GREENS CALL FOR FAIRER FARM PAYMENTS

East Lothian Greens are welcoming a recent speech in the Scottish Parliament by Green MSP Alison Johnstone calling for a fairer Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In the speech she explained how Scottish farmers receive lower CAP payments than those in other parts of Europe.
Alison said: "CAP subsidy is geared towards farms that already have the best chance of being profitable. If the CAP continues to reward those on the best land, Scotland will continue to lose out. "Scotland is in an excellent position to argue that subsidies should be delivering profitable farms in tandem with the marginal and most biodiverse land. That is a big shift away from the argument for ever more direct payments and towards a CAP that delivers subsidy that is based on the public good." Commenting on Alison's speech, East Lothian Green campaigner Jason Rose said: "Greens support sustainable agriculture and local food production. That is why we welcome Alison's efforts to highlight the need for a fairer system of CAP payments. "We also welcome the motion passed at the recent Scottish Green Party conference which proposed a limit on the maximum CAP payment to any single landowner of 300,000 Euros. This would allow CAP funding to be redistributed to benefit the many smaller farmers in the South of Scotland who are more geniunely in need of support."