Food report to call for 'green licence for farmers'

An official report outlining the future of farming and food production in the UK will be published today.

Among the proposals expected to be included in Sir Donald Curry's new blueprint for agriculture is a scheme forcing farmers to be kinder to the countryside.

To qualify for Government subsidies in future, they would be required to have a "green licence" guaranteeing they will work the land in an environmentally friendly way.

The idea was expected to be the centrepiece of today's report from the policy commission on the future of farming and food, which was set up by Tony Blair last summer in response to the foot–and–mouth crisis.

Sir Donald, the commission's chairman, was today formally presenting the findings to Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

It has been widely reported that the Government wants farmers to be paid for the quality of their produce and for protecting the countryside, instead of maximising food production at minimum cost.

The report was expected to underline this by calling for farmers to be seen as custodians of the countryside – and paid accordingly – rather than merely producers of food.

The National Farmers' Union said it would wait to see the report before commenting.

But environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth recently called for the policy commission to address the trading practices of the big supermarkets, which it accuses of squeezing out small and medium–size farms.

The commission looked at the entire food chain, raising questions for consumers through to those in production and processing food.

Even before last year's outbreak of foot–and–mouth, many of those involved in food production were saying the industry was facing a crisis.

In a gesture of support for farmers, coinciding with publication of the report, the Prince of Wales was today holding a reception at St James's Palace for those worst–hit by the foot–and–mouth epidemic.