FUW ACCUSES EC OF FAILING TO ADDRESS FOOD SECURITY ISSUE

The Farmers' Union of Wales today expressed extreme concern that the European Commission's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) health check failed to address the issue of food security at such a critical time.

In evidence to the Welsh Assembly's European and external affairs committee, the FUW stated: "The CAP, by design, provides a framework that allows Europe to react to the imminent challenges that growing populations, global warming, rising sea levels, and peak oil represent in terms of food security."

But, the union complained, CAP-related legislative proposals published by the Commission in May used the word food only a handful of times and never in the context of food security.

Addressing the committee in Cardiff, FUW president Gareth Vaughan said the union's written evidence was the democratically established views of members collated over the past year during regular consultation with its 12 county branches.

"Those members, and the farming industry as a whole, constitute an essential part of the fabric of our society here in Wales, and without them we would not have such a range of unique and valuable assets.

"At the core of that fabric is the traditional Welsh family farm, which the FUW was established more than 50 years ago to protect. But I would like to emphasise that, while we welcome some of the developments that have occurred in terms of the CAP health check, we believe an opportunity has been missed.

"Without wishing to appear to be scaremongering, I believe that we are at a crossroads in terms of the impact that decisions taken today will have on future generations.

"The success of the CAP in providing an abundance of food has led to the embedding in some quarters of apathy regarding food security.

"With all the challenges that the world will face over the coming decades - in terms of oil supplies, global warming, rising populations, and the like - we should have liked to have seen the European Commission reacting more positively to the critical issues that will shape the future of upcoming generations.

"We have recently seen the devastating repercussions that short-sighted decisions made by financial institutes both here and in the US have had throughout the world.

"There is a real danger of far worse repercussions if the European Commission do not change course in the coming years and bring the CAP back to its core purpose, which was to look after the future security of Europe's peoples."