madam president whilst the term greening of pillar one may appeal to armchair farmers it will pose major problems to heavy-land farmers who could well abandon land rather than attempt to plant it in the spring
had this policy been enforced this year it would have resulted in total crop failures
proper inspection and enforcement of greening measures will also be impossible
to be effective the capping of single farm payments will need to be severe
this will immediately motivate farmers to formally split their businesses with their spouses so that the full payment is retained on both divisions
added to that i am informed that the savings made from capping will accrue to the eu and not the member state that actually generated the savings
cultivation of gm crops should be the decision of individual member states
the suggestion that no single farm payment can be received by farmers who cultivate these crops is utterly nonsensical
the world is short of food
we should be encouraging the uptake of new farming technology and not vilifying it
i hope the last three winters will have convinced all of you that there is no threat to us from global warming
