Brian Gardner's Blog

Archives for rural environment

WHY NOT SIMPLIFY THE CAP?

March 5, 2013

It seems inevitable that the current drive to reform European agriculture policy as part of the 2014-20 budget re-vamp is likely to be a great opportunity missed. The deliberations of the Commission, Parliament and Council are leading on to a massive over-complication of the policy. The potpourri of social, environmental and production supporting measures is… » read more

Posted by Brian Gardner

CAP Reform, Environment

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GREATER FLEXIBILITY NEEDED IN OPERATION OF BIOFUELS POLICIES

November 19, 2012

The European Commission’s proposals to cut back on the biofuels section of its renewable energy policy is a wise move. In an atmosphere of undoubtedly increasing tension over global food security such policies operated without flexibility are inevitably going to be a political liability. To the politically simple-minded converting food and feed grains into motor… » read more

Posted by Brian Gardner

Food & Consumers

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AGRI-ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES NEED TARGETING

May 6, 2010

Once upon a time farm lobbies argued for a common agricultural policy as a guarantee of food security; now it is justified on the grounds of environmental projection. In neither case can a policy based on massive subvention from the taxpayer be justified. Europe’s food supply was never seriously threatened by lack of support for… » read more

Posted by Brian Gardner

CAP Reform, English, Environment, Sustainable Dev.

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SCENAR 2020 UPDATE RAISES IMPORTANT POLICY QUESTIONS

March 16, 2010

The recent update of the European Commissions’ Scenar 2020 analysis of agricultural and rural development over the next ten years provides a stimulating background to the current debate on the future of the CAP. As of course it is intended to do. It provides a very useful analytical background to critical assessment of all the… » read more

Posted by Brian Gardner

CAP Reform, English, Environment, Food & Consumers, Sustainable Dev.

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CONFUSIONS OF SOCIALIST’S CAP PLAN

March 11, 2010

The proposals for a reformed agricultural and rural policy from the Socialist and Democratic group in the European Parliament are confused and confusing. The group’s plan for a post 2013 CAP is claimed to be an “innovative and integrated system which would make the allocation of resources fairer among farmers and member states”. In fact,… » read more

Posted by Brian Gardner

CAP Reform, Competition, English, Environment, Food & Consumers, Sustainable Dev.

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Brian Gardner's Blog

Commentary on European developments from the perspective of long term professional interest in European and international trade, agriculture and food policy, nurtured over three decades spent in Brussels observing and analysing the development of the CAP.

Post Brexit, new relationships between the UK and the EU and the UK and the rest of the world are a major pre-occupation. My book ‘European Agriculture: Policies, Production and Trade’ is a distillation of this experience. More recently, my analysis of the politics and technicalities of feeding 9 billion people by the mid-century is  ‘Global Food Futures – Feeding the world in 2050’, published by Bloomsbury. I continue to observe European  policy as it copes with the challenges of UK isolationism, Europe-US challenges, trade liberalisation, climate change and other environmental problems. My assessment of the realities for UK agriculture after 2020 are  set out in a recent report for Agra Europe: Preparing for Brexit.


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