Three industry bodies have jointly called for English growers and farmers to get a fair deal over proposals to 'green' the Common Agricultural Policy.

The NFU, CLA and TFA put out a joint statement his week stressing concerns that DEFRA will look to impose on English farmers a sole delivery method for 'greening' under pillar 1 of the reformed CAP, which they say will close off options available to farmers in other parts of the UK and Europe.

The trio insist that English farmers must have a choice of greening options; greening must not impose higher standards or costs; must be implemented in a way that does not mean land being taken out of production; and offers farmers the option of opting out of certain greening measures and forgoing the 30 per cent of the payment envisioned for greening.

The organisations also want to see a greening element introduced into pillar 1, thus removing the need for the government to switch funds to pillar 2.

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