Speaking as the two-day conference on the future of the CAP in Brussels drew to a close, IFA President John Bryan warned the EU Commission against adopting an unsustainable and costly environmental agenda.

Mr Bryan said, “Some of the participating environmental organisations promoted ludicrous policies that displayed a clear lack of understanding of the importance of EU security of food production, or what sustains the rural economy and enhances the rural environment. These people would do well to spend some time out on family farms to educate themselves on the critical role that farm families play in safeguarding the environment and enhancing biodiversity. The EU Commission must be very careful in devising future policy that they do not jeopardise the viability of the EU family farm structure and its sustainable food production system.”

The IFA President added, “The record is there to show that supporting farm families in supplying safe food in a sustainable manner is the most effective way to enhance the rural environment.” Concluding, John Bryan said farmers understood the importance of maintaining the environment as part of their work and would resist efforts by these environmentalists to impose their unsustainable version of utopia on the rural economy.