Documents considered by the Committee on 29 November 2017 Contents

26Agriculture and Water Management

Committee’s assessment

Politically important

Committee’s decision

Cleared from scrutiny; further information requested; drawn to the attention of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environmental Audit Committees

Document details

Commission Staff Working Document: Agriculture and Sustainable Water Management in the EU

Legal base

Department

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Document Number

(38704), 8705/17, SWD(17) 153

Summary and Committee’s conclusions

26.1Water is a vital resource and its quantity and quality are affected by agriculture through both abstraction and pollution from nutrients and pesticides. The UK itself is under “water stress”. This European Commission paper sets out the challenges of tackling the impacts of agriculture on water.

26.2The Commission considers that the current agricultural and water policy framework is adequate. It nevertheless identifies four areas where increased cooperation could improve the sustainability of water management and agricultural production: policy implementation; governance; investment; and effective use of existing knowledge.

26.3For example, the new Environmental Implementation Review process offers an opportunity for Member States to work together to identify and resolve common implementation challenges. On governance, the Commission emphasises the need for cooperation between bodies responsible for water and agricultural governance. The Commission identifies a view that financial support to farmers for implementing water and nutrient management measures is insufficient. It also concludes that adequate knowledge and information support measures need to be in place to facilitate the sharing of existing knowledge and the development of innovative approaches.

26.4The UK is identified as one of the Member States under “water stress” and one where pesticides are one of the predominant reasons for poor chemical status in rivers. While agriculture undoubtedly contributes to pesticides in water, the Commission acknowledges a lack of statistical data to isolate the specific level of this contribution.

26.5The Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (George Eustice) draws attention to the widespread recognition that the impact of agriculture on water represents a major challenge. He expresses satisfaction with the UK’s record in tackling the issue. He says that the UK will continue to work with the Commission to share best practice and learn from approaches in other Member States until the UK leaves the EU. The UK will consider using the information in the Report to help inform the development of future UK policy options. These will include a new agri-environment system, to be introduced in the next parliament. He re-iterates the commitment to retain current levels of farm support until the end of this parliament.

26.6Given the announcement in the Queen’s Speech that the Government will propose an Agriculture Bill and the acknowledgement that the impact of agriculture on water is a major challenge, we consider that this document will be of interest to those Members of the House wishing to engage with the design of future domestic agricultural policy.

26.7The themes identified by the Commission as key to effective sustainable water management—policy implementation, governance, investment and knowledge—will be salient in the development of a post-Brexit agricultural policy. The Minister indicates that the UK will consider using the information in the Report to help inform the development of future UK policy options. It would be helpful to the House if the Minister could identify any particular recommendations that he welcomes and believes might underpin future policy. To what extent does the Minister agree with the Commission, (for example, that a strong research and knowledge transfer policy, linked to agriculture, is an essential component of tackling the impact of agriculture on water)?

26.8The Minister states that the UK will continue to work with the Commission to share best practice and learn from approaches in other Member States until the UK leaves the EU. It is unclear from this statement whether the Minister envisages that such engagement should continue or be terminated post-Brexit. Can the Minister explain whether or not the UK hopes to continue to engage constructively with the EU and its Member States on these matters post-Brexit, including sharing best practice?

26.9We report the document to the House and draw it to the attention of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environmental Audit Committees. We clear the document from scrutiny and look forward to the additional information requested from the Minister.

Full details of the documents

Commission Staff Working Document: Agriculture and Sustainable Water Management in the EU: (38704), 8705/17, SWD(17) 153.

Background

26.10The EU’s approach to balancing agriculture and water-related objectives has evolved through various pieces of legislation, including:

26.11The Commission concludes that some progress has been made in improving the chemical and ecological status of water, as required by the WFD. Nevertheless, results in terms of achieving “good status” have been slower than expected.

26.12Across the EU, diffuse pollution of nutrients and pesticides from agriculture has slowed down the expected compliance with the quality standards of the WFD and Member States have faced challenges in using CAP funds to tackle the problem. Diffuse pollution from agriculture is caused when rainfall washes nutrients, pesticides, chemical fertilisers and soils from the land into waterways and impacts 90% of European river basin districts.

26.13Over-abstraction is also a concern in many Member States and the Commission considers that many abstraction plans are inadequate. Abstraction for farm irrigation is a major water user and impacts on water flow levels which can damage wildlife and impact abstraction for drinking water.

26.14The Commission sets out the four areas where more could be done; policy implementation; governance; EU investment; and knowledge and innovation.

26.15The Commission has launched an Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) to improve the implementation of environmental policies, including on water. This offers an opportunity for the European Commission and Member States to work together to identify and resolve the governance, implementation and compliance gaps that exist on water policy, which are linked to agriculture pressures.

26.16On governance, the Commission emphasises the need for agriculture and water policy to work in synergy. This requires a clear identification of water-related targets, as well as alignment and convergence of environmental and agricultural strategies to meet these targets.

26.17The Commission sets out various ideas as to how the up-take of available EU funding could be improved. In addition to working with Member States, the Commission plans to work with the European Investment Bank to identify opportunities to support investments to help achieve the aims of the WFD.

26.18Finally, the Commission recognises the value of research and knowledge exchange from researchers to public officials and farmers. The Commission suggests an assessment of overlaps, unaddressed problems, miscommunication and interoperability to inform and improve action at EU, Member State and local levels.

Minister’s Explanatory Memorandum of 12 July 2017

26.19The Minister draws attention to the Conservative party manifesto, which committed the same cash total in funds for farm support until the end of the parliament. The Government, he says, will work with farmers, food producers and environmental experts across Britain and with the devolved administrations to devise a new agri-environment system, to be introduced in the following parliament.

26.20The Minister sets out the issue and the UK response in the following terms:

“OECD, EU and G20 recognise agriculture’s impact on water as a major challenge. Agriculture is a vital sector providing food security, rural employment and management of the countryside. However, agriculture has a significant impact on water quality and resources. In the UK, we have extensive experience of tackling these issues using EU funds to support voluntary measures to tackle the issues, supporting farmers through Catchment Sensitive Farming (England), Glastir (Wales), the Environmental Farming Scheme (Northern Ireland) and in Scotland the Agri -Environment Climate Scheme and Diffuse Pollution Priority Catchment Programme.”

26.21The Government will continue to work with the Commission to share best practice and learn from approaches in other Member States until the UK leaves the EU. The Government will consider using this information to help inform the development of future policy options, in addition to the extensive data held by the UK.

Previous Committee Reports

None.





1 December 2017