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Agricultural Policy

Thank you, Mr Caton. I will be as brief as I can. My message for the Secretary of State, the Minister and Alun Davies on the reform of the common agricultural policy is that they should establish a framework or architecture; the details can then be decided in the devolved nations. If too much detail is decided at the European level, we will end up with a policy that is not applicable to Wales, which could damage Welsh agriculture. On exports, I am not sure whether the Minister was completely accurate when he said that there were no barriers to exports to America, because my information is that there are. Indeed, I talked to the American agricultural attaché about it some weeks ago. We need to break through those barriers if we are to have thriving exports of our excellent food. Wales has been a hot spot of agricultural science over the years. The work that has been done in Aberystwyth by Professor Stapleton and others was right at the forefront of worldwide agricultural research. However, science has almost become a four-letter word that dare not be said when discussing agriculture. I recently visited the Syngenta facility at Jealott’s Hill, which used to be part of ICI, and it has difficulties bringing any new products to market because of regulation that is not risk-based. One regulation says that any run-off water should have less than half of one millionth part of the compound in it, which is about half a gram in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. It is difficult, because of regulations that are not science or risk-based, for any scientific progress or research to take place in Europe at the moment. The same goes for the use of genetic modification. I wish we could get back to some sound basics, because we have already lost the unit that was working at Jealott’s Hill, and I recently heard that some 150 people had lost their jobs at BASF because of the approach to GM in Europe. The scientific work that we were once famous for in Wales, the UK and Europe is leaving us and going elsewhere in the world. I will not add anything on the issue of the supermarket ombudsman. I just ask the Government to bring forward a Bill as quickly as possible, and to put it in the Queen’s Speech. I want to say one or two words about less favoured areas, because 80% of Wales is a less favoured area. It has real productivity problems compared with some other agricultural nations. I almost despair at the fact that the Welsh Assembly Government have done away with Tir Mynydd and Tir Gofal, and introduced the Glastir scheme, which, though it was meant to attract 10,000 farmers, only 1,700 farmers wish to take forward at the moment. My last point is on a tax issue; tax is important to agriculture as it is to all other sectors. It is about the reduction in capital allowances. I can understand why the Government would want to introduce that reduction for businesses that are incorporated, because they have had the benefit of corporation tax reductions. However, almost all farms are non-incorporated businesses; they pay their tax on self-assessment, either as sole traders or as partners. Their businesses will be greatly disadvantaged by the reduction of capital allowances, and they will get no benefit for tax reduction as a result. I ask the Secretary of State and the Minister to make representations on behalf of those non-incorporated businesses; they should have no reduction in their capital allowances, as that will have a hugely detrimental effect on their businesses.