Under major reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), farmers would see their subsidies cut by 30 per cent unless they turn 7 per cent of their land over to nature.
They will be required to leave land fallow as “ecological focus areas” that would have to be managed to benefit wildlife like farmland birds.
But the National Union of Farmers has condemned the plan, saying that if farmers are forced to take land out of production they will have to put up the price of their crops at a time when the cost of food is already rising dramatically. » | Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent | Thursday, October 06, 2011
