How will our shopping habits be affected by reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy?
The changes mean that, in future, what farmers produce will be determined by what people want to buy, rather than by the decisions of politicians on the subsidy system. This should mean greater variety and higher quality. However, the new system will also mean that if farmers cannot produce food at a profit, they will be better off not bothering to produce at all, and just keep their land neat and tidy. That could be a threat to the food industry in the South West if processors and retailers do not allow producers a fairer share of the price paid by the end consumer. Will our countryside change as a result of these reforms? The influence of market forces will mean that production will gravitate from poorer to better land. That could mean fewer cattle and sheep in the uplands. However, environmental schemes will give farmers in the hills and uplands the opportunity to supplement their incomes by managing the countryside as well as producing livestock. A combination of these schemes, and
