that although
I am exactly the average age for a farmer, the other witnesses
did not share my view of the future. I seemed to be the only one
from the south east of the country where a large percentage of
the land is either not farmed, under-utilized or farmed by people
who do not rely on farming as their main source of income. One
of the witnesses commented that "grass keep" had become
more expensive recently. Here on the Isle of Wight there is such
a surplus of "grass keep" there is no one to take it.
One of the other things that struck me was that most of the other
witnesses were producing food from their farms because they were
farmers not because they were business men. Farming is a very
capital intensive business and if businesses are to survive and
be successful they need to provide the farmer and his family with
a living wage and a return on capital. Without that return on
capital there will never be any money to move forward and make
new investments to meet the needs of a changing market. I met
David Milliband on Monday and asked him where he saw the next
generation of farmers coming from. His response was that we as
farmers should encourage our children to take over. Most farmers'
children are well educated and have a wide range of career options
that do not require working 12 hours a day seven days a week for
pitifully small rewards. Many farm staff come from overseas these
days, I have no problem with this, but they are never going to
accumulate enough capital to become farmers in their own right.
There are very, very few new entrants into the farming industry.
2. I do not believe that the Government's
vision of the future of CAP has any relevance as a way forward
as it was rushed out by the Treasury as a ploy to divert attention
away from the issue of the UK rebate. It was met with derision
by the other EU members because the CAP had just been reformed
with this Government's support.
3. Everybody seems to have forgotten that
we have the CAP to ensure a secure food supply for all. Other
EU countries still value the security that the CAP brings.
4. Food (wheat, rape and sugar beet), currently
in surplus, has more cash value as an energy source than oil,
but world reserves of food (wheat) are at historic lows.
5. As China and India become more prosperous
they will require more and more food because they will want to
eat meat from animals that are fed these crops. Oil is so expensive
because of the demand from these emerging economies, the same
will happen with food. We will then have to compete for our food
in a world market. Where will our food security be then?
6. Will this affect our ability to compete
in the world markets for the services that we supply to others?
7. http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/contact/dialogue/qanda.asp:
An example of David Milliband using hearsay evidence not facts
in his response to me.
July 2006
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