This article was originally published on FG Insight.
Speakers at the LEAF annual conference said the farming industry should focus on so-called ’Natural Capital’ to replace CAP.
“The current status quo of farming is not sustainable and the industry must help shape a new agricultural policy which would see food production and the protection of natural assets go hand in hand.
At a Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF) conference in London, farmers and industry experts discussed the opportunities and challenges for food and farming, with particular focus on whether Brexit had ‘opened the door’ for so-called ‘Natural Capital’ to replace the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).
Natural Capital defines natural assets including soil, air and water, many of which farmers help to nurture as a matter of course.
Professor Dieter Helm of the University of Oxford claimed the ‘current status quo in farming is not sustainable’, adding: “Natural Capital and farming are like peas in a pod.”
LEAF sustainability manager Kathryn Green said: “Natural Capital may be a new approach but the concept of valuing what farmers do is certainly not.
“Integrated Farm Management (IFM) includes the need to understand, monitor and record, and importantly, value the economic, environmental and social impacts of farming.
“In essence, this is what Natural Capital is all about.”…”
Read on at FG Insight.
