Time for MEPs to act

A week is a long time in politics, writes Rural Affairs Editor Nathan Rous. Well, British-style politics. A week in the European Commission on the other hand is generally the time it takes to have lunch.

The crushingly slow pace of life in Brussels is enough to make even the battle-hardened give up their pin-striped suits and excessive perks in favour of an existence not ruled by debate and counter debate or meeting and counter meeting.

It's funny how you never even get to the joke about how many MEPs it takes to change a lightbulb because they are too busy debating its energy efficiency. Yet every so often the commission lurches into life, much like a drunken uncle on the dance floor, and shows just exactly what it can do.

This week is just that kind of occasion. Indeed, today's "health check" of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) could very well shape the future of our landscape as we know it.

Times are tough on the farm, even for those that have managed to escape the hideous arrival of TB, or foot and mouth, or bluetongue, or avian flu. But there is a disease introduced by the Eurocrats which is even worse - non-production.

In recent years our farmers have been paid to keep certain sections of their land fallow due to chronic over-production across the Continent, in particular the French and Germans who refused to tow the line. But unwittingly it has created a monster, like giving incapacity benefit to someone who is perfectly capable of working: anathema to everyone who holds dear the concept of earning your crust.

Now, with China and India grabbing fistfuls of wheat and dairy products to satisfy the increasing Western appetites of its countrymen, there is a chronic global shortage of the food staples. Cue all the fallow land being brought back into production. And pronto.

Some figures suggest there is only 66 days-worth of wheat left in the world at this moment in time. A few more shocking harvests in America and Australia and we could soon see our self-sufficiency called into question. And this is why the bandwagon to encourage Brits to buy British needs to keep on rolling.

Although I am still baffled as to why the idea needs so much sugar-coating when it should be entirely normal to buy from these shores, I am quite prepared to ram it down more throats if it helps safeguard the future of farmers on this island. Do you really want beef from Brazilian farms where TB is rampant?

I know some of you balk at the price of home-grown produce, thinking it should be cheaper because it hasn't travelled very far, but this is what happens when you open the borders to the economies who can afford to sell a turkey for £2. Would I want to eat it? No ta.

Of course, it is no surprise that over-legislative Europe is itself to blame for this farce. Set up in 1962, the CAP was brought in to ensure Europe's self-sufficiency, but by paying farmers for the amount they produced it led to massive overprouction that eventually drove down prices and left many of the farmers dependent on the EU handouts.

Decoupling, which meant breaking the link between the amount of aid farmers received and the amount they produced, was an important step but so much more has to be done if the world market isn't going to swallow us up. But this will not be easy, given the conflict within the commission which has become part and parcel of everyday life.

Agriculture takes up around 45 per cent of the entire EU budget so expect some strongarm tactics to enter the chamber when the 700-strong representatives take their seats.

It's time to hit the dancefloor, uncle.