Written evidence submitted by the Society
of Biology
SUMMARY
1. There should be no payments without matching
public goods; and a balance of economic, social and environmental
benefits.
2. Valuation of ecosystem services and natural
capital is essential, so that their protection and management
can be properly supported by the policy.
3. Research, knowledge and trained people
are vital to develop and deliver sustainable agriculture and effective
agricultural policy.
4. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
needs to enable investment and incentivise resource-use efficiency
5. An effective CAP will allow Europe to
maintain security of food production, viable rural communities,
and the resilient ecosystems and natural resources upon which
we depend for survival, without damaging economies and environments
outside Europe.
Will the proposals achieve the correct balance
between productivity and sustainability?
6. Agriculture should supply a wide range
of goods and services beyond food and non-food commodities. These
include social benefits such as employment and recreation in rural
areas, and environmental benefits including landscape management,
increased biodiversity, water purification, flood protection,
fertile soils and carbon storage.
7. Agriculture should aim to minimise ecosystem
dis-services, for example pollution, soil erosion and compaction,
loss of habitats for farmland species and degradation of landscapes.
It should not compromise animal welfare, nor rely on unsustainable
inputs of non-renewable resources.
8. A modern society expects more from its
agriculture than unregulated intensification where society pays
the price through loss of natural capital.
9. The limits to production vary with geography.
For sustainable production and a healthy, resilient environment,
these limits must determine policy development.
10. There is no consensus about how to define
sustainable or efficient agriculture. We support a definition
which involves long term economic, social and environmental viability.
11. It is probably impossible to balance all
three factors simultaneously at the farm level while delivering
the production and food security that we require. However, it
should be possible to balance these factors at regional level.
12. The aim of a CAP should be to achieve a balance
between the economic, social and environmental benefits of agriculture
across the European Union. Policy must explicitly recognise that
these factors are interrelated.
13. Much of the present CAP supports inefficient
practices. A reward system should be designed around simple metrics
that demonstrate that desired levels of production have been achieved
with decreasing demand on resources.
14. Incentives, including subsidies, harmful
to biodiversity should be eliminated, phased out or reformed.[20]
THE BALANCE
BETWEEN INTENSIVE
AND EXTENSIVE
PRODUCTION
15. Maximising food production on a given farm
may be economically sustainable in the short term, but provides
nothing for wildlife or wild plants. If we want to reverse the
decline in biodiversity, we must share resources (nutrients, space,
water) and agricultural production with them.
16. The "high nature value" agriculture
practised in many of our most remote and beautiful landscapes
provides sustainability in environmental and social terms, but
is not economically sustainable without public support. Livestock
production at appropriate stocking density is often the most efficient
way to manage such land.
17. All types of farm should be given incentives
to protect and create biodiversity features such as ponds, trees
and hedgerows, appropriate to the area.
18. Much of Europe's biodiversity relies on its
agricultural land. But its remaining wilderness areas also host
important wild species. Europe should aim to achieve food security
without bringing additional land of biodiversity value into agricultural
production. This will be challenging.
19. We need to achieve a balance, where the most
agriculturally productive land is farmed intensively, aiming at
improved outputs with lower inputs (with regard to animal welfare,
and minimising pollution); and less productive land is managed
extensively to provide a greater range of public goods.
THE ROLE
OF PUBLIC
SUBSIDY
20. Public subsidy should be for public goods.
It should not subsidise production which should be paid for by
the market. One aspect of market failure is that the value in
agricultural output is largely at the processing and retail end
of the chain, not at the farmers' end. This is an issue which
European policy should address more vigorously, but not by subsidising
the farmer.
21. The CAP should support an improved valuation[21]
of the public goods and services created by agriculture, including
the natural resources which deliver them. This would allow public
subsidy to pay the proper price for such goods and services.
22. How can a reformed CAP deliver equitability
across member states with the objective of enabling European agriculture
to be competitive in a global market? To meet this objective there
have to be incentives to invest in innovation, which could include:
human capital, equipment, infrastructure.
RESEARCH AND
KNOWLEDGE BASE
23. Another important role for public funding
through CAP is research and training directed towards sustainable
agriculture, and translating that research into improved agricultural
policy and practice.
24. We have major technical and scientific challenges
to overcome if we are to develop a sustainable CAP that reflects
multiple demands for food security and productivity, improved
environmental quality and better social health, wealth and welfare.
However there is currently inadequate investment in all forms
of agricultural training and research, and a dearth of suitably
qualified and skilled people, particularly in careers for the
younger generation.
25. Establishing, implementing and achieving
agricultural policy will be entirely dependent upon skilled and
trained people across all sectors from farm workers, agronomists,
machinery producers to researchers and policy-makers.
26. There should be a greater emphasis on the
transfer of information from research into the policy arena. The
current regulatory framework is not wholly evidence-based.
AGRI-ENVIRONMENT
MEASURES
27. The transaction costs for agri-environment
measures are high - inspection and administration have cost up
to one fifth of some schemes.. The way forward would seem to be
to pay for results rather than inputs. In Scotland, a single inspection
regime has reduced costs to farmers.
28. Although there are examples of successful
landscape-scale initiatives, current agri-environment schemes
are piecemeal, because take-up is determined at farm scales, leading
to weaker outcomes and a lack of additionality. Future schemes
should include landscape-wide initiatives.
Do the proposals place the UK in a good position
to help meet future food supply challenges?
29. Sustainable, diverse production systems have
the potential to provide a long-term resilience to the productive
capacity of the UK landscape. Supporting distinctiveness of local
means of production and the diversification of local products
and services will enhance the competitiveness of UK agricultural
products.
30. The UK has much productive capacity on its
agricultural land. However, the most productive land is often
at risk from housing, commercial and infrastructure developments.
31. CAP reform must take account of the biophysical
and socio-economic differences between member states. The Water
Framework Directive shows how this can be done.
32. An effective CAP will allow Europe to maintain
the security of its food production, the livelihood of its rural
communities, and the biodiversity and natural capital upon which
we all depend for our ultimate survival, without damaging the
economies and environments of countries outside Europe.
The Society of Biology is a single unified
voice for biology: advising Government and influencing policy;
advancing education and professional development; supporting our
members, and engaging and encouraging public interest in the life
sciences. The Society of Biology is a charity, created by the
unification of the Biosciences Federation and the Institute of
Biology, and is building on the heritage and reputation of these
two organisations to champion the study and development of biology,
and provide expert guidance and opinion. The Society represents
a diverse membership of over 80,000 - including practising scientists,
students and interested non professionals - as individuals, or
through the learned societies and other organisations listed below.
We are committed to ensuring that we provide Government
and other policy makers - including funders of biological education
and research - with a distinct point of access to authoritative,
independent, and evidence-based opinion, representative of the
widest range of bioscience disciplines.
The Natural Capital Initiative (NCI) is a partnership
between the Society of Biology, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
and the British Ecological Society. The NCI aims to support the
development of UK science, policy and practice aligned with the
ecosystem approach; a way of looking whole ecosystems in decision
making and for valuing the goods and services they provide. www.naturalcapitalinitiative.org.uk
This consultation response was developed through
contributions from a task force comprising Fellows and member
organisations.
7 December 2010
MEMBER ORGANISATIONS
REPRESENTED BY
THE SOCIETY
OF BIOLOGY
Anatomical Society
Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
Association of Applied Biologists
Biochemical Society
Breakspear Hospital
British Andrology Society
British Association for Lung Research
British Association for Psychopharmacology
British Bariatric Medical Society
British Biophysical Society
British Crop Production Council
British Ecological Society
British Lichen Society
British Microcirculation Society
British Mycological Society
British Neuroscience Association
British Pharmacological Society
British Phycological Society
British Society for Ecological Medicine
British Society for Immunology
British Society for Matrix Biology
British Society for Medical Mycology
British Society for Neuroendocrinology
British Society for Plant Pathology
British Society for Proteome Research
British Society for Research on Ageing
British Society for Soil Science
British Society of Animal Science
British Toxicology Society
Experimental Psychology Society
Fisheries Society of the British Isles
Genetics Society
Heads of University Biological Sciences
Heads of University Centres of Biomedical Science
Institute of Animal Technology
International Biometric Society
Laboratory Animal Science Association
Linnean Society
Marine Biological Association
Nutrition Society
RNID
Royal Entomological Society
Royal Microscopical Society
Royal Society of Chemistry
Science and Plants for Schools
Scottish Association for Marine Science
Society for Applied Microbiology
Society for Endocrinology
Society for Experimental Biology
Society for General Microbiology
Society for Reproduction and Fertility
Society for the Study of Human Biology
SCI Horticulture Group
The Physiological Society
UK Environmental Mutagen Society
University Bioscience Managers' Association
Zoological Society of London
SUPPORTING MEMBER
ORGANISATIONS
Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
(ABPI)
Association of Medical Research Charities
AstraZeneca
BioScientifica Ltd
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
(BBSRC)
GlaxoSmithKline
Institute of Physics
Lifescan (Johnson and Johnson) Scotland Ltd
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Pfizer UK
Syngenta
The British Library
Wellcome Trust
Wiley Blackwell
20 Draft Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020,
Convention on Biological Diversity: "Target 3:
By 2020, at the latest, incentives, including subsidies, harmful
to biodiversity are eliminated, phased out or reformed in order
to minimize or avoid negative impacts, and positive incentives
for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are developed
and applied, consistent and in harmony with the Convention and
other relevant international obligations, taking into account
national socioeconomic conditions." www.cbd.int/nagoya/outcomes Back
21
The Society of Biology is a partner in the Natural Capital Initiative,
which aims to support the development of UK science, policy and
practice aligned with the ecosystem approach; a way of looking
whole ecosystems in decision making and for valuing the goods
and services they provide. www.naturalcapitalinitiative.org.uk
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