Ms Karin Dubsky:

Something important has been said; the farmer wishes to rear his family on it. That is the key thing. The farmer does not have to have all the prescriptions and headaches. In the face of climate change and the biodiversity crisis, farming can and should change in order that there will be farming for biodiversity and carbon sequestration. That is really important. Of course, there will still be crops as well but the other goods and services that farmers bring should be properly compensated. For example, in our European Innovation Partnership project, the farmer at the top of the stream had a small wet woodland. He explained that he did not kill it because his father was so attached to it and when he was dying, he told him not to straighten that one out. Otherwise, everything else was straightened out. When I came, I saw that wet woodland and it was like a dream; it had everything. There were fungi and different kinds of species. He used to be penalised for having it; single farm payments are not given for this. At least now under the reforms he will get some payment. However, he should get extra payment as it is a very valuable old wet woodland. That would help the small farmer who quite often still has some nooks and crannies of incredible value. That would be the way forward.

I was in Germany at the weekend and I saw some farmers explaining that they were now in an area that was reaching good quality and therefore, they will get more for their produce. We should try to explore that as well.