madam president both the untied nations and the european union have agreed that the growing world population is going to demand greater global output of agricultural productivity of the order of a fifty one hundred increase
we accept that
we accept the commissioner's point of view not only because we accept it but because it is a target that the world cannot afford to miss
but at the same time agriculture is being asked to do it using less land less water less energy less greenhouse gases
so there are three points which we need to understand
firstly governments and the eu in particular must invest more in research and development we simply do not have the information upon which to base a plan for the future
secondly faced with volatility in global markets we need a safety net from the common agricultural policy
and thirdly food security and all that it implies to the european union involves cost
these are costs which we cannot pass on to consumers and therefore i repeat we need a strong agricultural policy and we have to win the argument in the budget debate
