UK farming needs a revolution, green group says
Copyright 2001 Reuters
November 22, 2001
LONDON - Britain must revolutionise farming and clip supermarkets' powerful wings to protect consumers, the environment and farmers from further harm, an environmental group said yesterday.
Friends of the Earth said in a report that 50 years of mistaken government policies had forced farmers to produce large quantities of food cheaply, destroying consumers' trust in food, the environment and, in many cases, their own businesses."Farming in this country has hit rock bottom. Farmers and consumers are crying out for change," Liana Stupples, the group's campaign director, said in a statement.
"We cannot remedy this situation overnight, but we must face up to the price we are paying for a policy for cheap food...People have a right to decent food at a price they can afford - and the government must act to support this right."
A raft of food scares, including mad cow and foot-and-mouth diseases, has forced many farmers out of business and shaken UK consumers, who have also turned their back on GM crops, fearing scientists' assertions about the gene-spliced grains are wrong.
Intensive farming methods have also been blamed for depleting soil fertility, killing wildlife by destroying hedges and wild fields and leading to the maltreatment of animals.
The report, based on research by Emily Diamand and Pete Riley, said officials should pay farmers to produce quality meat, without using antibiotics, fruit and vegetables, free from pesticides, and to use environmentally friendly farm methods.
"We have to focus on quality not quantity," the report said.
"We want a future in which consumers can be sure of what they eat, where the environment is protected and wildlife thrives, where food is eaten near to where it is grown and where farmers can once again make a living from their land."
The group called for the end of the 40-billion-euro a year Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which it blamed for creating food mountains and the subsidised dumping of European Union surpluses onto international markets.
Friends of the Earth also urged the government to introduce a legally-binding code of conduct for supermarkets to ensure they do not force farmers to produce goods at unrealistic, low prices, and to boost funding of organic food and local markets.
Tim Lang, professor of food policy at Thames Valley University, said such reforms would prevent more crises.
"We have much work to do to sort out the insanity of contemporary food," he said in the report. "We need to piece the whole food and farming jigsaw together."