A little hot news from the lobbies, courtesy of David Lovelace. David
worked as a consultant on the production of the WWF -UK's report to the
House of Commons Agriculture Select Committee in 1996.
Extracts from the Review of Agri-environment schemes in UK and
recommendations from WWF May 1996
3. Regulation 2078/92: constraints, opportunities and utilisation in UK.
3.1 This regulation allows for the first time the Guarantee (i.e. demand
led) section of CAP to pay for environmental actions under the 'accompanying
measures' provisions of the 1992 CAP reform.
Recipients of scheme aid mention only farmers and farming practices,
potentially excluding the increasing numbers of non farming individuals and
organisations which own and mange land of ecological and heritage
importance.
The UK has responded with a fair range of schemes covering a number of
habitat and countryside types. There are however many elements of 2078/92
which remain either under utilised or ignored completely in the UK.
3.3 Rare Breeds
Article 1(d) "to rear rare animals of local breeds in danger of extinction"
This is a seriously neglected issue by both conservation bodies and
Government. Predictability, high input productivity and universal Artificial
Insemenation has led to a considerable narrowing of the genetic base for the
main lines of UK livestock at the same time as many traditional and
regionally distinct livestock varieties have disappeared or have been
reduced to very low numbers. Traditional breeds have often been developed in
extensive systems in a variety of geographic locations. Many have grazing
behaviour, herd character and hardiness well suited for the maintenance of
biodiverse habitats.
Maintaining genetic variety increases the future breeding options for
unforeseen future circumstances. The Rare Breeds Survival trusts reports
that are now only 300 breeding pure original Herefords. The Dexter cattle
breed is mainly used in extensive suckler systems and is believed not to
have had a recorded BSE case. The current BSE crisis risked wiping out the
currently viable core and other much rarer breeds all of which are
irreplaceable.
Recommendation 2:
Introduce under Article 1(d) a scheme to support rare breeds programmes and
to maintain viable core herds of minor breeds in the UK. Encourage exchange
of ideas and schemes with other EU countries, in particular the countries of
Eastern Europe which still retain the greatest number of threatened
traditional livestock breeds.
In the second report of the AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS on
'Environmentally Sensitive Areas and other Schemes under the
Agri-Environment Regulation' 1996-97, section 80, Recommendation 20
states:-
"We recommend that MAFF undertake a consultative exercise to determine the
level of support for the inclusion of aid to preserve rare breeds in its
agri-environment programme."
In the response by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in July 1997, states:-
42. The European Commission made clear during negotiations on the
agri-environment regulation that they saw this option applying where the
preservation of a traditional environmentally beneficial farming system was
dependent on continued grazing by a traditional breed. The government are
not aware of any area where this is the case. MAFF will consult members of
the National Agri-Environment Forum and other interested organisations, such
as the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, on whether there are cases for further
consideration in England.
Ed.-If your experience is anything like ours - we know a song about that........
Mr. J P Garnier
Room 419 (West Block)
MAFF
3 Whitehall Place
LONDON
SW1A 2HH
The person to sing it to is -
