Professor John FitzGerald:

I agree with the Deputy, who is more expert on this than I am. What he is saying sounds eminently sensible and consistent with improving our performance on climate change. There is another CAP related issue about which we need to think. Peatlands absorb a large amount of carbon. As we move out of peat, they will need to be managed, but what happens if there is no income coming from it? We need people to manage peatlands. We cannot just leave them there. The question arises as to whether CAP should provide some compensation for farmers who manage peatlands in a manner that does us all a service by stocking carbon dioxide. We need to think of land use in new ways that will be good for farmers, biodiversity and the climate.