MINISTER'S OPENING ADDRESS TO THE 191H EUROPEAN AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK CONFERENCE: 9 MARCH 2000

摘要

1. UK farm incomes are the lowest they have been in real terms since the 1930s, at a time when the costs of the Common Agricultural Policy continue to escalate. 2. The low level of many world commodity prices means that hard times in farming are not unique to the UK. But the current weakness of the euro and the continuing impact of the BSE crisis are exceptional factors that have made the pinch especially tight for British farmers. 3. Farming is affected by pressures of globalisation no less than other sectors of the economy. Adjusting to structural economic change is never easy, and it is not easy for farmers. 4. Furthermore, a series of food scares has shaken consumer confidence in food safety. It has also brought into question the capacity of Government regulation to protect public health.