Friday, June 23, 2006
Rural Payments Agency and Adam Rickett
In Conservative Home today Adam Rickett has outlined his case that the Rural Payments Agency has become a farce.
Yet as you read you get to feel that this is somewhat ‘pre-packaged’ as one commentator put it and you start to question if he really wrote it. But giving him the benefit of the doubt as I should do – I feel he has touched on the right issue and has demonstrated his ‘grasp of knowledge’.
Only thing is: has he got his mind set on become the Agricultural minister – if so, I’m not so sure that will go down well with the local farming community. Simply because he has never picked up a spade in his life.
Many now think that subsidies should go? But I have to disagree – our people come first and if a leg of lamb costs £5 in New Zealand but £10 in Britain, many consumers (for obvious reasons) would buy the cheaper produce. Thus, British farming industry would crumble and without subsidies they would fall into bankruptcy. But what Adam correctly noted out was that “finally we should ensure that as a country we always have the ability to feed ourselves should the worst happen and external sources be cut off.” We don’t know what’s coming around the corner and I believe passionately that our men and women who work extremely hard day in, day out deserve a better reward than what the current government is ‘delivering’.
Yet as you read you get to feel that this is somewhat ‘pre-packaged’ as one commentator put it and you start to question if he really wrote it. But giving him the benefit of the doubt as I should do – I feel he has touched on the right issue and has demonstrated his ‘grasp of knowledge’.
Only thing is: has he got his mind set on become the Agricultural minister – if so, I’m not so sure that will go down well with the local farming community. Simply because he has never picked up a spade in his life.
Many now think that subsidies should go? But I have to disagree – our people come first and if a leg of lamb costs £5 in New Zealand but £10 in Britain, many consumers (for obvious reasons) would buy the cheaper produce. Thus, British farming industry would crumble and without subsidies they would fall into bankruptcy. But what Adam correctly noted out was that “finally we should ensure that as a country we always have the ability to feed ourselves should the worst happen and external sources be cut off.” We don’t know what’s coming around the corner and I believe passionately that our men and women who work extremely hard day in, day out deserve a better reward than what the current government is ‘delivering’.
# posted by Rich @ 10:08 am 
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I don't beleive in subsidies and I think they should be phased out. However, if they exist and the farmer has a legal right to them, then they should be paid in full on time.
My central opposition to subsidies is my belief the government should not try to coerce citizens into buying certain products from certain producers, and by making British produce artifically pleasing to buy compared to foreign produce subsidy seeks to achieve this. This is the state trying to counter-act the consequences brought about via free choices of the British consumer
While ending agricultural welfare our farmers will unfortunately hit farmers, in doing so we free the market and make the economy more attractive for other industries. It is difficult and saddening to see ancient farming communities fall away, but attempts to preserve them for essentially synthetic, nostaglic reasons may indeed hamper future progress
While ending agricultural welfare our farmers will unfortunately hit farmers, in doing so we free the market and make the economy more attractive for other industries. It is difficult and saddening to see ancient farming communities fall away, but attempts to preserve them for essentially synthetic, nostaglic reasons may indeed hamper future progress
As a farmer I am more than happy to give up the farm subsidy payments as long as we are free to use the land to maximise it's potential. Allow us the freedom to sell land to build houses, allow us to build leisure parks without hinderance, allow us to erect mobile phone masts that fits within the fabric of the farm.
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