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Agricultural Policy

We are very much in favour of supporting small farmers, and I look forward to hearing the hon. Gentleman’s speech later in the debate. Elin Jones, who was Plaid’s Welsh Assembly Minister for Rural Affairs, said that she was pleased that the European Commission was proposing to keep direct payments from 2014. When she was a Minister, she said that she was not persuaded by initial proposals for greening payments under pillar one and that she believed that all but the basic environmental requirements should be delivered by pillar two. She supported in principle the proposals of supporting only active farmers. On moving to an area basis from the current historical regime, she argued for a transitional period of at least five years, and I was greatly encouraged by what the Minister of State said about that. Elin Jones stated clearly that she thought it was important to retain the two-pillar structure for CAP, because it offers the basis for maintaining a competitive edge for Welsh farming more widely, as well as making a key contribution to socio-economic and environmental cohesion in rural Wales. The hon. Member for Ceredigion referred, quite rightly, to the concerns of the FUW and others about the change in 2013-14. I will not rehearse those arguments, but I agree entirely that there is a danger that a snapshot will be taken at a certain point and that that will encourage land banking and other practices that would damage the industry. I hope that the Government can reassure us that that is not likely and tell us what steps will be taken. The CAP has undergone substantial reform, especially in the past decade, following major reforms in 2003 and a health check in 2008. Some would say that farmers in Wales have been subject to more radical reform than those in some other parts of the EU through the full decoupling of direct payments from production. Many Welsh farming families see the Commission’s proposals as disappointing and perhaps a missed opportunity, given that we have been through such periods of change. The Commission’s proposals—as far as I understand them; they are quite complicated—are aimed at delivering what it calls ““smart, sustainable and inclusive growth for European agriculture””. Who could gainsay that? We have a good industry in Wales. We produce the finest red meat and dairy products, as has already been suggested. I suppose that I should confess that I tasted many of those products at a recent FUW farm breakfast at Ty’n Hendre in Tal y Bont, outside Bangor—alas, as my waistline might testify. On a more serious point, last Friday I welcomed to my constituency two representatives of the embassy of Japan: Mr Daisuke Otsuka and Mr Sinichi Ishikawa. During the course of their visit, we dined on Welsh lamb, which they enjoyed enormously. They said that it was an interesting experience for them because lamb does not figure on menus in Japan to a great extent, as the usual options are pork or beef. Given that they enjoyed it and that there is clearly a gap in the market, I would like the Minister to reassure us that the UK Government are doing all they can to encourage the export of lamb to Japan. I think that the fact that we have collectively emphasised the quality of Welsh produce for a long time has paid off. However, there are continuing concerns about country-of-origin food labelling, particularly regarding its implementation and the possible penalties that might be incurred. Sadly, I did not get the chance, but I wanted to ask the Minister of State about the concerns that many people have about the inclusion of foreign-produced meat in products such as sausages, ready meals and pies. I would like his reassurance that that will be considered when the ombudsman is established. Single-country labels for meat should require that the animal was born, raised and slaughtered in the country in question, and I was glad to hear reassurance that that will be the case. We in Plaid also want the public sector to adopt a food procurement policy that favours local Welsh food so that public money is not spent on food that undermines the high standards that we have achieved in Wales—